Anqing, Anhui Province, China

🇨🇳 Anqing is a prefecture-level city in the south-west of Anhui province, People's Republic of China. Its built-up area is comprised of 3 urban Districts.

History Anqing was built during the Southern Song Dynasty in 1217. Anqing was held by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom for almost nine years, from June 1853 to December 1861. It served as the capital of the Taiping's Anhui province during this period. The final Battle of Anqing, in which the Qing forces laid siege to the city, began in 1860, and the Xiang Army and other Qing forces were able to retake Anqing by December 1861. The constant battles around Anqing devastated the city, and it took long to fully recover. In 1938, the Japanese occupied Anqing, which again caused major damage to the city. Following the Japanese defeat, the capital of Anhui was moved to Hefei, which eventually lead to Anqing's gradual loss of status as one of the "Five Tigers of the Yangtze".

Culture The people of Anqing have a unique dialect that belongs to the Gan Chinese branch and is therefore quite different from the rest of the province, which is predominantly Huizhou-speaking.

Administration The prefecture-level city of Anqing administers 10 county-level divisions, including 3 districts, 2 county-level cities and 5 counties. • District ◦ Yingjiang District (迎江区) ◦ Daguan District (大观区) ◦ Yixiu District (宜秀区) • County-level city ◦ Tongcheng (桐城市) ◦ Qianshan (潜山市) • County ◦ Huaining County (怀宁县) ◦ Taihu County (太湖县) ◦ Susong County (宿松县) ◦ Wangjiang County (望江县) ◦ Yuexi County (岳西县).

Geography Anqing is located in the south-western part of Anhui province, and on the northern shore of the lower Yangtze. To the north are the Dabie Mountains. Neighbouring prefectures are: • Tongling (E) • Chizhou (SE) • Jiujiang, Jiangxi (S) • Huanggang, Hubei (W) • Lu'an (N) • Hefei (NE)

The total area of the prefecture is 16,300 square km (6,290 sq mi), with an urban area of 550 square km (212 sq mi), which is only 3.4% of the total.

Transport Anqing has one Yangtze River crossing, the Anqing Yangtze River Bridge.

Anqing Tianzhushan Airport serves the city.

The Nanjing–Anqing Intercity Railway opened in December 2015, allowing a 90-minute journey time to Nanjing, and 3 hours to Shanghai.Wuhan-Hangzhou High-Speed Railway is also under construction.

One of the bus operators in Anqing, the Anqing Zhongbei Bus Company, is owned by a joint venture between Nanjing Public Utilities Development (formerly Nanjing Zhongbei) and RATP Dev Transdev Asia (RDTA). RDTA itself is a joint venture between Transdev and RATP Dev.

Tourist Industry • Zhenfeng Pagoda, built in 1570 during the Ming Dynasty, is located in Anqing on the banks of the Yangtze River. • Little Orphan, a rock hill in the middle of Yangtze River in Susong.