Handan, China
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having been a rich settlement in the Spring and Autumn periods (770-476 BC). In the time of the Warring Kingdoms (476-221 BC it was the capital of the Zhao kingdom from 386 to 228 BC and was then destroyed by the armies of the Qin kingdom (221-206 BC). During the Eastern Han era (206 BC-AD 24) Handan was rebuilt and became one of the five largest Chinese states. However, in succeeding centuries it suffered so severely from the effects of lengthy wars that by the end of the 1940s its population numbered a mere 30,000. From the 1950s onwards its fortunes revived and today it is one of the major industrial centers of Hebei province.