Huangshan (city)

Huangshan (), is a prefecture-level city in southern Anhui Province, People's Republic of China. Huangshan means ''Yellow Mountain'' in Chinese and the city is named after the famously scenic Yellow Mountains which cover much of the city's vast geographic expanse. The prefectural city of Huangshan includes three urban districts and four counties. The urban center of Huangshan was originally the city of Tunxi and is now called Tunxi District. Locals still call the city Tunxi to distinguish urban core from other parts of Huangshan.

Huangshan occupies the southernmost part of Anhui. It is bordered by Chizhou to the northwest, Xuancheng to the northeast, Jiangxi Province to the southwest and Zhejiang Province to the southeast. Huangshan's history dates back to the time of the First Emperor. The city's current jurisdiction covers much of the historical and cultural region of Huizhou (), which together with Anqing formed the name of Anhui Province. Huangshan is home to two UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Mount Huangshan and Hongcun and Xidi, the ancient villages of Southern Anhui. It is a major tourist destination in China.

Administration

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

* Tunxi District ()
* Huangshan District ()
* Huizhou District ()
* She County ()
* Xiuning County ()
* Yi County ()
* Qimen County ()

These are further divided into 145 township-level divisions, including 58 towns, 43 townships and 4 subdistricts.

Geography and Climate

Lower elevations of Huangshan City have a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen ''Cfa''), with short, cool winters and long, very hot and humid summers. At the central Tunxi District, the monthly mean temperature ranges from in January to in July, and the annual mean is . Precipitation is concentrated in spring and the earlier part of summer, and, at annually, is very high for the province, and more than double than the normal annual precipitation in northern parts of the province.

Economy

Huangshan is famous for its tea, including Keemun tea, which is produced in Qimen County, and Maofeng green tea. The city is also home to significant tourism, centered on Mount Huang and including other scenic and historic sites (such as Xidi and Hongcun), which it has promoted to international markets in recent years.

Transportation

Due to rugged terrain, Huangshan was historically a secluded region. The Xinan River provided an outlet to the east. Winding, narrow roads through Huang Mountains made trips to Xuancheng, Wuhu, Guichi and the Yangtze River slow and arduous. In recent decades, improvements to the transportation infrastructure have made the city and its surrounding tourist attractions more accessible.

Air

The Huangshan Tunxi International Airport, also referred to as the Tunxi Airport, is located in Tunxi District and is known by the IATA abbreviation TXN. The airport was opened in October 1959, and has been expanded five times, including an expansion in 2000. The airport offers regular flights to cities across China, as well as Seoul, Hong Kong, and Taipei. The airport also offers chartered flights to Incheon, Nagasaki, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other regional destinations.

Rail

Huangshan's main passenger station is now Huangshan North station, which is accessible via high-speed rail over the Hefei–Fuzhou high-speed railway and the Hangzhou–Huangshan intercity railway. Trains run from Huangshan to many cities.

Until 2015, Huangshan City was served by one railway line, the Anhui–Jiangxi Railway. The line, which was completed in 1982 and has stations in Jixi County, She County, Tunxi District, Xiuning County, and Qimen County. Trains formerly ran from Huangshan Station in Tunxi to Nanjing, Shanghai, Bengbu, Huaibei, Qingdao and Beijing among other cities in the north, and stops in the south included Jingdezhen, Yingtan, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Kunming. Trains still run to , and .

Road

Major expressways which pass through Huangshan City include the G56 Hangzhou–Ruili Expressway, the G3 Beijing–Taipei Expressway, and National Route G205.

The Hefei-Tongling-Huangshan Expressway heads north to Tongling on the Yangtze River and then to Hefei, the provincial capital of Anhui. The Huangshan-Taling-Taolin Expressway and Anhui Provincial Route S326, also pass through the city.

Cultural history

In the Ming dynasty, (; 1518–1595), a native of Qimen County, wrote the opera '' Mulian Rescues His Mother'' According to local legend, Zheng was blind when he wrote the opera and was restored to full sight by a grateful Guanyin (the legend also has it that when Zheng later wrote a love story he went blind again).

In 2011, Local authorities promoted performance of the Ming dynasty play ''Mulian Rescues His Mother'' as a tourist attraction.Mulian Opera 'Ghost Drama' RevivalWomen of China
March 24, 2011.

Notable people

* Zhang Rongqiao (b.1966), physicist and aerospace engineer, served as the chief designer of Tianwen-1 Mars mission
* Gloria Ai (b.1987), business anchorwoman and author

Other notes

In early 2008, the BBC broadcast a series of 5 documentaries on life for schoolchildren in China, called "Chinese School". One of the three schools documented was Xiuning High School, the top school in the county. This was situated in the town of Xiuning, in the county of Xiuning in Huangshan.

Notes

Further reading

*

External links

Official websiteHuangshan Tours and Hotels '' Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home ''
provides a detailed look at life within the Huangshan District of East China through the examination of a Huang family residence built during the late Qing dynasty and occupied for over 200 years.

{{Authority control

Cities in Anhui