Chinchou

a city in Northeast China, in Liaoning Province, on the Hsiaoling Ho, near the place where the river enters the Gulf of Liaotung of the Yellow Sea. Population, approximately 500,000 (1959). Industry is represented by oil refining, the production of ferroalloys, and machine building, including the manufacture of machine tools, agricultural implements, and equipment for the mining and paper industries. Chinchou also has enterprises for the production of building materials and porcelain, as well as enterprises of the chemical, paper, textile, and food-processing industries. The Tach’ing-Peking oil pipeline runs through Chinchou.

(now Chinhsien), a city in China, in Liaoning Province. South of the city, on the isthmus of Chinchou linking the Liaotung Peninsula with the Kwantung Peninsula, there occurred a battle on May 13 (26), 1904, during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, that marked the beginning of combat by Russian troops in defense of the remote approaches to Port Arthur (seePORT ARTHUR, DEFENSE OF). The isthmus near Chinchou, 4 km wide, was defended by the 5th East Siberian Rifle Regiment under the command of Colonel N. A. Tret’iakov (about 3,800 men, 65 guns, and ten machine guns), taken from the 4th East Siberian Infantry Division of Gen. A. V. Fok, which was stationed to the south. The fortifications consisted of five redoubts, three lunettes, and two lines of trenches, which were situated in elevated areas; barbed wire entanglements were built at the approaches, and land mines were laid.

The Japanese Second Army of Gen. Y. Oku, comprising the 1st, 3rd, and 4th infantry divisions (about 35,000 men, 216 guns, and 48 machine guns) advanced on Chinchou from the northeast. At 5 A.M. on May 13 (26) Japanese artillery, including naval guns (four gunboats and six torpedo boats), opened fire and quickly silenced the Russian artillery. At approximately 8 A.M. the enemy went over to the offensive, but by noon the Japanese had been repulsed by the Russian infantry, which was supported on the right flank by fire from the gunboat Bobr and two torpedo boats. At 2 P.M. Japanese troops resumed the attack, but without success. General Oku was about to give the order for a withdrawal, but at that time units of the Japanese 4th Infantry Division occupied almost all of the demolished Russian trenches on the left flank and broke through to the rear of the Russian position. General Fok failed to provide support, and after 6 P.M. the Russian troops, having lost 1,403 men (Japanese losses totaled 4,204 men), retreated along the road to Port Arthur. As a result, the approach to Port Arthur was opened to the enemy, and the Japanese occupied the port of Dal’nii, which became a supply base for the Japanese armies and a naval base for Japanese torpedo boats.