Everything about Hefei totally explained
Hefei (; literally: "Junction of the
(South) Fei Rivers"; former names: Ho-fei, Luzhou, Luchow) is a
prefecture-level city and the provincial capital of
Anhui province,
China. Located in central Anhui, it borders
Huainan to the north,
Chuzhou to the northeast,
Chaohu to the southeast and
Lu'an to the west.
Administration
The
prefecture-level city of Hefei administers 7
county-level divisions, including 4
districts and 3
counties.
History
From the 8th to the 6th century BC, Hefei was the site of the small state of
Shu, later a part of the
Chu kingdom. Many archaeological finds dating from this period have been made. The name
Hefei was first given to the county set up in the area under the
Han dynasty in the 2nd century BC. During the 4th to the 6th century AD, this crucial border region between northern and southern states was much fought over; its name and administrative status were consequently often changed. During the
Sui (581–618) and
Tang (618–907) periods, it became the seat of Lu prefecture — a title it kept until the 15th century, when it became a superior prefecture named Luzhou.
In
3rd century AD, the famous
Three Kingdoms battle,
Battle of Hefei, was fought at what is currently
Leisure Ford (逍遥津) in Hefei. General
Zhang Liao of the
Kingdom of Wei commanding 800 picked cavalry defeated the 200,000-men army of the
Kingdom of Wu. Several decades of warring in Hefei between Wu and Wei followed this battle.
The present city dates from the
Song dynasty (960–1126), the earlier Hefei having been some distance farther north. During the 10th century, it was for a while the capital of the independent
Wu kingdom (902–938) and was an important center of the
Southern Tang state (937–975).
After 1127 it became a center of the defenses of the
Southern Song dynasty (1126–1279) against the
Jin (
Jurchen) invaders, as well as a flourishing center of trade between the two states. When the
Chinese Republic was founded in 1911, the superior prefecture was abolished, and the city took the name of Hefei.
The city was known as Luzhou (庐州;
pinyin Lúzhōu) during the
Ming and
Qing Dynasties (after
14th century to
19th century). Hefei was the temporary capital for Anhui from 1853 to 1862. It was renamed as Hefei County in 1912. Following the Chinese victory in the
Second Sino-Japanese War in 1945, Hefei was made the capital of Anhui.
Before
World War II, Hefei remained essentially an administrative center and the regional market for the fertile plain to the south. It was a collecting center for
grain,
beans,
cotton, and
hemp, as well as a center for
handicraft industries manufacturing
cloth,
leather,
bamboo goods, and
ironware.
The construction in 1912 of the
Tianjin–
Puzhou railway, farther east, for a while made Hefei a provincial backwater, and much of its importance passed to
Bengbu. In 1932–36, however, a Chinese company built a railway linking Hefei with
Yuxikou (on the
Yangtze opposite
Wuhu) to the southeast and with the
Huai River at
Huainan to the north. While this railway was built primarily to exploit the rich
coalfield in northern Anhui, it also did much to revive the economy of the Hefei area by taking much of its produce to Wuhu and Nanjing.
Although Hefei was a quiet market town of only about 30,000 in the mid-1930s, its population grew more than tenfold in the following 20 years. The city's administrative role was strengthened by the transfer of the provincial government from
Anqing in 1949, but much of its new growth derived from its development as an industrial city. A
cotton mill was opened in 1958, and a thermal generating plant, using coal from Huainan, was established in the early 1950s. It also became the seat of an industry producing
industrial chemicals and chemical
fertilizers. In the late 1950s an iron and steel complex was built. In addition to a machine-tool works and engineering and agricultural machinery factories, the city has developed an aluminum industry and a variety of light industries. There are several universities based in the city.
On May 13, 2003, in Hefei, an underground gas
explosion in the Luling
coal mine killed at least 81 miners, with 5 others missing.
Geography
Hefei is located west of
Nanjing.
Hefei's annual average temperature is about . Its annual
precipitation is about . It snows irregularly in the winter.
In the months of June, July, August, and often September, daily temperatures can reach highs of with high humidity levels being the norm.
May and June see the air quality level in Hefei diminish. The city is blanketed by a sweet-smelling smog caused by the smoke generated as farmers outside the city burn their fields in preparation for planting the next crop.
Chaohu Lake, a lake southeast of the city, is one of the largest
fresh water lakes in China. However, the lake has unfortunately been polluted with
nitrogen and
phosphorus in recent decades.
Demographics
The majority of the population in Hefei is
Han Chinese. There are a small number of
Hui Chinese living in the city. There are over three million people in the city.
