Administrative Division

Lying in the east of Anhui Province and standing beside the Yangtze River, Hexian County covers an area of 1,319 square kilometers and has jurisdiction over nine towns. It has a population of 540,000. Here are four main aspects summarizing the basic situation of Hexian County.

I. The Hometown of Chinese Vegetables

Hexian County is the hometown of Chinese vegetables. The county has a vegetable planting area of 440,000 mu, which approximately equals 293 square kilometers. With an annual output of 1.12 million tons of various vegetables and the production value reaching 2.3 billion yuan, the county enjoys the reputation as the largest “vegetable garden” in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. As the most investment-worthy county of Chinese modern agriculture, Hexian County is one of the first batch of demonstration bases for producing pollution-free vegetables; it is also the national-level county renowned for good-quality and safe agricultural products. Furthermore, Hexian County is the national-level demonstration area of exporting good-quality and safe agricultural products. In 2013, it was named “The Hometown of Chinese Vegetables” by China Vegetable Marketing Association.

II. A Famous Historical and Cultural County

With a long history of more than 2,200 years, Hexian County is a famous historical and cultural county in Anhui Province. There are four historical and cultural scenic spots which have been included in the primary and secondary school textbooks, such as the Site of Hexian Ape Man (the site of homoerectus Hexianensis), the Overload Temple (the shrine to the ancient Xiang Yu), the Tianmen Mountain and the Humble House.

In addition to being the home of these places of cultural and historical interests, Hexian County also boasts some great talents as its sons and daughters. Du Mo (a great poet in the Northern Song Dynasty), Dai Benxiao (an outstanding representative of the Xin’an painting school from the late Ming and the early Qing Dynasties), Lin Sanzhi (a master of the cursive script in modern times) and Xu Haifeng (the first Chinese winner of an Olympic gold medal) are all the prides of this county.

Ⅲ. Binjiang New Industrial City

Hexian County is close to the Yangtze River and has 41.6 kilometers of the Yangtze River coastline. It is a key development area specified in the planning of major functional zone of China and Anhui Province. It has many construction projects such as the national-level Taiwan Farmer Pioneer Park (food industrial park), the Provincial Fine Chemical Base, the Provincial Economic Development Zone, the Ma’anshan (Hexian County) Green Building Materials Industrial Park, and the Jiangbei Wujiang New Area.

In recent years, this county has vigorously implemented the strategy of making itself strong by developing industry. Four major leading industries, namely the pump and valve industry as well as auto parts manufacturing, fine chemical engineering, green building materials and food industry, have already begun to take shape. The growth of other emerging industries of strategic importance such as robots, high-end equipment manufacturing and new materials is accelerating.

Ⅳ. A Leisure Eco-Resort

Hexian County stands out for its good ecological environment and rich mountain and water resources. It has two AAAA-level scenic spots (Jilong Mountain—Banyue Lake and Fragrant Spring Tourist Area), and six AAA-level tourist attractions including Overload Temple, Tianmen Mountain and so on. Moreover, there are countless historical and cultural landmarks such as the “No.1 Hot Spring in the World”—Xiangquan Spring. This spring is famed for Xiao Tong, also known as Crown Prince Zhaoming (whose name literally means “An Accomplished and Understanding Crown Prince”) of the Southern Liang Dynasty, posthumously honored as Emperor Zhaoming, who once bathed there to heal all his scabies. Hexian County is China’s best model county for hot spring vacation tourism.

Currently, the county is focusing on the goal of constructing a large scenic area in terms of the whole region, and continues to promote the “3F” project—“Famous People, Famous County, Famous Scenery” as well as the construction of “A New Hexian County with Hundreds of Attractions”. Hexian County is now making every effort to put forward the integrated development of cultural and tourism industry, striving to create a healthy, leisurely, picturesque and rural eco-city and a vital health and leisure tourism destination in the Yangtze River Delta area.