Huangshan City

Huangshan
黄山市
Prefecture-level city

Reconstructed old town, Song Street
Country China
Province Anhui
County-level divisions 7
Township-level divisions 145
Municipal seat Tunxi District
(29°42′N 118°18′E / 29.700°N 118.300°E / 29.700; 118.300)
Government
 • CPC Secretary Wang Qimin (王启敏)
 • Mayor Li Hongming (李宏鸣)
Area
 • Total 9,807.4 km2 (3,786.7 sq mi)
Population
 • Total 1,470,000
 • Density 150/km2 (390/sq mi)
Time zone China Standard (UTC+8)
Area code(s) 0559
License Plate Prefix 皖J
Website www.huangshan.gov.cn

Huangshan (simplified Chinese: 黄山; traditional Chinese: 黃山; pinyin: Huángshān), 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 (徽州), 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 leading tourist destination in China.

Administration

An old gate in the city

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

Map

These are further divided into 145 township-level divisions, including 42 towns, 100 townships and 3 subdistricts.

Economy

Keemun tea

Keemun tea is produced in Qimen County, and the tea is named for the county. Mao feng, a green tea, is also produced in neighboring counties. Tourism, centered on Mount Huang but also including other scenic and historic sites (such as Xidi and Hongcun), is also an important part of the Huangshan economy.

Transportation

Due to rugged terrain, Huangshan was traditionally 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 built in 1958 and was expanded in 2000. It offers daily flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Hefei, Guangzhou, and weekly flights to Chengdu, Chongqing, Xiamen, and Shenzhen.

Rail

The Huangshan Train Station.

Huangshan City is currently served by only one railway line, the Anhui–Jiangxi Railway, which was completed in 1982 and has stations in Jixi County, She County, Tunxi District, Xiuning County, and Qimen County. From the main Huangshan City Railway Station in Tunxi, direct train service is available to Nanjing, Shanghai, Bengbu, Huaibei, Qingdao and Beijing among other cities the north, and points to the south including Jingdezhen, Yingtan, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Kunming.

Huangshan will become a high-speed rail junction once the Hefei-Fuzhou Passenger Designated Railway Line and the Hangzhou-Huangshan High Speed Railway enter into operation, respectively, in 2015 and 2017/18. Hefei, Nanjing, and Hangzhou will all be accessible by rail in about one hour of travel time.

Road

Huangshan is now a highway junction city. The Huizhou-Hangzhou Expressway runs east to Hanghzou. The Hefei-Tongling-Huangshan Expressway heads north to Tongling on the Yangtze River and then to Hefei, the Anhui provincial capital. The Huangshan-Taling-Taolin Expressway extends southwest to Wuyuan in Jiangxi Province. The Huangshan-Quzhou-Nanping Expressway, currently under construction, will run southeast through Zhejiang Province to Nanping in Fujian Province. Until the expressways were built in the first decade of the 21st century, Huangshan's main roads were National Route G205 and Provincial Route S326, which follow the Anhui-Zhejiang Railway.

Cultural history

In the Ming dynasty, Zheng Zhizhen 鄭之珍 (1518-1595), a native of the Huizhou, Anhui, village of Qingxi wrote the opera 目蓮救母行孝戲文 Mulian jiu mu xing xiao xi wen (Mulian rescues his mother).[1] 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). [2]

In 2011, Local authorities promoted performance of the Ming dynasty play Mulian Rescues His Mother as a tourist attraction.[3]

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

  1. ↑ Mulian Rescues His Mother World Digital Library.
  2. ↑ Guo (2005), p. 89.
  3. ↑ Mulian Opera 'Ghost Drama' Revival Women of China March 24, 2011.

References and further reading

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