Intro to Anhui
Ānhuī province (安徽省 Ānhuī Shěng) is located in eastern China. The province lies across the basins of the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River and covers an area of 139,400km2. The city of Hefei is the provincial capital. Anhui is landlocked with no coast. It is surrounded by six other provinces. To the north, Anhui has a short border with Shandong. Jiangsu province lies to the east, Zhejiang to the southeast, to the south is Jiangxi, then Hube to the southwest and Henan completes the Northwest corner. The population of Anhui is 64.61 million people, of which 99% are of Han ethnicity and 0.6% belong to the Hui ethnic group.
History of Anhui
The prefecture didn't exist untill the 17th century, however, the region has been central to many events in China's long history. The originator of the ancient Shang Dynasty, King Tang of Shang, set up his capital in the city Bo (亳). This was near modern day Bózhōu (亳州) in what is now Northern Anhui. At this time, between 1600 and 1100 B.C. the population of the area consisted of the Dongyi people, a non-sinitic ethnic group. In the Warring States period (475-221 B.C.) the city of Shouchun, today's Shouxian County, became the capital of the state of Chu for a breif period before the Chu fell to the Qin in 278 B.C. Shouchun again rose to importance in during the peroid of the Three Kingdoms when it was the centre of the Wei Kingdom. The Battle of Feishui (383 AD) between the Former Qin of the north and the Eastern Jin Dynasty of the south, took place in modern Anhui.
In 1667, the sixth year of the Qing Emperor Kangxi, the provice was created with the provincial capital in Anqing city. The borders have remained relitivly unchanged to this day. In 1946, the provincial capital was moved to Hefei.
Culture of Anhui
Han Chinese make up the vast majority of the population. The She and Hui nationalities are the two largest minorities.
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 Huizhou 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 Huizhou-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 Huizhou-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).
Industry of Anhui
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). One of the famous Anhui-based corporations is the automobile company Chery, which is based in Wuhu.
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 2008 was approximately 887.4 billion yuan (ca.US$128 billion), up 12.7% from 2007 and a per capita of 14,485 yuan (US$2,085). It is considered a mid-size economy in terms of economic output.
