Anhui: Encyclopedia - Anhui

Anhui

Anhui (Chinese: 安徽; Hanyu Pinyin: Ānhuī; Wade-Giles: An-hui; Postal System Pinyin: Ngan-hui, Anhwei or An-hwei) is a province of the People's Republic of China. It is located in east China, across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River. It borders Jiangsu to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, Jiangxi to the south, Hubei to the southwest, Henan to the northwest, and Shandong for a tiny section in the north.

The name "Anhui" derives from the names of two cities in south Anhui, Anqing and Huizhou (now Huangshan City). The abbreviation for Anhui is "Wan", because there were historically a State of Wan, a Mount Wan, and a Wan river in the province.

Anhui - History

The province of Anhui was formed in the 17th century. Before then, there was no coherent concept of "Anhui". Northern Anhui was firmly a part of the North China Plain in terms of culture, together with modern-day Henan province. Central Anhui constituted most of the fertile and densely-populated Huai He River watershed. Southern Anhui, along the Yangtze, was closer to Hubei and southern Jiangsu provinces in culture. Finally, the hills of southeastern Anhui formed a unique and distinct cultural sphere of its own. The creation of the province of Anhui has not eroded these distinctions.

During the Shang Dynasty (16th century BC - 11th century BC) most of Anhui was populated by non-Sinitic peoples known collectively as the Dongyi. King Tang of Shang, the legendary founder of the Shang Dynasty, was said to have put his capital at Bo (亳), in the vicinities of Bozhou in modern northern Anhui.

During the Warring States Period, Shouchun (modern Shou County) in central Anhui became a refugee capital for the state of Chu after its heartlands in modern Hubei province was overrun by the powerful state of Qin in the west, in 278 BC. Qin nevertheless managed to conquer all of China in 221 BC, creating the Qin Dynasty.

Anhui was administered under several different commanderies during the Qin Dynasty and the Han Dynasty. Near the end of the Han Dynasty Shouchun became the base for the warlord Yuan Shu, who declared himself emperor at one point, but soon succumbed to illness, allowing his small realm to come under the powerful warlord Cao Cao, founder of the Wei Kingdom, one of the Three Kingdoms.

The 4th century saw the influx of nomadic tribes from Central Asia into North China. This began several centuries of political division of northern and southern China. Being at the juncture of north and south, the lands conprising modern Anhui changed hands frequently and was usually bisected through the middle politically. The Battle of Feishui, between the Former Qin of the north and the Eastern Jin Dynasty of the south, took place in 383 AD in modern Anhui.

The Sui Dynasty (581-618) and the Tang Dynasty (618-907) oversaw several centuries of relative peace and unity in China. During this period Anhui was once again ruled under several different jurisdictions.

During the division of China between the Jin Dynasty in the north and the Southern Song Dynasty in the south, Anhui was once again bisected, this time along the Huai He River. This lasted until Mongol reunification of China in 1279.

The Ming Dynasty drove out the Mongols in 1368. Due to a short stint as the capital of China by the city of Nanjing in nearby Jiangsu province, the entirety of Jiangsu and Anhui kept their special status as territory-governed directly by the central government, and were called Nanzhili (南直隸 "Southern directly-governed").

The Manchu Qing Dynasty, which conquered China in 1644, changed this situation by establishing Nanzhili as Jiangnan province; in 1666 Jiangsu and Anhui were split apart as separate provinces. This was the beginning of the contemporary Anhui province, which has since kept almost the same borders as today. The one significant change that occurred was the move of the provincial capital from Anqing to Hefei in 1946.

When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, Anhui was briefly split into two separate administrative regions: Wanbei (North Anhui) and Wannan (South Anhui). They were merged into a province in 1952.

Anhui - Geography

Anhui is quite diverse topographically. The north of the province is part of the North China Plain while the north-central areas are part of the Huai He River watershed. Both of these regions are very flat and densely populated. The land becomes more uneven further south, with the Dabie Mountains occupying much of southwestern Anhui and a series of hills and ranges cutting through southeastern Anhui. The Yangtze River finds its way through south Anhui in between these two mountainous regions. The highest peak in Anhui is Lotus Peak, part of the Huangshan Mountains in southeastern Anhui. It has an altitude of 1873 m.

Major rivers include the Huai He in the north and the Yangtze in the south. The largest lake is Lake Chaohu in the center of the province, with an area of about 800 km². The southeastern part of the province near the Yangtze River has many lakes as well.

As with topography, the province differs in climate from north to south. The north is more temperate and has more clearcut seasons. January temperatures average at around -1 to 2 °C north of the Huai He, and 0 to 3 °C south of the Huai He; in July temperatures average at 27 °C or above. Plum rains occur in June and July and may cause flooding.

