Province · East China
Anhui
安徽
Yellow Mountain, Huizhou villages and the plains of the Huai
Anhui is an inland province of eastern China, crossed from west to east by the Huai River and the Yangtze. Its capital is Hefei; the province is known for the granite peaks of Huangshan, the whitewashed villages and merchant culture of Huizhou, the Buddhist mountain of Jiuhua, Xuan paper and Hui ink, and one of China's Eight Great Cuisines. In recent decades it has become a centre of science, electric vehicles and display technology.
Key facts
- Capital
- Hefei
- Abbreviation
- 皖 (Wǎn)
- Area
- about 140,100 km²[1]
- Resident population
- 60.82 million(as of end of 2025)[2]
- Gross regional product
- CNY 5.30 trillion(as of 2025)[2]
- Census population
- 61.03 million(as of 2020 census)[3]
- Divisions
- 16 prefecture-level cities[1]
- UNESCO World Heritage sites
- 3, one of them shared (1990–2014)[4]
Profile
- Chinese name
- 安徽
- Abbreviation (简称)
- 皖
- Type
- Province
- Region
- East China
- Capital
- Hefei
- Area
- about 140,100 km²
- Divisions
- 16 prefecture-level cities
- Ethnic groups
- Han, Hui, She, Manchu
- Languages
- Jianghuai Mandarin, Central Plains Mandarin, Hui, Gan, Wu
Languages
Jianghuai Mandarin
江淮官话
The speech of Hefei and the centre of the province.
Central Plains Mandarin
中原官话
Spoken in the north around Bengbu, Huaibei, Fuyang and Bozhou.
Hui
徽语
A group of highly divergent dialects in the old Huizhou prefecture, sometimes classed with Wu; neighbouring villages may barely understand one another.
Gan
赣语
Spoken around Anqing in the south-west.
Wu
吴语
Spoken in parts of Xuancheng and Wuhu in the south-east.
Name and abbreviation
The name joins the first characters of two Qing prefectures, Anqing (安庆), the provincial seat for most of the period from 1760 to the 1940s, and Huizhou (徽州), home of the famous merchants. The province was created in 1667 when the Qing divided Jiangnan. The abbreviation 皖 comes from the ancient state of Wan, and the Wan Mountain (Tianzhu Shan) near Anqing.
Historic names
皖
Zhou-era state around Qianshan in the south-west of the province, source of the abbreviation.
徽州
Prefecture of six counties in the southern mountains (1121–1987), whose name stands for a whole culture of merchants, architecture and scholarship.
江北
“North of the river” — the Huaibei and Jianghuai lands, historically distinct from Wannan south of the Yangtze.
庐州
The historic prefecture of Hefei.
Land and climate
Anhui falls into three regions. North of the Huai River is the flat Huaibei plain, part of the North China Plain, with wheat fields and coal mines. Between the Huai and the Yangtze lie the rolling Jianghuai hills, the Dabie Mountains in the west and Chaohu, one of China's five largest freshwater lakes. South of the Yangtze, Wannan is mountainous and green: Huangshan, Jiuhuashan and the Tianmu ranges, with narrow valleys that sheltered the Huizhou villages.
Landforms
Huangshan (Yellow Mountain)
黄山
Granite peaks rising to Lotus Peak (1,864 m), the highest point of the province; a World Heritage site.
Jiuhuashan
九华山
One of the Four Sacred Mountains of Chinese Buddhism, devoted to the bodhisattva Dizang (Ksitigarbha).
Dabie Mountains
大别山
Range on the border with Hubei and Henan, the watershed between the Yangtze and the Huai.
Tianzhu Shan
天柱山
Granite mountain near Anqing, anciently called Wan Mountain; a UNESCO Global Geopark.
Huaibei Plain
淮北平原
Loess and alluvial plain north of the Huai, the province's granary.
Rivers and lakes
Yangtze River
长江
Crosses the south of the province past Anqing, Chizhou, Tongling, Wuhu and Ma'anshan.
Huai River
淮河
Flows east across the centre; its floods shaped the history of the plain, and major works since the 1950s have tried to tame it.
