The Chinese character “Hui” is composed of four parts, respectively representing people, culture, mountains and waters. By integrating the four things together, it becomes a vivid description of Anhui. Anhui not only features the charming natural landscape, but also owns cultural relics of Buddhism, Taoism and Huizhou Culture with the most distinctive Chinese characteristics.
Anhui is zoetic for its mountains. Mt.Huangshan is crowned with three laurels of World Cultural Heritage, World Natural Heritage and World Geological Park. The Mt.Jiuhua one of the four well-known Buddhist Mountains in China, honored as an international Buddhist site. The Mt.Tianzhushan, also known as “Ancient Nanyue”, a national geographic park, is regarded as the cave paradise by Buddhists and Taoists. There are other mountains in Anhui Province such as the Mt.Langya, famous for The Roadside Hut of the Old Drunkard written by Ouyang Xiu, the grand Babie Mountain, and the Mt.Qiyun praised as “the best mountain south of the Yangtze River” by Emperor Qianlong. Anhui is beautiful for its rivers and lakes, such as the Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Xin’anjiang River, the Chaohu Lake (one of the five biggest freshwater lakes in China), the Taipinghu Lake and 4,000 reservoirs. Those mountains and rivers seem like vivid landscape paintings.
(Old Street in Tunxi)
Anhui is famous for many historic celebrities including the great thinkers of Lao Zi, Zhuang Zi, Zhu Xi and Dai Zhen, the great doctor Hua Tuo, political and military leaders like Cao Cao, Zhu Yuanzhang and Li Hongzhang, the leader of Anhui merchants Hu Xueyan, pioneers of the New Cultural Movement Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi, the great educator Tao Xingzhi, and Nobel Prize Winner Yang Zhenning.
Anhui Province has also nurtured various cultures and arts, like Hui Culture, Huaihe Culture, Tongcheng Culture and Jian’an Culture, as well as extraordinary arts including Huangmei Opera, Hui Opera and Flower & Drum Dance. Anhui merchants, who prevailed in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, created the wonder of “no towns without Anhui merchants”.
(International Students Experience Hui Culture）
