Hanzhong, city, southwestern Shaanxi sheng (province), central China. It is situated in a long, narrow, and fertile basin along the Han River, between the Qin (Tsinling) and Micang mountain ranges. To the north one of the few routes across the Qin Mountains joins it to Baoji in Shaanxi, while southwestward a route leads into Sichuan province.
The route into Sichuan was traditionally an important one, linking the Wei River valley, seat of successive dynastic capitals, with the rich Sichuan Basin. The first road was constructed in the 3rd century bce during the Qin dynasty to take carriage traffic. In earlier historical times the area had belonged to the Chu state, based in the middle Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) region. It was annexed in 312 bce by the Qin and established as the Hanzhong Commandery. On the collapse of the Qin in 207 bce, Liu Bang, who as the Gaozu emperor founded the Han dynasty, was installed as prince of Hanzhong; the dynasty takes its name from that of the prince’s fief.
Throughout the ages Hanzhong has remained the administrative centre of the mountainous frontier district between Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi provinces and has been a place of major strategic importance, constituting the key to control of Sichuan. During the Three Kingdoms (Sanguo) period (220–280 ce) it was a battleground between the northern state of Wei and the kingdom of Shu-Han in Sichuan. At this time the city was given the name Liangzhou, which it held intermittently until the 10th century. In 784 it was given the name of Xingyuan to commemorate the fact that the Tang emperor Dezong (reigned 779–805) took refuge there during the rebellions of 781–785 and used the city as a base for his recapture of the capital. Under the Song dynasty (960–1279) it was the capital of Lizhou province. Incorporated in the northern empire of Jin after 1127, it was the site of crucial battles in the 13th century with the Mongols, who inflicted crushing defeats on the Jin forces in this area. Under the Yuan (Mongol) dynasty (1279–1368) it again took the provincial name Xingyuan, but in 1368 the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) renamed it Hanzhong, which it has been ever since. It remained a superior prefecture until 1912, when it became a county seat.
The surrounding area was originally wild virgin forest, and it was only sparsely populated until the 17th century, when the use of new crops—corn (maize) and sweet potatoes in particular—made cultivation of the hill slopes possible. A wave of immigration from Sichuan and the middle Yangtze region, as well as from other areas, followed, and its population grew rapidly until the 19th century. The Qin mountain range separates southern and northern Shaanxi, and as a result there are similarities between the Hanzhong area and the Sichuan Basin to the south in natural landscape, farming, customs, and dialects.
Hanzhong’s traditional role as a transportation centre was somewhat lessened by the construction in the early 1950s of a rail link from Baoji to Chengdu (Sichuan), which bypassed the city about 70 miles (110 km) to the west. However, the subsequent completion of an east-west rail line through the city—linking it with the Baoji-Chengdu line and, in the east, the Xiangyang-Chongqing line (at Ankang)—has again made it a local communication centre, with convenient access to the major cities in Shaanxi, Hubei, and Sichuan provinces and Chongqing municipality. Hanzhong remains the principal agricultural market and collecting centre for southern Shaanxi. The area produces timber and forest products as well as rice, corn, tea, and a wide range of fruits. It has minor light industries, among which the manufacture of cotton textiles is the most important. Adding to these are newer facilities in an industrial district in the northwestern section of the city, including a machine-making factory, a silk-reeling mill, chemical and cement works, and a thermal power plant. Aircraft production has also become important. Pop. (2002 est.) 236,024.