Chinese Name: 宣城市

Population: 2,750,000

Area: 12,340 square kilometers (4,765 square miles)

Nationalities: Han

Administrative Division: 
        The prefecture-level city of Chizhou administers 7 county-level divisions, including 1 district, 1 county-level city and 5 counties.

Xuanzhou District (宣州区)
Ningguo City (宁国市)
Langxi County (郎溪县)
Guangde County (广德县)
Jing County (泾县)
Jixi County (绩溪县)
Jingde County (旌德县)
These are further divided into 115 township-level divisions, including 61 towns, 44 townships and 10 subdistricts.

Useful Telephone Numbers:
Tourist Complaints: 0563-3022745
Weather Forecast: 121
Zip Code Inquiry: 184

Bank of China Xuancheng Branch: No.22, Aofeng Dong Lu, Xuanzhou District, Xuancheng City

China Post Xuancheng Branch: No.10, Huancheng Xi Lu, Xuanzhou District, Xuancheng City

Location: Xuancheng City is situated in the southeastern region of Anhui Province, neighboring Huangshan to the south, Chizhou to the west and Wuhu to the north. To the east, it is bordered by Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces.

History: As early as the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD), Danyang Shire was established on this region with Wanling (presently Xuanzhou District) as its capital city. Since then, Xuanzhou has been the political, economic and cultural center of administration for two thousand years. However, the name of Xuzhou was changed during the Sui Dynasty (581-618).

Physical Features: The terrain of Xuancheng is varied and complicated, basically sloping downward from the south to the north. Its landform can be approximately divided into five types: Mountain, hill, valley and basin, hillock and plain. The south and southeast regions belong to ranges of Tianmu Mountain, while the southwest and west regions are respectively parts of ranges of Mt. Huangshan and Mt. Jiuhua.

General Introduction
        Xuancheng lies in the south-eastern part of Anhui Province, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang. It is made up of two perfectural level cities -- Xuanzhou and Ningguo, and seven counties -- Langxi, Guangde, Jingxian, Jixi, and Jingde, with urban area of 12,340 km², and population of 2.75 million. There are two big rivers -- Shuiyang and Qingyi -- and several lakes -- Nanyi, Taiping, and Qinglong. The forest coverage rate of the city is 55.2%, with Jingtingshan and Hengshan national forest parks. The unique environment makes Xuancheng a hometown of many specialties, such as Langxi -- well-known for its green tea, Guangde – well known for its bamboo products, and Ningguo – well-known for its pecan and Yuanzhu (a special kind of bamboo), Jingxian – well-known for bamboo paper, Jingde – well-known for ramie, and Jixi – well-known for sericulture. In Xuanzhou District, there are preserved dates, mushrooms, crab, papaya and others.
                  
        Xuancheng has convenient transportation, with Xuancheng-Hangzhou Railway and Anhui-Jiangxi Railway intersecting in its urban area. National Highway of 318 and 205 also pass the city. In order to build the "Yangtze River Delta" mechanical manufacturing base, green agricultural supply base, the labor force supply base, and the leisure garden, the Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government of Xuancheng, have led the city to implement the strategy of integration with Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai economic regions. The city has already formed an all-round opening-up pattern. Economic connection with foreign countries and domestic well-developed coastal regions is increasingly closer. A large number of domestic and overseas business people have invested in Xuancheng. The city has formed an industrial system mainly of electronics, automobile parts, further processing of agricultural products, textile, metallurgical, pharmaceutical, and building materials. The tendency of economic and social development is good. Feicai Group is the country's largest agricultural vehicle production base. Ningguo Conch Cement is the pacesetter in domestic cement industry.
 
        Xuancheng is a city with 2,000 years of history and cultural relics. It has a profound cultural heritage and rich tourism resources. There are many scenery resorts, such as the country's largest captive breeding bases -- Chinese Crocodile Lake, one of the four unique scenes – Taiji Cavern, Peach Blossom Pool, Zhangshan Canyon, and cultural sites of the New Fourth Army, the Ancestral Hall of the Hu Family in Jixi, the Former Residence of Mr. Hushi, the Jiang’s Village in Jingde, and so on. Since reform and opening up, the city has achieved a lot of progress, and is accelerating the development of municipal services, transport, tourism and other infrastructural facilities. Xuancheng, as a new city with pleasant environments of living, enterprising, sightseeing, is on the rise.

