Wuhu

This article is about the prefecture-level city. For the county, see Wuhu County. For other uses, see Wuhu (disambiguation).

Wuhu 芜湖市
Prefecture-level city
Location of Wuhu in Anhui
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Anhui
County-level divisions	8
Municipal seat	Jiujiang District
Government
• Party Secretary	Pan Zhaohui (潘朝晖)
• Mayor	He Maoxie (贺懋燮)
Area
• Prefecture-level city	6,048.5 km2 (2,335.3 sq mi)
• Urban	1,064.7 km2 (411.1 sq mi)
• Metro	175 km2 (68 sq mi)
Elevation	7.9 m (26 ft)
Population  (2017 census)
• Prefecture-level city	3,696,000
• Density	610/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
• Urban	2,400,500
• Urban density	2,300/km2 (5,800/sq mi)
• Metro	1,665,000
• Metro density	9,500/km2 (25,000/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)
Area code	0553
ISO 3166 code	CN-AH-02
GDP (2017)	¥306.552 billion
GDP per capita	¥82942 US$12284
License Plate Prefix	皖B
Website	www.wuhu.gov.cn

Wuhu (simplified Chinese: 芜湖; traditional Chinese: 蕪湖; pinyin: Wúhú; literally "Weedy Lake") is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Anhui province, China. Sitting on the southeast bank of the Yangtze River, Wuhu borders Xuancheng to the southeast, Chizhou and Tongling to the southwest, Hefei city to the northwest, Ma'anshan city to the northeast, Jiangsu Province to the east, and is approximately 90 km (56 mi) southwest of Nanjing. As of 2017, the city had a population of approximately 3,696,000 officially registered inhabitants.

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Wuhu administers 8 county-level divisions, including 4 districts 1 county-level city, and 3 counties.

Name	Simplified Chinese	Pinyin	Population	Postal Code
Sanshan District	三山区	Sānshān Qū	150,000	241080
Yijiang District	弋江区	Yìjiāng Qū	328,000	241002
Jinghu District	镜湖区	Jìnghú Qū	555,000	340202
Jiujiang District	鸠江区	Jiūjiāng Qū	61,000	241000
Wuwei city	无为市	Wúwéi shì	1,033,000	238300
Wuhu County	芜湖县	Wúhú Xiàn	299,000	241100
Fanchang County	繁昌县	Fánchāng Xiàn	268,000	241200
Nanling County	南陵县	Nánlíng Xiàn	550,500	241300

Map
Sanshan Yijiang Jinghu Jiujiang Wuhu County Fanchang County Nanling County Wuwei (city)

Demographics

Population

By the end of 2017, the total population was estimated to be 3,842,100，of whom 1,665,000 live in the 4 urban districts and the others live in the counties. The city has over 47 ethnic minorities present — the largest being the Muslim population. There are other ethnic minorities with over 500 inhabitants in the city: Yi, Tujia, Miao, Zhuang, and Manchu.

Language

Jiang-Huai Mandarin, a branch of Mandarin Chinese, was widely spoken in urban area, while some people in the counties spoke Wu Chinese. Putonghua, or Standard Mandarin was commonly used in this area.

History

A heritage building: the No. 11 Middle School in Wuhu

Wuhu is known to have been inhabited since at least 770 BCE. It became a strategically important town during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD), when it was controlled by the Eastern Wu. At this time it was known as Jiuzi (Chiu-tzu 鸠兹). 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. During the Taiping Rebellion, Wuhu exchanges hands over five times between Taiping and Imperial forces. 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's Cathedral (圣若瑟主教座堂), dates from this time. Most of the downtown area alongside the Yangtze River was ceded in 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 the Second Sino-Japanese War, part of the Second World War, Wuhu was occupied by Japan on December 10, 1937. This was a prelude to the Battle of Nanjing, ending in the Nanjing Massacre. Under Japanese occupation, 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 lagging behind Ma'anshan and Tongling in industrial production for decades after the establishment of the People's Republic of China and remained primarily a commercial center for trade in rice, silk, cotton, tea, wheat and eggs. However, with recent years' economic rise, Wuhu has become a hub for manufacturing.

In July 2016, Nanling and Wuwei counties suffered serious damage from heavy rain.

Economy

The city is the second largest economy in Anhui, after Hefei, the provincial capital. In 2017, Wuhu’s GDP reached RMB 306.552 billion. Its per capita GDP was RMB 83880 (~$12426).

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

Bus

Buses in Wuhu start at ¥1 for a general bus and ¥2 for air-conditioned buses.

