History of Wuxi

Pre-Qin and Qin dynasties

There is an account about brothers Taibo and Zhongyong among several ones that they made Meicun the state of Wu’s capital. The region was variously occupied by the state of Yue, Chu and Qin.

Han Dynasty

The Wuxi county was founded in 202 BCE. It was a part of the Kuaiji Commandery during the Western Han, and later the Wu Commandery. As a part of Wang Mang’s regime, the place name Wuxi was once changed to Youxi, meaning “with tin”, until his death.

Six dynasties, Tang and Song dynasties

The county was dissolved and put under the jurisdiction of the Director of State Farms in Piling, when the area was dominated by the Wu. Restored in 280, it was annexed by the Jinling Commandery (later Changzhou) since the Eastern Jin. Agriculture and the silk industry flourished in Wuxi and this town became a transportation hub under the early Tang Dynasty after the construction of the Grand Canal. Although Suzhou became the center of the Wu area, Wuxi also played a significant role in the county of Wu.

Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties

The Donglin Academy, which was restored in Wuxi 1604, is the cradle of the Donglin movement.

As a populous county, its eastern part was separated and resulted in the creation of the Jinkui county in 1724. Both Wuxi and Jinkui were utterly devastated by the Taiping Rebellion, which resulted in nearly 2/3 of their population being killed. The depleted number of “able-bodied males” (ding, 丁) was only of 72,053 and 138,008 individuals in 1865, versus 339,549 and 258,934 in 1830. The Taiping rebellion killed 190,000 Wuxi people out of 300,000.

Jinkui was merged into Wuxi in 1912.

During the late 19th century, Wuxi became a center of the textile industry in China and one of the four most important rice markets nationwide. By 1878, Wuxi was the leading silk-producing county in Jiangsu, outstripping even Suzhou, the traditional center of that industry. In the late 19th century, Wuxi was also the regional center for the waterborne transport of grain and a major commercial center.

Source From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxi#History