Ever heard of Wuhu City 芜湖市 in Anhui province... ?

𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘞𝘶𝘩𝘶 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘺 (芜湖市) 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘯𝘩𝘶𝘪 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 ?

This third tier city is the second largest prefecture city economy of Anhui (after Anhui's capital Hefei), centrally located about a 150km drive south-east from Hefei, 100km south from Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu province and 350km west from Shanghai.

With a prefecture population of 3.6 million inhabitants, Wuhu is situated at the south bank of the Yangtze river and the fifth largest port of Yangtze River water transportation.

Wuhu is known to have been inhabited since at least 770 BCE and became a strategically important town during the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD). Under the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Wuhu developed into a major trade port for rice, tea and wheat until early last century. Along with Wenzhou in Zheijiang province, the city became a treaty port in 1876 with the Roman Catholic cathedral, St. Joseph's Cathedral dating from this time.

One of China's most well-known poets Li Bai 李白 (701-762) spent his late life in Wuhu, it is said, for its striking mountainous landscapes with ponds, lakes and parks. During the Tang dynasty (619-907), renowned calligrapher, poet and politician Du Mu 杜牧 (803-852) wrote a famous poem "Thoughts on Staying Again at Wuhu".

Wuhu is home to over 47 ethnic minorities, the largest being the Hui Muslim minority. Other larger ethnic minorities are Yi, Tujia, Miao, Zhuang, and Manchu.

Wuhu (along with Anqing city) is known for the Yanjiang cuisine, specializing in freshwater fish and poultry with special techniques of chopping, shaping, and colouring. Flavors of Yanjiang dishes are often characterized by sweetening and smoking.

In recent decades Wuhu has strongly developed as one of the key cities under the Yangtze River Delta urban and business agglomeration development plan with among others Nanjing and Hefei. The new airport Wuhu Xuanzhou Airport opened April 2021 while the Wuhu Rail Transit system opened late last year with 2 lines. The city is accessible by high speed train connections from among others Shanghai, Nanjing and Hefei.

#anhui #hefei #wuhu #shanghai

Video source : Wuhu Rail Transit System opened November/December 2021 - IG travel2china

Pictures : google, google maps