In 1950s, many provincial leaders in Anhui felt the limitations of Hefei and had the idea of moving the provincial capital to Wuhu, a city along the Yangtze River with better conditions. In order to "cut off" this idea and let Anhui's leaders feel at ease in building Hefei, 1958, Chairman Mao took the opportunity of inspecting Anhui and naming the newly established "Anhui University" and made it clear to Ceng Xisheng, then secretary of Anhui Provincial Party Committee, that he did not agree to move the provincial capital to Wuhu! This letter is now engraved on the wall behind the south gate of Anhui University. Chairman Mao insisted on keeping the provincial capital in Hefei, mainly based on the following considerations: at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there were bandits in many places south of the Yangtze River, and the southwest region had not been settled. The Chiang clique of the Kuomintang on the island of Taiwan Province Province has been clamoring for a counterattack against the mainland. Anhui is located at the strategic crossroads in the throat of the Yangtze River, so putting the provincial capital in a city near the Yangtze River has great strategic security risks. If the strategic towns along the Yangtze River, such as Wuhan and Nanjing, fall, the enemy will rely on the convenient traffic conditions along the Yangtze River and go with the flow, and it is very likely that they will win two provincial capitals in one day. In Fiona Fang, which is 300 kilometers around Hefei, there are mountains in the east, south and west, and plains in the north. In other words, if the troops set up assembly points in the east, west and south, Hefei is the most ideal area. This is a hilly area where the mountain area is in transition to the plain. The terrain can buffer the enemy's attack, facilitate the counterattack, and prepare materials and personnel before moving forward. Hefei exists as a military value. It is for this military purpose to locate provincial organs and enterprises in Hefei, concentrate foreign resources in Hefei and develop basic military enterprises in surrounding counties and cities. The whole Anhui Province is like a military flood discharge area and a military buffer zone. In a sense, Hefei's becoming the capital of Anhui Province is mainly the product of "military politics", without much consideration of economic development!

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After Anhui was established as a province, the de facto provincial capital was Anqing Prefecture (now a city). To calculate the history of Anqing, the first capital of Anhui Province, we should start with the approval of Jiayin in July of the sixth year of Kangxi. However, because the provincial official who was still guarding the land at that time, Anhui Bu Zhi Division, was still stationed in Dagefang, south of Jiangning, the former site of Bu Zhi Division in the south of the Yangtze River, Anqing City at this time could only be regarded as the temporary capital of Anhui Province at best.

To tell the truth, Hefei, as the provincial capital, is a strategic consideration, because the domestic and international environment at the time of the founding of New China was not as safe as it is now, mainly for fear of war, and as a city along the Yangtze River, it is likely to be beaten.

As a great man, Chairman Mao has to admire his strategy and long-term vision. When Chairman Mao said "Hefei is vibrant and suitable" (Chairman Mao's original words), he didn't just talk about it. There are five reasons for this. According to the memoirs written by Chairman Mao's guards, Chairman Mao chose Hefei as the capital of Anhui Province for the following five reasons:

1. Politics: Anhui has been located in central China since ancient times. The Huaihe River and the Yangtze River divide Anhui into three parts, commonly known as northern Anhui, central Anhui and southern Anhui. The choice between the central city, Jianghuai, is conducive to governance, that is, "everyone can take care of it" (Chairman Mao's original words);

2. Economy: In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Anhui's economy was also very ordinary. During the Republic of China, the province lacked developed economic cities. Wuhu and Bengbu were famous at that time, but their economic aggregates still lagged far behind other cities in China, so it was more convenient to build a new provincial capital than to expand a city on the basis of a small city.

3. Military factors: Chairman Mao's military thoughts are still talked about by everyone. The choice of the provincial capital of Anhui Province has much to do with military considerations. Hefei is "the crossroads of Wu Chu". During the Three Kingdoms period, Sun Quan went north and Cao Cao went south, and fought for decades in Hefei, a watershed in southern China. Zhang Liao's battle against xiaoyaojin is a famous chapter, and the subsequent battle at the water is recognized as "the top ten battles in the world" in the world military history. Not long ago, in the Battle of Crossing the River, the general headquarters was also in Hefei, and Chen set up a headquarters in Hefei to launch a general attack to liberate all China.

4. Human factors: There are countless celebrities in Hefei. The key is that Hefei is extremely inclusive. Hefei celebrities cover all aspects of each historical period, but they are more comprehensive than the literati in southern Anhui and the strong men in northern Anhui. For example, Bao Zheng and Li Hongzhang engage in politics, Duan and Liu Mingchuan engage in military affairs and science and technology.

5. Geometrical factors: East China, where Anhui is located, has always been the economic core area of China. Chairman Mao certainly saw this. Anhui's economy must have its own core cities if it wants to develop independently, stably and healthily. Hefei is here, surrounded by Nanjing, Xuzhou, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Wuhan and other important cities in East China and Central China, and will not deviate from the channel.

To sum up, my analysis shows that the reasons why Anhui's candidate cities were not adopted at that time are as follows:

1, Bengbu: Influenced by Xuzhou, it is located in the difficult-to-attack plains and railway trunk lines, and its geographical position is too far to the north, and the city has been seriously damaged by the war.

2. Wuhu: Located on the south bank of the Yangtze River, it is also difficult to attack. The waterway advantage valued by feudal society gradually loses its superiority in modern society and degenerates into a weakness. Both military affairs and floods should be considered, and it is difficult to meet the requirements of aviation and information centers needed by modern society. In addition, influenced by Jiangsu and Zhejiang cultures, there is no cultural independence and representativeness. As a provincial capital city, it cannot be a fulcrum with Nanjing in the east and Wuhan in the west, and it is easy to lean towards Nanjing.

3. Anqing: For the same economic and military reasons as Wuhu, its economic strength was not ranked among the top three in Anhui at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China. Due to geographical reasons, the capacity of the city is very small, which is not conducive to large-scale construction. Although the humanistic background is profound, for a province like Anhui, it can only represent southern Anhui, and its tolerance and control ability for northern Anhui is poor. During the Huai Hai Campaign and the Xu Bengbu War, Chiang Kai-shek said that if it was in Hefei, at least it would not be controlled by * * *. In addition, Chairman Mao's thorough study of history was amazing, and it was very taboo to set the provincial capital in Anqing, which was defeated by the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

4. Maanshan, Tongling: The above reasons need not be repeated. Another point is that mining cities are not suitable for provincial capitals.