History

Anhui Province was founded in 1667 and has a history of more than 300 years.

Early in the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911), a large province named Jiangnan was established. It included today’s Anhui Province, Jiangsu Province and Shanghai Municipality. In the sixth year of the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1667), Jiangnan Province was divided into two provinces: Anhui and Jiangsu. Anhui, the name of the province, is a portmanteau word combining the first characters of Anqing and Huizhou. In the year when Anhui was established, Anqing was the political center and Huizhou the economic center of the province.

The province is represented by a single-character name "Wan", because there were historically State of Wan, Mount Wan, and the Wan River in the province.

[Historical Evolution] Anhui is one of the most important cradles of China's pre-historical civilization.

It has been discovered that human beings already inhabited the site in the inverted-V-shaped cave (the shape of the Chinese character "man") in Fanchang District of Wuhu City 2.5 million years ago.

The Hexian Sinanthropus Site of the Paleolithic Age (300,000 or 400,000 years ago) was excavated in the Dragon Pool Cave of Hexian County. These excavations have demonstrated that many generations of people have lived in this area since remote antiquity.

During the Neolithic Age, also known as the New Stone Age (4,000 to 10,000 years ago), Anhui belonged to the cultural domains of Yangshao, Longshan, Qingliangang and Veined Chinaware.

The Xuejiagang Site, excavated in Qianshan County, has a long history of 5,000 to 6,000 years. This ancient cultural site, revealing mostly Neolithic relics, is of great importance in the research of the primitive culture in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Yu the Great, the Tamer of the Flood, a savior-hero and reputed founder of China's oldest dynasty, the Xia, had a close relation with Anhui. According to the historical records, "Yu met with local lords at Tushan and all the lords paid tributes to him". Tushan is the ancient Dangtu County in today's Matou Town, southeast of Huaiyuan County in Anhui.

Bozhou was once the capital of the Chengtang State in the Shang Dynasty (1600 B.C.-1046 B.C.), while the ancient Shouchun (today's Shouxian County) was the capital of the late Chu State in the Warring States Period (475 B.C.-221B.C.). The ancient copper tripod cauldron excavated from the tombs of the Chu Dynasty is just a little lighter than Houmuwu Rectangle Ding of the Shang Dynasty, a bronze cooking vessel with two loop handles and four legs.

According to the administrative division in the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.-206 B.C.), the area north to the Huaihe River belonged to Dang Prefecture and Sishui Prefecture; the area between the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River was subordinate to Jiujiang Prefecture; and the area south to the Yangtze River used to be subordinate to Zhang Prefecture.

During the Western Han (206 B.C-25) and Easten Han (25-220) dynasties, Anhui was subordinate to Yang. Yu, and Xu prefectures.

In the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280), Anhui was dominated by the State of Wu and the State of Wei, and was a battlefield for innumerable times.

In the period of the Western Jin and Eastern Jin dynasties (265-420), Southern and Northern dynasties (420-589) and the Sui Dynasty (581-618), Anhui belonged to Yang, Xu and Yu prefectures respectively.

In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Hui merchants flourished quickly. The economy and culture of Hui Prefecture exerted great influence on the whole nation.

In the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368), Anhui was governed by Henan administrative province, and Jiangzhe administrative province.

In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Anhui was under the direct governance of Nanjing, the Capital of the Great Ming.

In the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911), Anhui was set up as a province that was subdivided into seven prefectures and three counties: Anqing, Huizhou, Ningguo, Chizhou, Taiping, Luzhou and Fengyang prefectures, and Chuzhou, Hezhou and Guangde counties. The territory size and regional boundary basically took shape. Anqing was the temporary capital of the province.

At the beginning of the Republic of China (1912 -1949), Anhui was divided into Wuhu, Anqing, and Huaisi sub-prefectures.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Anhui was divided into the two prefectures of Northern Anhui and Southern Anhui, with Hefei as the capital of Northern Anhui and Wuhu the capital of Southern Anhui. In 1952, Northern Anhui and Southern Anhui were merged to form Anhui province, and Hefei was made the provincial capital city.