Anhui it's just removed from the coast line of China where all the money is. So there's going to be a tourist revolution in agritainment stores here to get the cash coming in, what better way could you spend your family free time than watching a battery dog farm in action?
You might not have heard of Anhui province but there are some serious plans afoot to make sure that you do sooner or later. On the 5th of March this year, the local provincial government realized that Anhui’s not at the top of tourist itineraries to China, so they decided to do a little building over the next 5 years. That’s a “little” by Chinese standards not ours – that’s right this is a serious plan. They want to build 50 “characteristic” towns, 100 “excellent” villages and 1000 four-star “agritainment” (whatever the heck that means – at a guess it’s about entertaining farmers – dancing cows anyone?) shops, in 5 years.
It’s quite a big place too – slightly larger than Greece to be precise. Pretty much everybody who lives in Anhui is either Han Chinese (the dominant ethnic group of China) and there are a few Hui People too (who aren’t quite Han Chinese and tend to be Muslim but otherwise have an almost identical culture). One thing that is certain about these people is that a lot of the boys are lonely – there are nearly 140 chaps for every 100 ladies in Anhui.
I like Hu Jintao he seems to have conducted himself with genuine dignity as China's meteoric rise has propelled the country on to the world stage.
It’s a developing region of a developing nation and to stray onto the economy for just a second or two the GDP here is slightly over $3,000 a head, and that’s quite a bit lower than the national average of $5,000.
It’s Hu Jintao’s home though so you expect he might be able to spend a little time promoting regional interests when he steps down as President later on this year. Other than that despite the assistance of wikipedia there isn’t a single famous person who is supposedly from Anhui, that I’ve ever heard of.
The capital city is a place called Hefei, and by Chinese standards it’s not all that big – as it only houses 5 million people. I particularly like the fact that the local government say it’s well known abroad for being “a historic site famous from the Three Kingdoms Period and the hometown of Lord Bao.” I’d love to know who it’s famous with, because I’ve lived here for 3 years and never met anyone who’s even mentioned it in passing.
Anhui Province has some genuine captivating natural beauty as you can see here, though you might want to get there early - before the dancing cows arrive...
I suspect that’s because Hefei seems to be a little like Shenzhen, another new town without much in the way of surviving history or culture. Most of the bragging that occurs about the town on the official site and others is around it’s “science park” which seems to be suspiciously close to “a load of manky factories” when you examine the photographic evidence…
However Hefei aside there appears to be quite a lot of interesting places in Anhui that might well be worth a visit, and tomorrow(ish – I know I’ve said this before and not been there), we’ll have a look at some of them.
Shards of China 
Excited for more of the tour.
Cheers-
Thanks Nate. 🙂
Good article, and if they follow through on the plan, I would visit the place. 🙂
Who wouldn’t want to see a dancing cow? I’ll be first in the line for that, so I’ll see you there. 🙂
Sounds like you just made a ton of work for yourself. I hope you’re up to the challenge because now you have me intrigued!
Me too – but I’m firmly committed to this one, and as I say it’s on a “dip in dip out” basis – so I’m not under pressure to have it done yesterday. 🙂
I suspect I will say this a few times during this series — although in fact, I will try not to as it will get repetitive — but we had a project near Hefei, doing a residential golf course development. Some really breath-taking settings, but I cannot imagine a more hideous plan than to turn those mountains into a golf course… Anyway, at least I can be the one person you “know” who would be able to mention Anhui in passing…
I know two people from Anhui and even they don’t seem particularly impressed by that… but the Chinese are a little strange that way, they don’t seem to have any curiousity about their environment at all.
Agritaiment , my guess is letting the kids (and adults) to enjoy the fun of planting and farming… really curious what it’ll look like after they built all those stuff…. but very low expectation tho.
Me too Katharine, but I think your guess at Agritainment is probably more accurate than mine. Though it’s not quite as good as dancing cows… 😉
Thanks for commenting. 🙂
It never fails to amaze me, how organized & dedicated the Chinese can be when they decide to be! No task seems impossible and I always end up thinking it must be their form of Government, unencumbered as it is by the constraints of democracy.
Indian that I am – I can’t help feel admiringly envious. We have so many fabulous places in India that languish away due to lack of infrastructure and said ‘excellent villages’ and ‘characteristic’ towns 😦
It’s true the Chinese really can change the world in a few heartbeats when they get organized.. 🙂
Huangshan Mountain is probably the only famous place in Anhui. I have been to many well known mountains in China expect this one. I heard it has all the great scenery of Wuyue ( the top five mountains mentioned in ancient China)….In case you get a chance to visit there, drop a note how you like it. Look forward.
If I ever get there DJ, I’ll be sure to let you know my friend. 🙂
Hello Nick! I am finally catching up on my blog reading! I love the new series!!!!! This is fantastic and I can’t wait to read more. I still need to back track too and read the rest of your posts on the Chinese economy.
I’m glad you like it. 🙂
My other half is from a very small (not even in any western dictionaries) town in Anhui called Huoqiu which when asked, is said is by Luwan which is the end of one of the main train lines from Shanghai. I’ve been to Hefei a couple of years ago – it does just feel new and gritty – but let’s see where it is in a couple of years. One thing that I know folks from Anhui are very proud of is Chery cars – they are based in Anhui and the second is Huangshan. My colleague recently went there and her pictures were beautiful. They spent the night on the mountain and took pictures at sunrise. It’s on my list of places to go for sure. The new topic does sound fascinating – good luck!
I’m completely supportive of China’s drive to modernize its cities. But I do think it’s sad that it’s always at the expense of its history. China’s lost so many temples, monuments, tombs, etc. to theft and the greed of provincial authorities that it’s not funny anymore. 20 years ago there were so many historical sites in this country that they were blase about protecting them. This year a Chinese professor pointed out that they’ll all be gone in about 5 years unless something urgent is done to save them now.
Thank you and thanks for commenting. 🙂
P.S. Aren’t Chery cars the ones that keep bursting into flame for no apparent reason?
I agree that historical sites are disappearing. Now that I have met Li’s parents they are starting in bits in pieces to talk about what was lost in the cultural revolution as well. It’s fascinating and scary to hear the stories.
I haven’t heard about Chery’s bursting into flame, but I do remember a picture that was on the internet where one got completely smushed by a car into a pancake like form. Cheers!