Wuhu

This article is about the city in China. For other uses, see Wuhu (disambiguation).

Wuhu 芜湖
—  Prefecture-level city  —
芜湖市
The business district of Wuhu seen at night from across the Mirror Lake
Country	China
Province	Anhui
County-level divisions	7
Township-level divisions
City seat	Jiujiang District (31°20′N 118°21′E)
Government
• CPC Secretary	Chen Shulong （陈树隆）
• Mayor	Yang Jiongnong（杨静农）
Area
• Prefecture-level city	3,318 km2 (1,281.1 sq mi)
• Urban	720 km2 (278 sq mi)
• Metro	444 km2 (171.4 sq mi)
Population (2010 census)
• Prefecture-level city	2,263,123
• Density	682.1/km2 (1,766.6/sq mi)
• Urban	1,009,824
• Urban density	1,402.5/km2 (3,632.5/sq mi)
• Metro	964,932
• Metro density	2,173.3/km2 (5,628.7/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Area code(s)	553
GDP（2009）	¥90.2 billion
GDP per capita	¥39,142
License Plate Prefix	皖B
Website	http://www.wuhu.gov.cn/

Wuhu (simplified Chinese: 芜湖; traditional Chinese: 蕪湖; pinyin: Wúhú; literally "Weedy Lake") is a prefecture-level city in the southeastern Anhui province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the southeast bank of the Yangtze River, Wuhu borders Xuancheng to the southeast, Chizhou and Tongling to the southwest, Chaohu to the northwest, Ma'anshan to the northeast, and the province of Jiangsu to the east(approximately 90 kilometers southwest to Nanjing).

Administration

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

• Sanshan District (三山区)
• Yijiang District (弋江区)
• Jinghu District (镜湖区)
• Jiujiang District (鸠江区)
• Wuhu County (芜湖县)
• Fanchang County (繁昌县)
• Nanling County (南陵县)

Demographics

According to the statistics by the end of 2008, the total population was estimated to be 2,263,123 whom 1,009,824 live in the 4 urban districts and 964,932 in the built up area made of 3 out of 4 urban districts. Vast majority of the local population are Han Chinese, though there are some Muslim Hui people as minorities. Jiang-Huai Mandarin, a branch of Mandarin Chinese, was widely spoken in urban area, while some people in the counties spoke Wu Chinese. Standard Chinese was commonly used in this area.

History

Wuhu is known to have been inhabited since at least 770 BCE. It became a strategically important town during the Three Kingdoms period (220 BC-65 AD), when it was controlled by the Eastern Wu. At this time it was known as Jiuzi (Chiu-tzu 鳩茲). Under the Ming dynasty Wuhu developed into a major commercial center and river port, and since that time has been known as a center of the rice trade.

In 1644, the Hongguang Emperor (better known as the Prince of Fu), one of the last emperors of the Ming Dynasty, was captured by forces of the new Qing Dynasty in Wuhu. The city became a treaty port in 1876 and has remained a commercial center since that time. The city's Roman Catholic cathedral, St. Joseph Cathedral (圣若瑟主教座堂), dates from this time. Most downtown area alongside the Yangtze River was ceded as the British concession.

Trade in rice, wood, and tea flourished at Wuhu until the Warlord Era of the 1920s and 1930s, when bandits were active in the area.

At the beginning of Second Sino-Japanese War,also part of the Second World War, Wuhu was occupied by Japan on Dec.10, 1937, which was also a prelude to the Battle of Nanking,ending in Nanking Massacre.Under the Japanese occupation in the Second World War, Chinese resistance fighters hid in the lakes around Wuhu, by submerging themselves and breathing through reeds.

Major industries began to be developed in Wuhu after the Second World War, with the development of the textile industry, shipbuilding ,and paper mills. Despite this, Wuhu had been lagged behind Ma'anshan and Tongling in industrial production for decades after the establishment of PRC, and remained primarily as a commercial center for trade in rice, silk, cotton, tea, wheat and eggs. However, with recent years' economic rise, Wuhu has also been a hub for manufacturing in the area.

Economy

The city is the second largest economy in Anhui province, after Hefei. In 2009, Wuhu’s GDP reached RMB 90.2 billion, an increase of 15.4% over the previous year. Its per capita GDP was RMB 39,142, with a year-on-year rise of 15.3%.

