Hefei is the capital city of Anhui province and the focus of social, political and economic life in the province. The city’s administrative area extends over 7,266 sq. km. and contains a population of 4.2 million people - of whom 1.2 million live in the city itself.

Lying between the Yangtze River and Huaihe River and located in the centre of the province, Hefei has a mild climate with distinct seasons. An ancient city with a history of over 2000 years and evidence of human activities reaching back to the New Stone Period (c.5000-6000 BC), it was a seat of government during the Qin Dynasty and the capital of Luzhou prefecture in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Hefei was a well-known commercial town in the West Han Dynasty and a cereal and oil distribution centre in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Now ranked among China’s top 50 cities and one of the four key scientific and education bases of the country, Hefei has a developing industrial base and convenient communications including a major national railway hub and an International Airport. Its harbour can be reached by 1,000-ton barges and is classified as one of the key harbours along the Yangtze River system.

Hefei’s unique urban greening network, in local style, has been extended across the city which is studded with gardens and green belts and includes the 8.7 km-long, 137 ha. Ring Park.

Hefei’s Sister Cities include Colombus, Ohio (USA), Aalborg (Denmark) and Kurume (Japan).

Accessible from Hefei is the well known Huangshan Mountain as well as Jiuhua Mountain - one of China's four principal Buddhist shrines. The Chaohu Lake, one of China's five largest fresh-water lakes, is very close to the city.

The city is classified nationally as a “Grade A Opening City” and has made remarkable headway in utilizing overseas capital. At present, registered foreign-invested enterprises number 1,200 with a total investment of US$16 billion. Familiar names with a presence in Hefei include: Philco, Coca Cola, Maytag, Sanyo Electrics, Hitachi Construction Machinery, Mitsubishi Heavy Engineering, Unilever and ABB.

Industry
Some 34 categories of industrial activity are currently present in Hefei. These include manufacture of machinery, electronics, textiles, light industry, chemicals and building materials. Many of these now export their product. Much has already been achieved in the reform of state-owned enterprises in Hefei, 75% of its industrial enterprises and 50% of the commercial enterprises have now transformed their ownership structure.

Hefei’s three counties are among the country's major commodity grain production bases while the suburban area is one of China's top 25 regions in terms of rural enterprise development. In recent years, a number of enterprises exploiting science and technology applications in agriculture and husbandry have also emerged while the manufacture of new building materials and environment protection devices is on the increase.

First Experimental Zone for System Reform
The Heifei Economic and Technological Development Zone (HETDZ) is an important factor in the city’s opening-up and modernization. The Zone was the first one to be approved as part of a nation-wide experiment with administrative and organizational reform.

HETDZ is situated in the southern suburbs of Hefei – only nine km. from the downtown area. It covers an area of 39 sq. km. with well-developed infrastructure currently available in Phase I (6 sq. km.).

More than fifty foreign-invested enterprises - including companies from USA, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Hong Kong – have a total investment of US$ 968 million inside HETDZ.

Rich Human Resources
There are 13 colleges and universities including the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei University of Technology and Anhui University. There are 47 secondary technical schools and 200 research institutes including the Hefei Branch of the Science Academy of China. On a nat