Liaoyang, city, central Liaoning sheng (province), northeastern China. It is situated on the Taizi River some 30 miles (50 km) southwest of Shenyang (Mukden) and 12 miles (19 km) northeast of the great industrial city of Anshan.
Liaoyang is located in the most ancient area of Chinese settlement in Manchuria (the Northeast). During the Warring States (Zhanguo) period (475–221 bce), it was under the Yan kingdom. The Han dynasty (206 bce–220 ce) set up Liaodong commandery in the 2nd century bce, with its seat at Xiangping, northwest of the present-day city. Until the Tang dynasty (618–907), it flourished as an important frontier town. When the Chinese protectorate over southern Manchuria ended in 756, Liaoyang became a southern frontier district of the Pohai (Korean: Parhae) state, which flourished in the 8th and 9th centuries. Early in the 10th century it was overrun by the Khitan people and was incorporated into their state of Liao (907–1125). In 919 their king rebuilt the city and forcibly resettled Chinese and Pohai captives to populate it. In 928 it was designated the eastern capital of the Liao dynasty; it remained one of the capitals under both the Liao and their successors, the Jin (Juchen) dynasty (1115–1234).
The area was the seat of a rebellion in the early 13th century, and the rebels submitted to the Mongols in 1215–16. From 1269 to 1367 Liaoyang served as the capital of the province of Liaoyang Lu, but the area seems to have been extensively depopulated by the Mongols. At the beginning of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the city became a crucial defensive base for the northeastern frontier. Walled in 1368–72, it was the centre of a network of guard posts and garrisons. With the rise of the Manchus at the end of the 16th century, however, its defenses proved inadequate, and it was overrun by the armies of Nurhachi, a Manchurian tribal chieftain, in 1621. Nurhachi made it his capital and began the construction of a large new capital city some 3 miles (5 km) to the east. Laid out on a grand scale, this city was never finished. In 1625 Nurhachi moved his court to Mukden, and the abandoned new capital fell into ruins. Subsequently, Liaoyang became a superior prefecture and remained an important administrative centre.
Owing to its strategic location, Liaoyang was the site of several fierce battles during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05). With the foundation of the Chinese republic (1911), it was demoted to the status of a county seat, but it continued to flourish as the hub of a rich and densely populated agricultural area producing rice, grain, soybeans, cotton, tussah silk (a tan silk), and a variety of vegetables and foodstuffs. Various industries associated with agriculture, such as brewing, textiles, and oil extraction, also developed.
With the rapid growth from the 1930s onward of nearby Anshan—one of the principal industrial centres of China—Liaoyang’s economy has been to a large extent subordinated to Anshan’s needs. The city provides much of the foodstuffs consumed by Anshan. Liaoyang has developed a large cotton mill and engineering and cement-manufacturing plants. Petrochemicals and chemical fibres are among its other major industrial products. It is connected by rail and expressway to Shenyang, Anshan, and the port city of Dalian. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 586,882; (2005 est.) urban agglom., 773,000.