Major cities:

• Hefei
• Anqing
• Huangshan City
• Tongling

• Ma'anshan
• Huainan
• Bengbu
• Bozhou

Anhui - Administrative divisions

Anhui is divided into 17 prefecture-level divisions, all of them prefecture-level cities:

• Hefei (Simplified Chinese: 合肥市, Hanyu Pinyin: Héféi Shì)
• Suzhou (宿州市 Sùzhōu Shì)
• Huaibei (淮北市 Huáiběi Shì)
• Fuyang (阜阳市 Fǔyáng Shì)
• Bozhou (亳州市 Bózhōu Shì)
• Bengbu (蚌埠市 Bèngbù Shì)
• Huainan (淮南市 Huáinán Shì)
• Chuzhou (滁州市 Chúzhōu Shì)
• Ma'anshan (马鞍山市 Mǎ'ānshān Shì)
• Wuhu (芜湖市 Wúhú Shì)
• Tongling (铜陵市 Tónglíng Shì)
• Anqing (安庆市 Ānqìng Shì)
• Huangshan (黄山市 Huángshān Shì)
• Lu'an (六安市 Lù'ān Shì) not Liù'ān
• Chaohu (巢湖市 Cháohú Shì)
• Chizhou (池州市 Chízhōu Shì)
• Xuancheng (宣城市 Xuānchéng Shì)

The 17 prefecture-level divisions of Anhui are subdivided into 105 county-level divisions (44 districts, 5 county-level cities, and 56 counties). Those are in turn divided into 1845 township-level divisions (972 towns, 634 townships, 9 ethnic townships, and 230 subdistricts).

See List of administrative divisions of Anhui for a complete list of county-level divisions.

Anhui - Economy

Agriculture in Anhui varies according to the climate zones that the province crosses. North of the Huai He river wheat and sweet potatoes are grown, while south of the Huai He it is rice and wheat instead.

Natural resources of Anhui include iron in Ma'anshan, coal in Huainan, and copper in Tongling. There are industries related to these natural resources (e.g. steel industry at Ma'anshan).

Compared to its more successful neighbours to the east, Zhejiang and Jiangsu, Anhui has lagged markedly behind in economic development, with a GDP per capita around one third the level of those two provinces. There is great regional disparity as well, and most of the wealth is concentrated in industrial regions close to the Yangtze River, such as Hefei, Wuhu, and Ma'anshan.

Anhui's nominal GDP for 2003 was approximately 397.2 billion RMB (48 billion USD) and a per capita of 6200 RMB. (748 USD). It is considered a mid-size economy in terms of economic output.

Anhui - Demographics

Han Chinese make up the vast majority of the population. The She and Hui nationalities are the two largest minorities.

Anhui - Culture

Anhui spans many geographical and cultural regions. The northern, flatter parts of the province, along the river Huai He and further north, are most akin to neighbouring provinces like Henan and Shandong. In contrast, the southern, hilly parts of the province are more similar in culture and dialect to other southern, hilly provinces, like Zhejiang and Jiangxi.

Mandarin dialects are spoken over the northern and central parts of the province. Dialects to the north (e.g. Bengbu dialect) are classified as Zhongyuan Mandarin, together with dialects in provinces such as Henan and Shandong; dialects in the central parts (e.g. Hefei dialect) are classfied as Jianghuai Mandarin, together with dialects in the central parts of neighbouring Jiangsu province. Non-Mandarin dialects are spoken in the south: dialects of Wu are spoken in Xuancheng prefecture-level city, though these are rapidly being replaced by Jianghuai Mandarin; dialects of Gan are spoken in a few counties in the southwest bordering Jiangxi province; and the Hui dialects are spoken in about ten counties in the far south, a small but highly diverse and unique group of Chinese dialects.

Huangmeixi, which originated in the environs of Anqing in southwestern Anhui, is a form of traditional Chinese opera popular across China. Huiju, a form of traditional opera originating in the Hui-speaking areas of southern Anhui, is one of the major precursors of Beijing Opera; in the 1950s Huiju (which had disappeared) was revived. Luju is a type of traditional opera found across central Anhui, from east to west.

Anhui cuisine is one of the eight great traditions of Chinese cuisine. Combining elements of cooking from northern Anhui, south-central Anhui, and the Hui-speaking areas of southern Anhui, Anhui cuisine is known for its use of wild game and herbs, both land and sea, and comparatively unelaborate methods of preparation.

Anhui has a high concentration of traditional products related to calligraphy: Xuanzhou (today Xuancheng) and Huizhou (today Huangshan City) are revered for producing Xuan Paper and Hui Ink, respectively, which are traditionally considered the best types of paper and ink for Chinese calligraphy. She County is famous for the She Inkstone, one of the most preferred types of inkstones (a required tool in traditional calligraphy).

Anhui - Tourism

• Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui - Xidi and Hongcun (World Heritage Site)
• Mount Huangshan (World Heritage Site)
• Mount Jiuhua
• Mount Qiyun
• Mount Tianzhu

Anhui - Miscellaneous topics

• Anhui Normal University
• Anhui University, in Hefei
• Anhui University of Finance and Economics, in Bengbu
• Anhui University of Technology, in Ma'anshan
• Hefei University of Technology
• University of Science & Technology of China, located in the Southwest part of Hefei

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Anhui", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anhui, used and available under the GNU Free Documentation License.