Hefei city does not work hard to improve and extend its tourist infrastructure, choosing instead, as it almost always has in the past, to concentrate on industry and business. As a result the city has little to really merit a trip, but if you are in the area, the place can still take up a day or two, most interestingly spent in the parks that ring the old part of the city, or appreciating the historical sights that made the city partially famous.
The most interesting of the parks are the two in the eastern side of town, Leisure Ford Park, an ancient battlefield where heavily outnumbered Wei Kingdom forces battled bloodily after dark and routed a confident Wu Kingdom army, and Baohe Park, where the incorruptible official Bao Zheng spent his childhood and which now is a pretty area of lake, temple and trees.
Apart from the parks there are only a few places that are worth visiting. The Mingjiao Temple is interesting, a fortified building that is alleged to be the platform where Caocao, a warlord and later king of the Wei Kingdom, trained his crossbow troops. Of interest to a few, the Anhui Provincial Museum, has a large selection of exhibits, ranging from fossil skulls of ancient Chinese to some interesting examples of the four treasures of Chinese calligraphy.
- Attractions in Hefei:
