Huainan

Huainan (zh-cp|c=淮南|p=Huáinán) is a prefecture-level city with 1,076,000 inhabitants in central Anhui province, People’s Republic of China. It borders the provincial capital of Hefei to the south, Lu’an to the southwest, Fuyang to the west, Bozhou to the northwest, Bengbu to the northeast and Chuzhou to the east.

The name traditionally refers to the entire area south of the Huai River and north of the Yangtze River, which includes the present day central Anhui. The historic political center of the Huainan area lay in Shouchun (present day Shou County).

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Huainan administers six county-level divisions, including five districts and one county.

*Tianjia'an District (田家庵区)
*Pangji District (潘集区)
*Xiejiaji District (谢家集区)
*Datong District (大通区)
*Bagongshan District (八公山区)
*Fengtai County (凤台县)

These are further divided into 66 township-level divisions, including 24 towns, 23 townships and 19 subdistricts.

History

The name Huainan first came into existence in 203 BC, when Liu Bang bestowed upon Ying Bu, one of his most trusted generals, the title of the King of Huainan. The capital of the Kingdom of Huainan was situated in the present day Lu'an. Later, after Ying Bu was executed, the title was transferred and the capital moved to Shouchun (present day Shou County).

In 164 BC, the kingdom was divided into three, one of which retained the name Huainan and continued to be administered from Shouchun. This was governed by Liu An, a notable scholar who authored the great Daoist classic, the "Huainanzi". When Liu An committed suicide in 122 BC, the kingdom was abolished and the area renamed Jiujiang Commandery, which was its old name before 203 BC.

Towards the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Yuan Shu declared himself emperor of the so-called Cheng Dynasty and renamed the commandery Huainan Commandery. This entity remained generally intact till the Northern Song Dynasty, when it divided into the eastern and the western halves in 1071. This division was converted to a north-south one, with the line drawn along the Huai River, following a peace pact between the ruling bodies of the Southern Song Dynasty and Jin Empire.

The divided state persisted till the area was claimed by the Communist Party of China on January 18, 1949. The party renamed the area Huainan Coalmine Special District for its rich coal resources.

Economy

Huainan is a major production center for coal, with an output of 43.28 million tons in 2006.

Education

*Anhui University of Science and Technology (安徽理工大学)
*Huainan Normal University (淮南师范学院)
*Huainan United University (淮南联合大学)

External links

* [http://www.huainan.gov.cn Government website of Huainan] (available in Chinese, English and Korean)