Puzhou, town, southwestern Shanxi sheng (province), China. It stands on the east bank of the Huang He (Yellow River), on the north side of the western spur of the Zhongtiao Mountains. A short distance to the south is Fenglingdu, from which there is a ferry to Tongguan in Shaanxi province.
In ancient times Puzhou was a place of great strategic importance, controlling the westward route from which any invasion of the Wei River valley had to pass from Shanxi. In early times it was called Puban. Under the Han dynasty (206 bce–220 ce) it became the chief city of the commandery (district under the control of a commander) of Hedong. In the 6th century, under the Bei (Northern) Zhou (one of the Northern Dynasties), it received its present name and again became a place of importance. In 538 a great pontoon bridge was built across the Huang He at Puzhou; it was replaced by a more permanent bridge in 724. Across this bridge and through the customs station at its eastern end passed all the land traffic from Shanxi to the capital at Chang’an (now Xi’an), in Shaanxi province. At that time the county town was called Hedong, and the prefecture of which it was the seat was known as either Puzhou or (later) Hezhong superior prefecture. These names were kept through the Bei Song period (960–1127) and the following Jin (Juchen) period (1115–1234).
Puzhou’s importance declined, however, with that of Shaanxi as Chang’an ceased to be a capital city and the centre of political power shifted first to Kaifeng, in Henan province, and then to Beijing. Under the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) the town was renamed Sanzhou and was made subordinate to the superior prefecture of Pingyang. The Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12), having seen rebel armies threaten Beijing from Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces by this route in the last days of Ming rule, reestablished it as Puzhou, building 2 miles (3 km) of defensive walls and making it the seat of Yongji county.
Puzhou again went into decay, however, and in 1912 reverted to county-seat status. Later it declined still further—the county seat being transferred to Zhaoyi (now Yongji), farther to the east—becoming a subordinate town named Puzhouzhen. By the 1930s much of the walled area was unoccupied; even the arrival in 1935 of the railway linking the town with Taiyuan (Shanxi’s capital) did nothing to revive it. The terminus of the line was at Fenglingdu, where a steel railway bridge crossed the Huang He to Tongguan, and this replaced the crossing at Puzhou as the major force from Shanxi to the Wei River valley. Despite its decline, however, there are still many historical buildings, temples, and sites associated with Puzhou. Tourism has grown in importance to the local economy. Pop. (2000) 24,627.