Situated in the Yangtze River basin, and also home to the Haui River's watershed, Anhui Province is most famously known as one of China's poorest regions. This slow pace of economic growth is a direct correlation to adverse geographic conditions: Anhui's climate is dry and arid, making the land mostly unusable for agriculture, the few areas that can support growth are regularly flooded by the erratic nature of the Yangtze.
Despite this rather bleak picture, Anhui has some rather popular sites and attractions, namely the capital city Hefei and the marvelous peaks of Huang Shan. Additionally, the province's slow development adds extra value for budget travelers, as prices on everything from food to hotels are significantly lower.
Outside of these two main destinations, Anhui's Jiuhua Shan, a rather undeveloped Buddhist, mountain settlement, and Bozhou, one of the centers of Traditional Chinese Medicine, offer interesting experiences to tourists with a strong desire to witness China's less-traveled regions.
Officially formed in the seventeenth century, Anhui has gone through several periods where it has been carved up and re-distributed to nearby Henan, Hubei and Jiangsu provinces, only to re-establish its identity time after time.
Owning distinction for being previously populated by non-Sinitic peoples (the Donyi during the Shang Dynasty) and at one point serving as a refugee camp for the Chu state during the Warring States period, Anhui was, until the arrival of the Manchurians, ruled by multiple prefectures, until 1666.
In 1949, the newly-founded People’s Republic once again split up Anhui, this time into Wannan and Wanbei provinces, only to re-unite modern-day Anhui in 1952.
Like most provinces in the Yangtze and Haui river basins, Anhui experiences extreme seasonal changes that slightly differ from south to north. Winter temperatures south of the Huai drop to 0-degrees Celsius, while north of the river becomes even colder, around -2-degrees. July is the hottest time of year, when temperatures average 27°C or above. The infamous Plum Rains that severely flood the province annually occur in June and July.