Taxi

During the day, taxis start at ¥7; after 2.5 km, the price increases at ¥1.8 per km. From 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. taxis start at ¥8 and after 2.5 km, the prices increase at a rate of ¥2.5 for each additional km. There is a free 4 minutes of waiting time due to traffic/red lights. Afterwards it's an additional ¥0.34 for every minute during the day and ¥0.38 for every minute at night.

Airport

There is no civilian airport in Wuhu but there is a military airport used by the People's Liberation Army Air Force.

Bridge

Wuhu has one Yangtze River crossing—the Wuhu Yangtze River Bridge, opened in 2000, carries the G5011 Wuhu–Hefei Expressway and Huainan Railway.

Train

Wuhu is served by the Anhui–Jiangxi, Nanjing–Tongling and Huainan Railways. It only takes 2.5 hours from Shanghai to Wuhu by high-speed train.

Metro system

Main article: Wuhu Rail Transit

Wuhu Rail Transit Line 1 and Line 2 are under construction and scheduled to be operational by the end of 2019.

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. Shen Shan (Sacred Hill) is the legendary location of his sword grinding rock and tempering pool.

Cuisine

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.

Religion/Medicine

The New York Methodist Mission Society's Superintendent Virgil C. Hart arrived in Wuhu in 1881, intent on purchasing a piece of property to build the city's first Methodist Church and western hospital. V.C. Hart was able to secure the Yichisan Hill before the angered British, who wanted the property to build a consulate and naval base. The Yichisan Hospital is Anhui's oldest/continuous western hospital. Dr. Edgerton H. Hart (V.C. Hart's eldest son) became the hospital's Director in 1895 and continued at that capacity until his death in April 1913. Caroline Maddock arrived in Wuhu in October, 1904, to serve as the General Hospital's Head Nurse. Caroline Maddock would marry Dr. Edgerton Hart in October,1907. In 1909, Caroline and four other Nurses founded the Nurses Association of China and she served as its first president; this association still represents China's Nurse profession.

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 (奥林匹克体育馆)
• Yangtze River Bridge Crossing（长江大桥）
• Fantawild Adventure, one of the largest theme parks in the Chinese Mainland （方特乐园-四座）
• Phoenix Cuisine Boulevard (凤凰美食街)
• Sculpture Park（雕塑公园）

Education

Universities and Colleges

• Anhui Normal University
• Anhui University of Technology and Science
• Wannan Medical College
• Wuhu Radio and TV University (芜湖广播电视大学)
• Wuhu 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)

High Schools

• Wuhu City No. 1 High School(芜湖市第一中学)
• High School Affiliated to Anhui Normal University（安徽师范大学附属中学）
• 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)

Health care system

Notable hospitals

• Yijishan Hospital (弋矶山医院, or Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College (皖南医学院附属弋矶山医院)
• Xuancheng Area Hospital (宣城地区人民医院), or Second Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College (皖南医学院第二附属医院)
• Wuhu Second Hospital (芜湖市第二人民医院)
• Wuhu First Hospital (芜湖市第一人民医院)
• Wuhu Third Hospital (芜湖市第三人民医院)
• Wuhu Fourth Hospital (芜湖市第四人民医院)
• Wuhu Fifth Hospital (芜湖市第五人民医院)
• Wuhu Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine (芜湖市中医院)
• Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Wuhu City (芜湖市妇幼保健院)
• Wuhu Red Cross Hospital (芜湖市红十字医院)

Related health care settings

• Wuhu CDC (芜湖市疾病预防控制中心)
• Wuhu Center of Blood (芜湖市中心血站)

Notable people

• Xiao Yuncong (1596–1673), Ming Dynasty painter
• Zhao Wei (born 1976), actress
• Zhou Lüxin (born 1988), diver
• Wang Ying, (1913–1974) actress and author
• Jackie Chan (born 1954), actor and martial artist (father from Wuhu)
• Chen Duxiu Chen Duxiu (Chinese: 陳獨秀; Wade–Giles: Ch'en Tu-hsiu; October 8, 1879 – May 27, 1942) was a Chinese revolutionary socialist, educator, philosopher and author, who co-founded the Chinese Communist Party (with Li Dazhao) in 1921, serving from 1921 to 1927 as its first General Secretary. (teacher of Wanjiang school.)

Notable constructions

• 229 metres (751 ft) tall pylons of HVDC Yangtze River Crossing Wuhu, a part of HVDC Three Gorges-Changzhou, are the tallest pylons used for HVDC.

Sister cities and friendly cities

• Kōchi, Kōchi Prefecture, Japan
• Pavia, Lombardy, Italy
• Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain
• West Covina, California, United States

External links

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