Economy
The GDP per capita was ¥13,378 (ca. US$ 1,654) in 2004.
The average monthly wage for most people in 2005 ranged from 600 RMB to 1500 RMB.
Before the
Chinese civil war Hefei was a town whose main industry was agriculture. Soon after the founding of the
People's Republic of China, the capital of Anhui was moved from
Huaining to Hefei. To assist the development of the city, many talented people were sent in from other parts of the country. Modern-day Hefei has machinery, electronics, chemistry, steel, textile, and cigarette industries, among others.
Despite being the Provincial Capital of Anhui, Hefei still exudes an air of poverty. Migrants from all over Anhui converge on the city looking for opportunities which don't actually exist for many of them. This constant influx keeps wages low. However, new industrial development in special economic zones ringing the city has resulted in new manufacturing jobs for technical school and college graduates.
In the summer of 2005, the municipal government implemented changes designed to
beautify the city by demolishing thousands of illegally built structures, and clearing away long established marketplaces in many parts of the city. Overnight, longstanding businesses housed in flimsy structures that once lined many streets were gone. The impact on the local economy could be seen immediately as hundreds, if not thousands, of low paid workers no longer had employment.
On the other hand, these actions removed many unlicensed food stalls which had contributed to the spread of diseases that struck the city in the past. These changes also removed many unlicensed buildings that posed a fire hazard in the city. While it's undeniable that some people were forced to make sacrifices for the beautification of the city, the changes ensured that all the residents in the city have a better environment.
It is also worthwhile to mention that under this project, the Fei River, which used to be known as a “sewage” river by many local people, has shown great improvement in its water quality. Residents who used to live along the bank of the river now have a much more pleasant environment to live in.
Transportation
Hefei has been the provincial capital since 1949 and is a natural center of
communications, being situated to the north of
Lake Chao and standing on a low saddle crossing the northeastern extension of the
Dabie Mountains, which form the divide between the
Huai and
Yangtze rivers. From Hefei there's easy
water transport via the lake to the Yangtze River opposite
Wuhu. Important land routes run through Hefei—east-west from
Puzhou (opposite
Nanjing in
Jiangsu) to
Xi'an (in
Shaanxi) and north-south from
Suzhou (in Jiangsu) and
Bengbu to
Anqing (both in Anhui).
Culture
Hefei plays an important role in scientific research in China. It has three national laboratories, second only to Beijing: the National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (国家同步辐射实验室), the Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale (微尺度物质科学国家实验室), both of which are under the
University of Science and Technology of China, and the National Laboratory for Nuclear Fusion (Tokomak) Research (磁约束核聚变国家实验室), under the Hefei Institute of Physical Sciences, Institute of Plasma Physics, which itself is under the
Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Sites of interest
Leisure Ford, a public park sitting on the ancient site of the Battle of Hefei.
Temple of Lord Bao, built in 1066 near the tomb of Lord Bao.
Hui Garden (徽园) (Opened to the public in September 2001)
Children's Welfare Institute (a.k.a. "Social Welfare Institute"), children's orphanage
Sister cities
Hefei is a sister city of the following cities around the world:
Kurume, Japan (May 20, 1980)
Freetown, Sierra Leone (March 20, 1984)
Bujumbura, Burundi (July 7, 1986)
Columbus, Ohio, U.S. (November 17, 1988)
Aalborg, Denmark (April 22, 1989)
Lleida, Spain (April 4, 1998)
Wonju, South Korea (June 20, 2002)
Darebin, Australia (October 29, 2003)
Belfast, Northern Ireland (December 26, 2003)
Notable people
Bao Zheng (999 - 1062), Northern Song Dynasty bureaucrat and judge whose name has become synonymous with judicial wisdom and uprightness.
Chen Ning Yang, (b. 1922), 1957 Nobel Physics Prize laureate, one of the two earliest Chinese to receive the prize.
Li Hongzhang (1823 - 1901), prominent late Qing Dynasty bureaucrat and diplomat.
Yang Yuanqing (1964 - ), Chairman of Board of Lenovo.
Liu Mingchuan (1836 - 1896). Statesman during the late Qing dynasty, first governor of Taiwan.
Universities
University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)(中国科学技术大学）
Hefei University of Technology (HFUT)（合肥工业大学）
Anhui University (AHU)（安徽大学）
Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (AHTCM)（安徽中医学院）
Anhui Medical University (AHMU)（安徽医科大学）
Anhui Agricultural University (AHAU)（安徽农业大学）
Anhui Institute of Architecture and Industry (AIAI) (安徽建筑工业学院）Further Information
Get more info on 'Hefei'.
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