Hefei 合肥 Ho-fei, Luzhou, Luchow
—  Prefecture-level city  —
合肥市
Hefei Skyline
Location of Hefei Prefecture within Anhui
Hefei Location in China
Coordinates: 31°52′N 117°17′E / 31.867°N 117.283°E / 31.867; 117.283Coordinates: 31°52′N 117°17′E / 31.867°N 117.283°E / 31.867; 117.283
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Anhui
County-level divisions	7
Government
• CPC Committee Secretary	Wu Cunrong (吴存荣)
• Mayor	Zhang Qingjun (张庆军)
Area
• Prefecture-level city	7,029.48 km2 (2,714.10 sq mi)
• Urban	838.5 km2 (323.7 sq mi)
• Metro	838.5 km2 (323.7 sq mi)
Elevation	37 m (123 ft)
Population (2010 Census)
• Prefecture-level city	5,702,466
• Density	810/km2 (2,100/sq mi)
• Urban	3,352,076
• Urban density	4,000/km2 (10,000/sq mi)
• Metro	3,352,076
• Metro density	4,000/km2 (10,000/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Postal code	230000
Area code(s)	551
Licence plate prefixes	皖A
GDP (2009)	CNY 210.2 billion
- per capita	CNY 41,543
Website	http://www.hefei.gov.cn/
City flowers Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora L.) City trees Sweet Osmanthus (Osmanthus fragrans Lour.) Blossom of pomegranate (Punica granatum L.)

Hefei (Chinese: 合肥, p Héféi, w Ho-fei) is the capital and largest city of Anhui Province in Eastern China. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, and cultural centre of Anhui. Located in the central portion of the province, it borders Huainan to the north, Chuzhou to the northeast, Chaohu to the southeast and Lu'an to the west.

Hefei has an area of 7,048 km² and, as of 2010 Census, a population of 5,702,466 inhabitants. Its built-up area ("metro") is home to 3,352,076 inhabitants encompassing all urban districts.

History[link]

Old Hefei Map with wall

From the 8th to the 6th century BC, Hefei was the site of many small states, 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 Xiaoyao Ford, was fought at what is currently Xiaoyao Ford (逍遥津) in Hefei. General Zhang Liao of the Kingdom of Wei commanding 800 picked cavalry defeated the 200,000-man 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 Luchow or Liu-tcheou^[1] (庐州, p Luzhou) 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–Pukou 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.

Geography[link]

Hefei is located 130 kilometres (81 mi) west of Nanjing. Chaohu Lake, a lake 15 km (9 mi) 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.

Climate[link]

Hefei features a humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cfa) with four distinct seasons. Hefei's annual average temperature is 15.8 °C (60.4 °F). Its annual precipitation is just under 1,000 millimetres (39 in), being heavier from May through August. Winters are damp and cold, with January lows dipping just below freezing and a January average of 2.6 °C (36.7 °F). The city sees irregular snowfalls that rarely turn significant. Springs are generally relatively pleasant if somewhat erratic. Hefei’s summers are oppressively hot and humid, with a July average of 28.1 °C (82.6 °F). In the months of June, July, August, and often September, daily temperatures can reach or surpass 37 °C (99 °F) with high humidity levels being the norm. Fall in Hefei sees a gradual cooling and drying.

Usually in May and June, air quality in Hefei diminishes. 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.

Administrative divisions and demographics[link]

Demographics[link]

The majority of the population in Hefei is Han Chinese. There are a small number of Hui Chinese living in the city, which is why there are few mosques in the city. There are over five million people in the city, of which some are migrant workers from other parts of Anhui.

Administration[link]

Subdivisions of Hefei

The prefecture-level city of Hefei administers 7 county-level divisions, including 4 districts and 3 counties.

• ■ Yaohai-qu (瑶海区)
• ■ Luyang-qu (庐阳区)
• ■ Shushan-qu (蜀山区)
• ■ Baohe-qu (包河区)
• ■ Changfeng-xian (长丰县)
• ■ Feidong-xian (肥东县)
• ■ Feixi-xian (肥西县)

Gallery[link]

Hefei's Wuhu Road in winter   Anhui provincial government building in Hefei   Hefei city during the night   Newly constructed residential buildings

Economy[link]

The GDP per capita was ¥41,543 (ca. US$6,082) in 2009.

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 Anqing 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 do not 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 is undeniable that some people were forced to make sacrifices for the beautification of the city, the changes ensured that most of the residents in the city have a better environment.

Hefei has been identified by the Economist Intelligence Unit in the November 2010 Access China White Paper as a member of the CHAMPS (Chongqing, Hefei, Anshan, Maanshan, Pingdingshan and Shenyang), an economic profile of the top 20 emerging cities in China.^[4]

Transportation[link]

Hefei has been the provincial capital since 1949 (before it was Anqing) and is a natural center of transportation, 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 is easy water transport via the lake to the Yangtze River opposite Wuhu.

