Wuxi's long history dates back some 3,000 years to the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, when scattered settlements existed in the area. The city was formally founded during the Han Dynasty, as the capital of a feudal state in the region. Yet few details appear in later dynastic histories and Wuxi remained for the most part, a small country town. This image did not begin to change until the 1930's, when Wuxi began rapidly to expand its industry, the keystone of which was 45 silk filatures. The town also gained some importance as a transport center, transshipping manufactured goods and silks by water to Shanghai. Its period of greatest expansion however occurred after 1949.