Under the Republic, Shangqiu was considered a key city in eastern Henan owing to its position along the Lunghai (now Longhai) Railway between the port of Haizhou on the East China Sea and Lanzhou in central China. It was known at the time as Kweiteh, , or () and had both a Catholic diocese and an Anglican mission, the later of which ran St Paul's Hospital. It changed hands frequently during the fighting among the Chinese warlords in 1927. Following the "Manchurian Inciden"t, "Gui'de" (Kwei-teh) "Airbase" was established, and became an auxiliary/forward airbase of the Nationalist Air Force of China during the War of Resistance-World War II (1937-1945), and supported aerial-attack missions against Imperial Japanese positions in the northern-front of the war; the 4th Fighter-Attack Group of the Chinese Air Force flew from Gui'de Airbase in March–April 1938 in support of Chinese ground forces at the "Battle of Taierzhuang". Gui'de Airbase is now known as Shangqiu Airport.