The Han River flooded old Ankang, in southern Shaanxi, on 31 July 1983, killing 870 people. Today the city helps supply northern China with water from the same river, and can make more than 1.5 million plush toys a day.
一九八三年七月三十一日，汉江淹没了陕西南部的安康老城，八百七十人遇难。如今，这座城用同一条江向北方输送饮用水，每天还能生产一百五十多万只毛绒玩具。
The toys came because of the water.
玩具是因为水才来的。
The river runs 340 kilometres through the city. The 1983 flood largely destroyed the old urban area.
汉江在安康境内流经三百四十公里。一九八三年的那场洪水，基本摧毁了老城区。
Flood, then Water for the North
先是洪水，后是北上的清水
Researchers at Shaanxi Normal University, drawing on local gazetteers, put the toll at 870 dead, with about 89,600 urban residents affected, more than 30,000 houses collapsed and losses of about ¥410 million. Their 2017 study counted 26 occasions since 1950 when the river’s flow passed 15,000 cubic metres a second.
陕西师范大学的研究者依据地方志统计，这场洪水造成八百七十人死亡，城区约八万九千六百人受灾，倒塌房屋三万余间，损失约四亿一千万元。他们二〇一七年的研究还统计出，自一九五〇年以来，汉江流量超过每秒一万五千立方米的情况共有二十六次。
The same river is now a national asset. Xinhua reported in 2024 that the Han’s average annual flow through Ankang is 26.2 billion cubic metres, which supplies 63 percent of the inflow to the Danjiangkou Reservoir and makes the city the largest water supplier to the South-to-North Water Diversion’s middle route.
如今，同一条江成了国家的宝贝。新华社二〇二四年报道，汉江在安康的多年平均径流量为二百六十二亿立方米，占丹江口水库入库水量的百分之六十三，安康因此成为南水北调中线最大的供水地。
The water has to leave clean. Ankang’s 2025 statistical bulletin says the Han held steady at Class II where it exits the city, and that all 42 monitored surface water sections met Class III or better.
水必须干干净净地出境。安康市二〇二五年统计公报称，汉江出境断面水质稳定保持在二类，全市四十二个地表水监测断面全部达到三类以上。
Toys from the Mountains
从山里来的玩具
Protecting the water limited Ankang’s industrial options. Finding work for relocated mountain families narrowed them further. People’s Daily Overseas Edition reported that the city moved 937,800 people from 267,300 households out of the mountains into 1,364 resettlement communities, and then needed jobs for them.
保护水源，限制了安康可以发展的产业；要给搬下山的家庭找活干，选择就更少了。《人民日报海外版》报道，安康把二十六万七千三百户、九十三万七千八百人从山里搬进了一千三百六十四个安置社区，接下来得给他们找工作。
Plush toys offered an answer. Officials chose the industry because it pollutes little and employs many, the paper said. The city’s first plush toy firm arrived in 2017, according to Huanqiu; by the end of 2025 the industry employed about 22,700 people, had the capacity to make more than 1.5 million toys a day, was worth over ¥10 billion a year, and sold to more than 80 countries and regions.
毛绒玩具给出了答案。该报称，官员们选中这一行，是因为它污染小、用工多。环球网报道，安康第一家毛绒玩具企业于二〇一七年落户；到二〇二五年底，这个产业吸纳就业约二万二千七百人，日产能超过一百五十万只，年产值超过一百亿元，产品销往八十多个国家和地区。
Many factories sit inside the resettlement communities. The city has 1,022 community factories, employing more than 41,000 people across industries, and one local firm designed the prototype for Long Chenchen, the mascot of the 2024 Spring Festival Gala.
不少工厂就开在安置社区里。全市共有一千零二十二家社区工厂，各行业合计吸纳就业四万一千多人；二〇二四年春节联欢晚会的吉祥物“龙辰辰”，打样就出自当地一家企业。
Fewer People, More Flights
人少了，航班多了
Ankang’s GDP was ¥119.0 billion in 2025, up 5.6 percent in real terms, the statistical bulletin says. Its year-end population was 2.4264 million, down 25,800 on the year before, and forest covers 72.0 percent of the city.
统计公报显示，二〇二五年安康生产总值一千一百九十亿零三百万元，按可比价格计算增长百分之五点六；年末常住人口二百四十二万六千四百人，比上年末减少二万五千八百人；森林覆盖率百分之七十二。
The airport went the other way. Ankang Airport handled 479,400 passengers in 2025, up 34.2 percent, according to the same bulletin. The Xi’an–Ankang high-speed railway followed on 28 September 2026; Xinhua reported that bridges and tunnels make up 94.6 percent of its 171 kilometres and that the full run to Ankang West takes under an hour.
机场的走势正好相反。同一份公报显示，安康机场二〇二五年旅客吞吐量四十七万九千四百人次，增长百分之三十四点二。西康高铁随后于二〇二六年九月二十八日开通；新华社报道，全线一百七十一公里，桥梁和隧道占百分之九十四点六，到安康西站全程不到一小时。
Small objects have a longer history here than plush toys. In 1984 a Han-dynasty gilt bronze silkworm was unearthed at Chihe Town in Shiquan County, Huanqiu reported. The county now promotes the find as a link to the ancient Silk Road.
安康的小物件，历史可比毛绒玩具久远得多。环球网报道，一九八四年，石泉县池河镇出土了一只汉代鎏金铜蚕。如今，当地把这件文物作为连接古丝绸之路历史的一张名片。