Wuhu Economic &Technological Development Area in the north of the city launched in 1993 is one of the first state-level economic & technological development area in Anhui province, also has the only export processing zone in the province. Chery Automobile and Anhui Conch Cement Company are both headquartered in this development area.

Wuhu is the fifth largest port alongside Yangtze River. Yuxikou Pier is the largest inland river coal harbor in China.

Transportation

Rail

Wuhu is served by the Anhui–Jiangxi and the Nanjing–Tongling Railways.

Culture

The great poet Li Bai spent his late life in Wuhu, it is said, due to its striking landscape. Li Bai was born in a Central Asian town and raised in the southwestern China. Xie Tiao, one of the most distinctive Six Dynasty poets whom he greatly admired, left many poems when holding positions here.

In the Tang dynasty (619-907), the poet Du Mu wrote a famous poem Thoughts on Staying Again at Wuhu. A factory in Wuhu carries on the local craft of making wrought iron pictures. Other local handicrafts are embossed lacquerware and rice straw pith patchwork. A famous stone tablet in Wuhu recording local events of the Song dynasty period (ca. 1000 AD) is considered to be a masterpiece of the renowned calligrapher Mi Fu. In the Western world, Wuhu is now known as the home city to many adopted Chinese children.

Folklore

An itinerant blacksmith named Tang Tianchi is reputed to have invented the wrought-iron picture in Wuhu, when a painter whom he admired chided him, "You will never make pictures by beating iron."

Another blacksmith of the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC) named Gan Jiang was famous for sword making. Zhe Shan (Reddish Brown Hill) is said to get its colour from the flames of Gan Jiang's furnace. Sheng Shan (Sacred Hill) is the legendary location of his sword grinding rock and tempering pool.

Food

Wuhu and Anqing are noted centers of the Yanjiang cuisine. It specializes in freshwater fish and poultry, and features special techniques of chopping, shaping, and colouring. The flavour of Yanjiang dishes is often enhanced by sweetening and smoking.

Tourism

• Mirror Lake (镜湖)
• Jiuzi Plaza (鸠兹广场）
• Yangtze Riverside Park(滨江公园）
• Mount Zhe, a hill park（赭山）
• Wuhu Olympic Stadium（奥林匹克体育场）
• Yangtze River Bridge Crossing （长江大桥）
• Fantawild Adventure(方特欢乐世界), one of the largest theme park in Chinese Mainland
• Phoenix Cuisine Boulevard(凤凰美食街)

Education

Universities & Colleges

• Anhui Normal University (安徽师笵大学)
• Wannan Medical College (皖南医学院)
• Anhui University of Technology and Science (安徽工程科技学院)
• Wuhu Radio and TV University(芜湖广播电视大学)
• Wuhu Vocational Institute of Technology(芜湖职业技术学院)
• Anhui Business College of Vocational Technology(安徽商贸职业技术学院)
• Anhui Technical College of mechanical and electrical engineering(安徽机电职业技术学院)
• Anhui college of CHinese traditional medicine(安徽中医药高等专科学校)
• Anhui vocational college of information technology(芜湖信息职业学院)

Notable High Schools

• Wuhu City No.1 High School（芜湖市第一中学）
• The High School Affiliated to Anhui Normal University （安徽师范大学附属中学）
• Nanling County No.1 High School （南陵县第一中学）
• Wuhu County No.1 High School （芜湖县第一中学）
• Wuhu City No.12 High School (芜湖市第十二中学)
• Fanchang County No.1 High School (繁昌县第一中学)

Notable people

• Xiao Yuncong (1596–1673), Ming Dynasty painter
• Zhao Wei (b. 1976), Actress
• Zhou Lüxin (b. 1988), Diver
• Nian Guangjiu (b. 1937), pioneer of entrepreneur in 1980s

Notable constructions

• 229 metre tall pylons of HVDC Yangtze River Crossing Wuhu, a part of HVDC Three Gorges-Changzhou. Tallest pylons used for HVDC.

Sister cities and friendly cities

• Kōchi, Japan
• Pavia, Italy
• Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain

External links

• Wuhu.Me- English Community of City Wuhu, Anhui. China (Share Your Life and Experience in Wuhu !)
• Government website of Wuhu (Chinese) (English) (Japanese)