Anqing (, also Nganking, formerly Hwaining, now the name of Huaining County) is a

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of Chi ...

in the southwest of

Anhui Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze Riv ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

, People's Republic of China. Its population was 4,165,284 as of the 2020 census, with 804,493 living in the built-up (''or metro'') area made of 3 urban Districts. Anqing is famous as the birthplace of

Chen Duxiu Chen Duxiu ( zh, t=陳獨秀, w=Ch'en Tu-hsiu; 8 October 187927 May 1942) was a Chinese revolutionary socialist, educator, philosopher and author, who co-founded the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with Li Dazhao in 1921. From 1921 to 1927, he ...

, one of the founding fathers of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

and served as the first

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount lead ...

from 1921 to 1928.

History

Anqing was held by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom for almost nine years, from June 1853 to December 1861. It served as the capital of the Taiping's Anhui province during this period. The final Battle of Anqing and Qing attempt to retake the city began in 1860, and the Xiang Army and other Qing forces were able to retake the city by December 1861.

Culture

The people of Anqing have a unique dialect that belongs to the

Gan Chinese Gan, Gann or Kan is a group of Sinitic languages spoken natively by many people in the Jiangxi province of China, as well as significant populations in surrounding regions such as Hunan, Hubei, Anhui, and Fujian. Gan is a member of the Sini ...

branch and is therefore quite different from the rest of the province, which is predominantly Huizhou-speaking.

Administration

The

of Anqing administers 10 county-level divisions, including 3

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

, 2

county-level cities A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

and 5 counties. *

District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

** Yingjiang District () ** Daguan District () ** Yixiu District () *

County-level city A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

** Tongcheng () ** Qianshan () *

County A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

** Huaining County () ** Taihu County () ** Susong County () ** Wangjiang County () ** Yuexi County ()

Geography

Anqing is located in the southwestern part of Anhui province, and on the northern shore of the lower Yangtze. To the north are the

Dabie Mountains The Dabie Mountains () are a major mountain range located in central China. Running northwest-to-southeast, they form the main watershed between the Huai and Yangtze rivers. The range also marks the boundary between Hubei Province and its neigh ...

. Neighbouring prefectures are: * Tongling (E) *

Chizhou Chizhou () is a prefecture-level city in the south of Anhui province, China. It borders Anqing to the northwest, Tongling and Wuhu to the northeast, Xuancheng to the east, Huangshan to the southeast, and the province of Jiangxi to the southwes ...

(SE) *

Jiujiang Jiujiang (), formerly transliterated Kiukiang or Kew Keang, is a prefecture-level city located on the southern shores of the Yangtze River in northwest Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. It is the second-largest prefecture-level cit ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

(S) *

Huanggang Huanggang is a prefecture-level city in easternmost Hubei Province, China. It is situated to the north of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and is bounded in the north by the Dabie Mountains and is named after Mount Huanggang. It borde ...

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The p ...

(W) * Lu'an (N) *

Hefei Hefei (; ) is the capital and largest city of Anhui Province, People's Republic of China. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, and cultural center of Anhui. Its population was 9,369,881 as of the 2020 census and its built-up ( ...

(NE) The total area of the prefecture is , with an urban area of , which is only 3.4% of the total.

Climate

Anqing has a four-season,

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

-influenced

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

( Köppen ''Cfa''), with chilly, damp winters and very hot, humid summers. Cold northwesterly winds from Siberia can occasionally cause nightly temperatures to drop below freezing (although snow is uncommon), while summer can see extended periods of + days. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July, while the annual mean is . Precipitation tends to reach a maximum in tandem with the '' meiyu'' (plum rains) while wintertime rainfall is generally light. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 30% in March to 54% in August, the city receives 1,831 hours of bright sunshine annually.

Transport

Anqing has one Yangtze River crossing, the Anqing Yangtze River Bridge. Anqing Tianzhushan Airport serves the city. The

Nanjing–Anqing Intercity Railway The Nanjing–Anqing intercity railway () is a high-speed rail, passenger-dedicated line between cities of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province and Anqing, Anhui Province, in China. Construction of the railway began in January 2010, and the line was opened ...

opened in December 2015, allowing a 90-minute journey time to

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu Provinces of China, province of the China, People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and t ...

, and 3 hours to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

. Wuhan-Hangzhou High-Speed Railway is also under construction. One of the bus operators in Anqing, the Anqing Zhongbei Bus Company, is owned by a joint venture between Nanjing Public Utilities Development (formerly Nanjing Zhongbei) and

RATP Dev Transdev Asia RATP Dev Asia is a subsidiary of RATP Dev that operates public transport services in Asia. It was previously the RATP Dev Transdev Asia (RDTA), a 50/50 joint venture owned by RATP Dev and Transdev until October 2020. It was originally Veolia T ...

(RDTA). RDTA itself is a joint venture between

Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a French-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. History The group was formed by the merger of ...

and

RATP Dev RATP may refer to: Transportation: * RATP Group, or ', a public transport operator based in Paris, France * RATP Iași (), a transit operator responsible for public transportation in Iași, Romania * RATP Ploiești (), a transit operator respons ...

Tourism

Zhenfeng Pagoda The Zhenfeng Pagoda () in Anqing City, Anhui Province, People's Republic of China, is a Buddhist pagoda originally built in 1570 during the Ming Dynasty. Due to its location near a bend in the Yangtze River, the pagoda was formerly used as a ligh ...

, built in 1570 during the

Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

, is located in Anqing on the banks of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

. * Little Orphan, a rock hill in the middle of Yangtze River in

Susong Susong County () is a county in the southwest of Anhui Province, situated on the northwest (left) bank of the Yangtze, bordering the provinces of Hubei to the west and Jiangxi to the south. It is located in the southwest of the jurisdiction of the ...

Sister cities

Calabasas, California Calabasas (from Spanish ''calabazas'' " gourds") is a city in the southwestern region of the San Fernando Valley, between the foothills of the Santa Monica and Santa Susanna mountains.Sister-city delegation from Anqing, China meets in Calabasas
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References

External links

Government website of Anqing

City planning website of Anqing
{{Authority control Populated places established in the 2nd century BC Cities in Anhui Populated places on the Yangtze River