Xin'an River
新安江
Rises in Huangshan and flows into Zhejiang as the upper Qiantang; the route of Huizhou merchants to Hangzhou.
Chaohu
巢湖
Large shallow lake south of Hefei, now largely surrounded by the city.
Climate
The Huai River roughly divides a warm temperate north from a humid subtropical south. Summers are hot and humid, with the plum rains in June and July; winters are cold, especially on the northern plain and in the mountains, where snow and rime make Huangshan a popular winter sight. Spring and autumn are the best seasons for the mountains and villages.
History
Anhui's north belongs to the old heartland of Chinese civilisation: Laozi and Zhuangzi are associated with its Huai valley, and Bozhou was the home of Cao Cao. Shouchun (Shouxian) was the last capital of the state of Chu, and the Battle of Fei River in 383 kept northern invaders from the south. The Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang came from Fengyang. In the south, Huizhou merchants dominated salt, tea and pawnbroking across the empire from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century and built the villages of Xidi and Hongcun. The Taiping war devastated the province, and Li Hongzhang's Huai Army, raised in Hefei, became a power in late-Qing politics. In 1978 farmers in Xiaogang village in Fengyang secretly divided collective land into household plots, the start of China's rural reforms.
4th–3rd century BCE
Laozi and Zhuangzi traditions
Tradition places Laozi in the Guoyang–Luyi area on the Anhui–Henan border and Zhuangzi in Mengcheng, making the Huai valley a cradle of Daoist thought.
241–223 BCE
Shouchun, last capital of Chu
The great southern state of the Warring States period made Shouchun its capital before the Qin conquest.
383
Battle of Fei River
The Eastern Jin defeated the much larger army of the Former Qin near Shouxian, preserving the southern dynasties.
1368
Zhu Yuanzhang of Fengyang founds the Ming
The peasant-born emperor built a vast Middle Capital at Fengyang, abandoned before completion.
16th–19th century
The Huizhou merchants
Merchants from Huizhou dominated the salt trade of Yangzhou and much of China's commerce, investing their profits in villages, ancestral halls and scholarship.
1667
Anhui province created
The Qing split the Jiangnan province into Jiangsu and Anhui.
1861
Anqing Arsenal
Zeng Guofan founded one of the first modern arsenals in China at Anqing, where China's first steamship was built.
1862
Li Hongzhang raises the Huai Army
Recruited in the Hefei region to fight the Taiping, it became the military basis of Li's power in the late Qing.
1958 and 1970
University of Science and Technology of China
Founded in Beijing in 1958 and moved to Hefei in 1970, it made the city a national science centre.
1978
Xiaogang village contract
Eighteen farming households in Fengyang secretly contracted collective land to families — the origin of the household responsibility system.
World heritage
World Heritage sites
Mixed · inscribed 1990
黄山
Granite peaks, gnarled pines, hot springs and seas of cloud, celebrated in art and literature since the Tang.
Cultural · inscribed 2000
Ancient Villages in Southern Anhui – Xidi and Hongcun
皖南古村落—西递、宏村
Two Huizhou villages that preserve their street plans, water systems, ancestral halls and carved houses from the Ming and Qing.
Cultural · inscribed 2014 · shared
大运河
Anhui's components are sections of the Sui-era Tongji canal at Liuzi (Huaibei) and in Sixian.
Intangible cultural heritage (UNESCO lists)
Inscribed 2009
Traditional handicrafts of making Xuan paper
宣纸传统制作技艺
Paper made in Jing county from blue sandalwood bark and rice straw, prized by calligraphers and painters for its absorbency and durability.
Inscribed 2022
Traditional tea processing techniques and associated social practices in China
中国传统制茶技艺及其相关习俗
Includes Huangshan Maofeng, Taiping Houkui, Lu'an Guapian and Keemun black tea.
Culture
Anhui is several cultures in one province. Huizhou culture in the south — merchants who valued learning, villages of white walls and horse-head gables, carved wood, brick and stone, a school of painting and a school of Confucian scholarship — is its best-known face. The Jianghuai centre gave rise to Huangmei opera and to the Tongcheng school of prose, and the north shares the robust culture of the Central Plain, with flower-drum lantern dances and the legacy of Cao Cao and the Daoist sages.
