Hefei

Hefei
合肥
Ho-fei, Luzhou, Luchow
—  Prefecture-level city  —
合肥市
Hefei Skyline
Location of Hefei Prefecture within Anhui
Hefei is located in China
Hefei
Location within China
Coordinates:
Country China
Province Anhui
County-level divisions 7
Government
 - CPC Committee Secretary Sun Jinlong (孙金龙)
 - Mayor Wu Cunrong (吴存荣)
Area
 - Total 7,266 km2 (2,805.4 sq mi)
Population (2009)
 - Total 4,914,300
 - Density 676.3/km2 (1,751.7/sq mi)
Time zone China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Postal code 230000
Area code(s) 551
License 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
Literal meaning Junction of the (South) Fei Rivers
other names in Chinese
Traditional Chinese #廬州
  1. 廬陽
  2. 合淝
Simplified Chinese #庐州
  1. 庐阳
  2. 合淝

Hefei (Chinese: 合肥; pinyin: Héféi; Wade–Giles: Hofei, Mandarin pronunciation: [xɤ˧˥fei̯˧˥]; also known as Luzhou or Luyang; former names: Ho-fei, Luzhou, Luchow) is a prefecture-level city and the capital of Anhui province, China. 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.

Contents

History

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 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-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 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–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 and climate

Hefei
Climate chart ()
J F M A M J J A S O N D
 
 
36
 
7
−1
 
 
50
 
9
1
 
 
78
 
14
6
 
 
79
 
21
12
 
 
95
 
26
17
 
 
155
 
29
21
 
 
162
 
32
25
 
 
120
 
32
24
 
 
75
 
27
19
 
 
69
 
22
13
 
 
53
 
16
7
 
 
24
 
10
1
average max. and min. temperatures in °C
precipitation totals in mm
source: CMA [1]

Geography

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

Hefei features a humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cfa) with four distinct seasons. Hefei's annual average temperature is 16.3 °C (61.3 °F). Its annual precipitation is 995 millimetres (39.2 in), being heavier from May through August. Winters here are cool, with average January lows dipping just below freezing. It snows irregularly, but rarely significantly, in the winter. Springs are generally relatively pleasant if somewhat erratic. Hefei’s summers are oppressively hot and humid. In the months of June, July, August, and often September, daily temperatures can reach highs of 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.

Climate data for Hefei (1971-2000)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 6.8
(44.2)		 8.7
(47.7)		 13.5
(56.3)		 20.7
(69.3)		 25.9
(78.6)		 29.0
(84.2)		 32.0
(89.6)		 31.9
(89.4)		 27.3
(81.1)		 22.1
(71.8)		 15.6
(60.1)		 9.7
(49.5)		 20.3
(68.5)
Average low °C (°F) −0.5
(31.1)		 1.2
(34.2)		 5.6
(42.1)		 11.9
(53.4)		 17.1
(62.8)		 21.4
(70.5)		 24.8
(76.6)		 24.2
(75.6)		 19.3
(66.7)		 13.3
(55.9)		 6.7
(44.1)		 1.3
(34.3)		 12.2
(54)
Precipitation mm (inches) 35.9
(1.413)		 50.4
(1.984)		 77.7
(3.059)		 78.9
(3.106)		 94.9
(3.736)		 155.2
(6.11)		 161.8
(6.37)		 119.6
(4.709)		 74.6
(2.937)		 69.2
(2.724)		 52.9
(2.083)		 24.1
(0.949)		 995.2
(39.181)
% Humidity 76 74 74 73 73 78 80 80 78 76 74 73 75.8
Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 8.0 8.5 12.2 10.6 10.7 11.2 12.1 10.0 8.8 8.7 7.6 5.4 113.8
Sunshine hours 121.6 114.5 128.7 163.2 188.0 171.4 196.7 203.2 157.0 161.4 152.7 143.9 1,902.3
Source: China Meteorological Administration [1]

Administrative divisions & Demographics

Demographics

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 four million people in the city, of which some are migrant workers from other parts of Anhui.

Administration

Subdivisions of Hefei

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

Hefei subdivision（County、City）Area and Population（End of 2007）
Location Area（km²） Resident population Registered Population
Hefei 7,029.48 4,910,000 4,789,046
Yaohai District 142.90 447,653
Luyang District 139.32 447,363
Shushan District 261.36 596,042
Baohe District 294.94 492,872
Changfeng County 1,922.24 791,538
Feidong County 2,215.53 1,102,621
Feixi County 2,053.19 910,957

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

Economy

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 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 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.

Transportation

Motorists along Shengli Road
Yuan Yi Shidai Square adjacent to Fengyang Road

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 the area with scheduled passenger service to major airports in China, including Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong.

Research

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.

Hefei is the location of EAST, the world's first experimental superconducting tokamak magnetic fusion energy reactor.

Universities

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

Sport

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

Hefei map

International relations

Twin towns — sister cities

Hefei is twinned with:

Notable people

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "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. 

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