Anshun, city, west central Guizhou sheng (province), China. Anshun, a county-level municipality, is located along the strategic passage to Yunnan province to the west and has long been an important thoroughfare between Yunnan and Guizhou. Anshun, called Yelang state during the period of the Warring States (475–221 bce), changed to Anshunzhou in 1383 during the Ming dynasty and became a county-level municipality in 1958. It later briefly lost its municipal status but was made a city again in 1966.
Anshun is situated at the centre of various radiating highways covering the entire western part of the province, some 60 miles (100 km) west-southwest of Guiyang, on the main highway and railway routes between Guiyang and Kunming in Yunnan. It is the chief market and commercial centre for the district, acting as a collecting centre for agricultural produce and as a distribution point for manufactures from Guiyang. Anshun’s major manufactures include farm machinery, textiles, navigation equipment, and electric machinery. There are considerable coal reserves in the area, supplying a large power plant at Xuanwei to the west in Yunnan. Anshun is known for its traditional wax-printing and clothing industries. The karst region near Anshun, with its gorges, caverns, and underground streams, is a popular tourist attraction. Pop. (2002 est.) 218,975; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 849,000.