Handan, also Han-tan, city in China, in Hebei Province, a transportation and industrial center at the western edge of the Huabei Pingyuan (North China Plain). Iron ore and coking coal, mined nearby, support a small iron and steel complex; other manufactures include textiles, chemicals, cement, and machinery. Handan dates from at least the 6th century BC. It was the capital of the state of Chao (386-228 BC) and was rebuilt on a site to the northeast during Han times (206 BC-AD 220). It remained a small regional center, with fewer than 100,000 inhabitants, until systematically developed as an industrial city in the 1950s. Population (1991) 1,352,438.Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
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