Hanshui

Hanshui 漢水
Nickname(s):  "Jewel of the Riverlands," "City of Flowers"
Country	Laeral
Province	Nanhai
Settled	850 BCE
Government
• Mayor	Lei Shanyuan (Progressive Party of Laeral)
Elevation	64 ft (20 m)
Population  (2018)
• Total	4,185,958
	Hanshui Municipality

Hanshui is an urban area in the province of Nanhai in Laeral. Hanshui is the third-largest city in Laeral, with a population of around 6 million within the urban area, although Hanshui Municipality itself has a population of only around 4 million. Hanshui is the largest municipal center in the Western Riverlands region, and is located near the terminus of the Zhongshui and Gaoming rivers.

Hanshui was first settled around the year 850 BCE, before Laeral was unified. Under the Jin Dynasty (300-500 CE), Hanshui first became a major urban center; it was burned to the ground during a battle in the War of the Three Lanterns. Hanshui was the capital of the Jiang Dynasty, when it was established in the 13th century. European envoys arrived as early as 1705, finding a city that had fallen in population from its Jiang Dynasty height. In 1718, the Rén duke Yuan Xiaodan, aiming to gain power over rivals in the Pei Dynasty, established an alliance with the French Arrivée settlers in order to gain the upper hand on his rivals. Following his death in 1737, the Arrivée invaded Hanshui and defeated its defenders. The city was too far west to be directly administered by the Arrivée, but was forced to pay tribute to the government at Queensgrace.

Following the Laeralian War of Independence, Hanshui became part of the Western Frontier province, which included a vast area of modern-day western Laeral. In 1878, Nanhai province became part of the Allied Provinces of Laeral. The city of Hanshui grew rapidly due to the infrastructure investments of the New Laeral Movement (1887-1897) and due to its status as a resupply hub for Laeralian forces during the First Fellsian War. The city was a center of support for the Committee for Democracy and Progress during the Laeralian Civil War and proved loyal to the Gang of Five for decades afterwards, including into the Bloody Summer. The city was among the fastest-growing in Laeral through the 1950s-1980s, eventually becoming the most significant city in western Laeral.

Hanshui is home to Zhou Wei-lin International Airport, the second-largest airport in Laeral, and is a hub for railroad lines across western Laeral. Riverlands National Open University, the largest university in the National Open University system, and the University of Nanhai. The city's expansive subway system is also the second-largest in Laeral.