Important land routes run through Hefei — east-west from Pukou (opposite Nanjing in Jiangsu) to Xi'an (in Shaanxi) and north-south from Xuzhou (in Jiangsu) and Bengbu to Anqing (both in Anhui).

There are also two train stations in Hefei, the new one was built a few years ago and the old one is no longer used by the public.

In 2008 the thoroughfare Chang Jiang Lu (Chang Jiang Road) (长江路) is undergoing a renovation project to widen the roads and to create a bus route in the center of the road, with bus stations at islands that are connected to the sidewalks by skyways. The First Ring Road is also undergoing construction, with traffic lights being replaced by overpasses and ramps built to connect the First Ring Road and all major intersecting roads. Both projects are intended to ease the traffic Hefei now experiences at rush hour.

Hefei Luogang International Airport provides scheduled passenger service to major airports in China and some international cities as well. The domestic destinations include Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Chongqing, Kunming, Harbin, etc. The international destinations include Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei (Taoyuan International Airport and Songshan Airport), Seoul (Incheon International Airport) and Singapore (Changi International Airport). The new Hefei Xinqiao International Airport is currently under construction and supposed to start operation in May, 2012.

• China National Highway 312

Subway[link]

The plan of "Hefei Subway line 1" has been recently approved by National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) in July 2010. Hefei Subway will be a rapid transit rail network that serves both urban and rural areas of Hefei Municipality. As planned,it will cover a total distance of 24 kilometers starting from Hefei Railway Station. It is currently under construction and is expected to be finished by the end of 2014.

Bus Rapid Transit[link]

There are two major lines of BRT in Hefei.The 1st line ranges from the square of municipal government to the Binhu New Area(simplified Chinese:"滨湖新区"）.It connects the old urban district to the Binhu New Area..

Research[link]

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 (Tokamak) 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.

Hefei is the location of EAST, an experimental superconducting tokamak magnetic fusion energy reactor.

Universities[link]

An overview of USTC, including the Teaching Building II and the library

• 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 Agricultural University (AHAU) (安徽农业大学)
• Anhui Medical University (AHMU) (安徽医科大学)
• Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (AHTCM) (安徽中医学院)
• Anhui Institute of Architecture and Industry (AIAI) (安徽建筑工业学院)
• Hefei Normal University (HNU) (合肥师范学院)
• Hefei University (HFU) (合肥学院)

Sport[link]

Hefei has its own football team called Anhui Jiufang (安徽九方),who in the 2007-08 season were promoted from the Chinese Football Association Yi League to the Chinese Football Association Jia League which is the second highest tier of Chinese football.

Sites of interest[link]

• Xiaoyao Ford, a public park sitting on the ancient site of the Battle of Xiaoyao Ford.
• Temple of Lord Bao, built in 1066 near the tomb of Lord Bao.
• Li Hongzhang's Former Residence (李鸿章故居), built in the late 19th century and fully restored by the 1990s.
• Hui Garden (徽园) (Opened to the public in September 2001)
• Children's Welfare Institute (a.k.a. "Social Welfare Institute"), children's orphanage
• Anhui Laomingguang Stadium, the home ground of Anhui Jiufang, but also used for other public sporting events.

International relations[link]

Twin towns — sister cities[link]

Hefei is twinned with:

• Kurume, Japan (May 20, 1980)
• Freetown, Sierra Leone (March 20, 1984)
• Bujumbura, Burundi (July 7, 1986)
• Columbus, Ohio, United States (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, United Kingdom (December 26, 2003)

Notable people[link]

• 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.
• Duan Qirui (1865–1936), the Provisional Chief Executive of Republic of China (in Beijing) from November 24, 1924 to April 20, 1926.
• Yang Yuanqing (b. 1964), Chairman of Board of Lenovo.
• Liu Mingchuan (1836–1896). Statesman during the late Qing dynasty, first governor of Taiwan.
• Jin Jing (b. 1981), paralympic fencer.

References[link]

1. ^ Inter alia: Mitchell Sr., S.A. A New Universal Atlas Containing Maps of the various Empires, Kingdoms, States and Republics Of The World. "China." Entered 1850, Published 1853.
2. ^ ^{a b} "中国地面国际交换站气候标准值月值数据集（1971－2000年）" (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. http://cdc.cma.gov.cn/shuju/search1.jsp?dsid=SURF_CLI_CHN_MUL_MMON_19712000_CES&tpcat=SURF&type=table&pageid=3. Retrieved 2010-05-24. 
3. ^ (Chinese) Compilation by LianXin website. Data from the Sixth National Population Census of the People's Republic of China
4. ^ THE RISE OF THE ‘CHAMPS’ - NEW REPORT MAPS BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY IN CHINA’S FASTEST GROWING CITIES

External links[link]

Look up hefei in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Hefei

• - Hefei Online Government