醉翁之意不在酒，在乎山水之间也。Zuìwēng zhī yì bù zài jiǔ, zài hū shānshuǐ zhī jiān yě.
“The Old Drunkard's heart is not in the wine; it is in the mountains and the streams.”
— Ouyang Xiu, “Record of the Old Drunkard's Pavilion” (醉翁亭记), written at Chuzhou, 1046
Opera, music and dance
Huangmei opera
黄梅戏
Folk-song-based opera of the Anqing region, popularised nationwide by the 1955 film The Heavenly Match (天仙配).
Hui opera
徽剧
Anhui troupes that performed in Beijing from 1790 laid the foundation of Peking opera.
Fengyang flower drum
凤阳花鼓
Songs accompanied by small drums, once performed by famine refugees from Fengyang.
Flower-drum lantern dance
花鼓灯
Energetic folk dance of the Huai River region.
Crafts
Xuan paper
宣纸
The finest paper for calligraphy and painting, made in Jing county.
Hui ink
徽墨
Pine-soot ink sticks moulded with decoration, made in Shexian and Jixi since the Southern Tang.
She inkstones
歙砚
Inkstones of fine slate from the Longwei Mountain region, one of China's four famous inkstones.
Huizhou three carvings
徽州三雕
Wood, brick and stone carving on the gates, beams and screens of Huizhou houses.
Wuhu iron pictures
芜湖铁画
Landscapes forged from wrought iron in the manner of ink painting, a craft of the Qing period.
Festivals and customs
Ancestral hall rites
祠堂祭祖
Clan ceremonies in the ancestral halls of Huizhou villages, especially at Spring Festival and Qingming.
Dizang festival at Jiuhuashan
地藏法会
Pilgrims gather on the 30th day of the seventh lunar month, the traditional birthday of Dizang.
Huizhou guild halls
徽商会馆
Merchants maintained native-place halls in cities across China, centres of mutual aid and worship.
Cuisine
Anhui cuisine (徽菜) is one of the Eight Great Cuisines. Its core is the mountain cooking of Huizhou, carried across China by Huizhou merchants: wild herbs, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, cured meats and freshwater fish, braised or stewed slowly with generous oil, dark colours and deep flavour. Fermented and preserved foods — stinky mandarin fish, hairy tofu — are characteristic, and the Yangtze and Huai regions add their own river-fish dishes.
Signature dishes
Stinky mandarin fish
臭鳜鱼
Mandarin fish lightly fermented with salt, then braised — pungent outside, firm and fresh within.
Hairy tofu
毛豆腐
Tofu fermented until covered in white mould, then pan-fried and served with chilli sauce.
Wenzheng Mountain bamboo shoots
问政山笋
Tender bamboo shoots from Shexian stewed with cured ham.
Li Hongzhang hotchpotch
李鸿章杂烩
A banquet stew of seafood, poultry and vegetables named after the Qing statesman from Hefei.
Fuliji braised chicken
符离集烧鸡
Spiced, braised chicken from Suzhou (宿州) in northern Anhui.
Specialities
Huangshan Maofeng
黄山毛峰
Green tea from the slopes of Huangshan, with downy leaf tips.
Keemun black tea
祁门红茶
Black tea from Qimen county, created in the 1870s and known for its fragrance.
Lu'an Guapian
六安瓜片
Green tea of single leaves without buds, from the Dabie Mountains.
Taiping Houkui
太平猴魁
Long, flat green tea leaves from the Taiping area north of Huangshan.
Dangshan pears
砀山梨
Crisp pears from Dangshan in the far north, grown along the old Yellow River course.
Notable people
Zhuangzi (c. 369–286 BCE)
庄子
Daoist philosopher traditionally associated with Mengcheng in northern Anhui (the tradition is disputed with Henan).
Cao Cao (155–220)
曹操
Warlord, poet and founder of the power of the Wei state, from Qiao (Bozhou).
Hua Tuo (c. 145–208)
华佗
Physician from Bozhou, credited in legend with surgery under anaesthesia.
