Wanhsien

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Mandarin 萬縣／万县 (Wànxiàn) Wade–Giles romanization: Wan⁴-hsien⁴.

Proper noun

Wanhsien

1. (historical) Alternative form of Wanxian (Wanzhou; formerly called Wan County / Wanxian).
   • 1910, A. S. Roe, China as I Saw It: A Woman's Letters from the Celestial Empire‎^[1], London: Hutchinson & Co., →OCLC, pages 135–136:

     On the 20th we reached Wanhsien, "The Myriad City," and as the most dangerous part of the river journey had been accomplished, our official lifeboat took its departure. After that the Hsien magistrate sent us Yamen soldiers. We changed them at every fresh prefecture. They lived on board, and spent their time squatting on the deck, often half asleep.
     When I think of Wanhsien I see myself being carried in a sedan-chair up interminable flights of slimy stone steps, through a fog-bound city, past miserable riverside hovels, clinging to sand and rock and banks of crumbling earth, along narrow streets, where all was damp, and dank, and dark, and dreary. A creek from the great river slices the town in half, and over it a beautiful bridge, one lofty stone arch crowned by a long, low building and climbed by two flights of stone steps, forms one of the most picturesque features of Wanhsien.

   • 1927, Henry Kittredge Norton, China And The Powers‎^[2], New York: The John Day Company, →OCLC, →OL, pages 65–66:

     A third significant affair was that at Wanhsien in September of 1926. Wanhsien is in the upper reaches of the Yangtse River. Many of the inhabitants of this section of the river depend for their living upon hauling the Chinese junks up-stream. […] General Yang Sen, in command at Wanhsien, not unmindful of local prejudice, seized two British merchant ships and imprisoned their officers.

   • 1945, Owen Lattimore, Solution in Asia‎^[3], Boston: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 76:

     These developments brought on a crisis. How far would the foreigners give ground? Was the Chinese Revolution strong enough to face actual war against a foreign coalition? At Hankow the British had not fought; but at Wanhsien, also on the Yangtze, a British warship had answered rifle fire from the shore with naval gunfire against a crowded city, causing terrible slaughter.

   • 1965, Han Suyin, The Crippled Tree‎^[4], New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 226:

     At Wanhsien, midway through the gorges, a grizzle-haired man, thin as an opium smoker, climbed on board, and was hailed by one of the Brothers with me as Uncle Chu. He was an employee of the Telegraph Company set up in 1907. Cables could now be sent from Szechuan to the outside world. Chu, being a Brother, held no secret from us, and he told us of the projected nationalization of the railways.

Further reading

• “Wanhsien”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “Wanhsien”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “Wanhsien” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.