Capital of Anhui Province
Hefei lies in the center of Anhui province, at the confluence of the Dogfei and Nanfel rivers.
It is six hours by train from Nanjing and eleven from Shanghai. By air it is a two-hour flight from Beijing or Canton and one hour
from Shanghai; there are also air links with other major Chinese cities.
The town's history goes back over 2000 years, to the Western Han period (206 BC-AD 8). Even then it was an important trading center for agricultural products, cattle and handicrafts. Hefei was a military base during the time of the Three Kingdoms (220-265) and again under the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). In 1949 it was made the capital of Anhui province. Since then politics, industry, culture and science have set the tone of the town. The well-known University of Science and Technology is here.