Zhu Yuanzhang (1328–1398)
朱元璋
Founder of the Ming dynasty, born to a poor peasant family in Fengyang.
Zhu Xi (1130–1200)
朱熹
The leading Neo-Confucian philosopher; his ancestral home was Wuyuan in Huizhou (born in Fujian).
Li Hongzhang (1823–1901)
李鸿章
Late-Qing statesman and diplomat from Hefei.
Chen Duxiu (1879–1942)
陈独秀
Founder of New Youth magazine and co-founder of the Communist Party, from Anqing.
Hu Shi (1891–1962)
胡适
Scholar and advocate of writing in the vernacular, from Jixi in Huizhou.
Economy
Once a mainly agricultural province, Anhui has grown quickly since the 2000s by integrating with the Yangtze River Delta. Hefei has become a hub for electric vehicles, displays, semiconductors and appliances, built partly on state-backed investment and the research base of the University of Science and Technology of China, which is strong in quantum physics and fusion research. Wuhu is a car-making centre, the Yangtze cities have steel, cement and copper industries, and the north mines coal. Agriculture — rice, wheat, tea — remains significant.
Main industries
- New-energy vehicles and batteries
- Flat-panel displays and semiconductors
- Household appliances
- Steel (Ma'anshan), copper (Tongling), cement (Wuhu)
- Coal mining and power in the Huainan and Huaibei fields
- Quantum technology and scientific instruments
- Tea, rice and wheat
Zones, ports and hubs
Hefei Comprehensive National Science Centre
合肥综合性国家科学中心
One of a few national science centres, grouping large research facilities such as the EAST fusion device.
China (Anhui) Pilot Free Trade Zone
中国（安徽）自由贸易试验区
Established in 2020 with areas in Hefei, Wuhu and Bengbu.
Wanjiang City Belt
皖江城市带
Zone along the Yangtze designated in 2010 to absorb industries relocating from the coast.
Cities
- Hefei合肥Capital · Industrial centre · Historic cityScience city on Chaohu, from Three Kingdoms fortress to electric-car hub
- Huangshan黄山Scenic area · Historic city · Cultural centreThe Yellow Mountain and the villages of old Huizhou
- Wuhu芜湖Port · Industrial centreYangtze rice market and car-making city
- Anqing安庆Historic city · Cultural centre · PortOld provincial capital on the Yangtze, home of Huangmei opera and the Tongcheng school
Getting there
- Hefei Xinqiao International Airport is the main airport; Huangshan Tunxi airport serves the southern mountains.
- Hefei South is a high-speed rail hub with lines to Nanjing and Shanghai, Wuhan, Beijing, Fuzhou and Hangzhou; the line through Huangshan North links the mountains with Hangzhou and Hefei.
- The Yangtze ports of Wuhu, Anqing and Ma'anshan handle river shipping to Shanghai.
Entry rules for foreign visitors are on the visa and entry pages.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Anhui Provincial People's Government — Anhui Provincial People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- 安徽省2025年国民经济和社会发展统计公报 (Statistical Communiqué of Anhui on the 2025 National Economic and Social Development) — Anhui Provincial Bureau of Statistics (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- World Heritage List: China — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Intangible Cultural Heritage: China — UNESCO (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Anhui — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
All provinces · 中国省级行政区
Related
Cuisine
Anhui Cuisine →
Anhui cuisine emphasizes wild herbs, bamboo shoots, and mountain ingredients, reflecting the province's mountainous terrain and rich natural…
Dynasty
Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 CE) →
The Ming dynasty (1368-1644 CE) was the imperial dynasty founded by the peasant rebel Zhu Yuanzhang after the expulsion of the Mongol Yuan, and the…
Philosophy
Taoism →
Art Form
Chinese Painting →
Chinese painting emphasizes capturing the spirit and essence of subjects rather than photographic representation. Using brush, ink, and water on silk…
Art Form
Chinese Calligraphy →
Chinese calligraphy is considered the highest form of Chinese art, combining writing, aesthetics, and spiritual cultivation. It transforms Chinese…