Special Local Products: Xuan Paper, Xuan Writing Brush, Hui Ink; bamboo shoot, Xuan pawpaw, Chinese gooseberry, hickory nut, chestnut, Shuidong honey jujube, tea; crab, whitebait and Chinese paddlefish of Nanyi Lake.

Chinese rice paper boasts tourism in Anhui:
        The rice paper, or Xuan paper, is one of the “four treasures of the Chinese study”. Chinese calligraphers have used the exact same type of paper to write on for more than one thousand years. 
        Today, Jingxian County has more than 200 workshops that employ over 15 thousand employees to produce the best rice paper in the country.
From 2005, the local government started working to boost the rice paper industry to help the development of the economy and tourism. It opened famous rice paper workshops to the public, established the world's first "Chinese Rice Paper Museum" and developed many types of "rice paper souvenirs." Tourists are even allowed to make their own rice paper at some workshops. 
        “Chinese rice paper tourism” has attracted many Chinese tourists, as well as tourists from Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia to Jingxian County. Many people were fascinated by the traditional rice paper-making techniques and took home tons of souvenirs.

Attractions:

Jixi County: Jixi County in southeastern Anhui is the hometown to many celebrities such as Hu Zongxian, Wang Hint, Hu Shi, and Hu Kaiwen. It has many places of interest, including the Qingliang Peak, Lesser Mt. Jiuhua, and the Ancestral Temple to Hu's Family. The Qingliang Peak, with beautiful scenery and abundant resources of wild plants and animals, is a state-level nature reserve.

The Ancestral Temple to Hu's Family:The Ancestral Temple to Hu's Family is located in Yingzhou Town, Jixi County, it is the ancestral temple of Hu Fu, minister of Revenue, and Hu Zongxian, minister of War, of the Ming Dynasty. The temple covers an area of 1,146 square meters, with elegant carvings on pillars and beams. These carvings are the best example of woodcarvings of the Hui School. The temple is a major unit of relics under state protection.

The Zhangshan Grand Canyon:The Zhangshan Grand Canyon is located on the Dazhang Mountain, east of the Jixi County in Anhui. Dazhang Mountain is the United Nations ecology model district. The forest bestows rate reaches 97%. It was known by the name of Santianzi capital, SanWang Shan and the Zhang Peak during the ancient time. The Zhang County was established during the Chun and Qiu Period when Wu and Yue Kingdom divided line by this and in was named after the mountain during the Qin Dynasty.
    The Zhangshan Grand Canyon scenic area geography climate is special. It is o­ne of the few in number in the united nation plant gene banks and has 43 types of rare and precious species. The canyon water is limpid and clear. More than 50 scenic areas have their own characteristics and legends in the scenic area. It reflects the Huizhou scenery unique spiritualism and the Hui culture strong story inside. The mysterious nature causes it to become the natural back park of Jiangsu Province, Zhejiang Province and Shanghai.

Scenic Spots in Jixi:  Zhangshan Grand Canyon, Qingliangfeng National Nature Reserve.

Other Scenic Spots: Enlong World Wood House Village in Ningguo City, Jingting Mountain

Tourist Tips:
1. Xuancheng-Hangzhou and Wangan (Anhui-Jiangxi) railways meet in Xuancheng City. Train rides from Xuancheng Railway Station in Diezhang Dong Lu to Nanjing and Hangzhou take a bit more than four hours. Furthermore, trains to Beijing, Shanghai, Fuzhou, Kunming, Hefei, Huangshan and many other cities are all available in the station.

2. Xuanzhou is 298 kilometers (185 miles) from Shanghai, about four hours’ drive, and 206 kilometers (128 miles) from the capital city of Anhui, Hefei, which is about three hours’ drive from Xuancheng. The Xuancheng Bus Station can be found in No.9, Meixi Lu in the southern area of the city proper.

Language and culture
In Xuancheng the Wu dialect is spoken.