Changzhi stands almost a thousand metres above sea level in southeastern Shanxi. In 1945 the warlord Yan Xishan lost a third of his forces in its hills; in 2012 a broken pipe at a chemical plant poisoned its river, and the mayor lost his job.
长治位于山西东南部，平均海拔接近一千米。一九四五年，军阀阎锡山在这里的山地里损失了三分之一的兵力；二〇一二年，一家化工厂的管道破裂，污染了这里的河流，市长因此丢了官。
Shangdang is the old name of the Changzhi area.
上党是长治一带的古称。
The campaign that took its name began on 10 September 1945, weeks after Japan’s surrender, while Mao Zedong was in Chongqing for talks with Chiang Kai-shek. Liu Bocheng commanded the Communist side, with Deng Xiaoping as political commissar.
以它命名的战役于一九四五年九月十日打响，当时日本投降才几个星期，毛泽东正在重庆与蒋介石谈判。刘伯承任指挥，邓小平任政治委员。
Highland Battlefield
高地战场
People’s Daily Online records that the campaign ran until 12 October and that the Communist side massed about 31,000 troops, backed by some 50,000 militia. Yan sent a relief force of about 20,000 under Peng Yubin, who was killed, and Shi Zebo, who held Changzhi and nearby counties, was captured as he tried to break out westward.
据人民网记载，战役持续到十月十二日，共产党一方集结约三万一千名官兵，另有约五万民兵配合。阎锡山派出彭毓斌率领的约两万人增援，彭毓斌战死；据守长治及周边各县的史泽波突围西撤时被俘。
The same site says more than 30,000 of Yan’s troops were destroyed, a third of his total strength, and that the result strengthened the Communist delegation’s hand in the Chongqing talks.
人民网还说，阎锡山部三万余人被歼，占其总兵力的三分之一，战役结果增强了中共代表团在重庆谈判中的地位。
Spill, Silence and a Sacking
泄漏、沉默与撤职
On 30 December 2012 a broken metal tube at the Tianji Coal Chemical Industry Group’s plant began leaking aniline; 8.76 tonnes eventually entered the Zhuozhang River, according to the official investigation reported by China News Service. China Daily reported that the tube’s supplier was a Beijing company not authorised to make such tubes.
二〇一二年十二月三十日，天脊煤化工集团厂区的一根金属管破裂，开始泄漏苯胺；据中国新闻社报道的官方调查结果，最终有八点七六吨流入浊漳河。《中国日报》报道，这根管子的供货方是一家无资质生产此类管材的北京公司。
Changzhi did not report the leak to Shanxi’s environmental authority until 5 January, about five days later, according to the investigating working group. Downstream in Handan, Hebei, residents emptied the shelves of bottled water; the South China Morning Post said Xinhua had reported river samples near the Shanxi–Hebei border reaching nearly 720 times the accepted aniline level at one point.
调查组认定，长治直到一月五日才向山西省环保部门报告，距泄漏已过去约五天。下游河北邯郸的居民把瓶装水抢购一空；《南华早报》称，新华社报道河流在晋冀交界附近的取样一度达到苯胺允许标准的近七百二十倍。
The working group held 38 people accountable, China Daily reported. Mayor Zhang Bao was removed, the city’s work safety director Yang Fujin was sacked, seven other officials including a deputy mayor and the environmental protection chief were disciplined, 24 company executives received warnings, demotions or removal, and five people were handed to judicial authorities.
《中国日报》报道，调查组追究了三十八人的责任：市长张保被免职，市安监局局长杨福进被撤职，包括一名副市长和环保局局长在内的另外七名官员受到处分，二十四名企业管理人员被警告、降职或免职，另有五人移送司法机关。
Coal, Trains and Old Stones
煤、火车与古老的石头
Changzhi’s 2025 statistical bulletin puts the city’s GDP at ¥255.83 billion, up 4.3 percent in real terms, with a year-end population of 3.075 million. Above-scale raw coal output was 173.615 million tonnes, up 4.8 percent.
长治市二〇二五年统计公报显示，全市生产总值二千五百五十八亿三千万元，按可比价格计算增长百分之四点三；年末常住人口三百零七万五千人。规模以上原煤产量一亿七千三百六十一万五千吨，增长百分之四点八。
The Zhengzhou–Taiyuan high-speed railway opened on 12 December 2020 and has two stations at Changzhi, Changzhi South and Changzhi East. China Daily reported that it cut the journey from Zhengzhou to Changzhi to about one hour 24 minutes. Changzhi Wangcun Airport added a Changsha–Dalian route through the city on 9 July 2026; according to the airport company, Longjiang Airlines flies it on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays with 180-seat Airbus A320s.
郑太高铁于二〇二〇年十二月十二日全线开通，在长治设有长治南和长治东两座车站。《中国日报》报道，郑州到长治的行程缩短到约一小时二十四分钟。长治王村机场于二〇二六年七月九日新开一条经停长治的长沙—大连航线；据机场公司介绍，由龙江航空执飞，每周二、四、六起降，使用一百八十座的空客A320。
At Faxing Temple in Changzi County, a stone stupa carries an inscription dated 673 CE and the Lamp-Lighting Pagoda one dated 773 CE, according to a Paper.cn feature; the temple’s Song-dynasty hall holds twelve painted bodhisattvas.
在长子县的法兴寺，一座石塔刻有唐咸亨四年（公元六七三年）的铭文，燃灯塔刻有唐大历八年（公元七七三年）的铭文；据澎湃号一篇文章介绍，寺中宋代的圆觉殿里还供着十二尊彩塑菩萨。
Xinhua’s China’s Cities series reported in December 2025 that wetland restoration around Zhangze Lake, begun in 2007, five years before the spill, has lifted water quality from Grade 5 to Grade 4 overall, with some sections at Grade 3. The wetland park covers more than 58 square kilometres on the city’s west side; on the east, two kilometres from the main urban district, Laoding Mountain forest park covers more than 40.
新华社”中国之城”系列二〇二五年十二月报道，漳泽湖一带的湿地修复始于二〇〇七年，比这次泄漏早五年，已使水质由劣五类整体提升到四类，部分水域达到三类。湿地公园位于城西，面积超过五十八平方公里；城东距主城区两公里的老顶山国家森林公园，面积超过四十平方公里。
