Shushan District 蜀山区

Setting and landscape

Dashu Mountain stands 284 metres high, about 10 km from central Hefei. It is an extinct volcano and an outlying ridge of the Dabie Mountains (大别山), formed in the Cretaceous around 140 million years ago; two old craters sit on the summit, and olivine-basalt lava falls run down its slopes. The mountain was upgraded to a national forest park at the end of January 2013. Its snow scene, 'Shushan Xueji' (蜀山雪霁, clearing snow on Shushan), was once first of the Eight Views of Luyang (庐阳八景).

A gazetteer of Luzhou (庐州府志) explains the name with a monk from Shu (蜀) who built a hut here and struck a spring from the ground with his staff; its water tasted like the Qutang Gorge (瞿塘峡), so it was called the Shu Well (蜀井). In the district's northwest, the Dongpu Reservoir (董铺水库) is a key source of drinking water for Hefei.

What to see

The new building of the Anhui Museum (安徽博物院) on Huaining Road (怀宁路) opened on 29 September 2011; the original 1956 building remains in Luyang District (庐阳区). It is Anhui's only provincial museum covering both natural history and history, with close to 220,000 objects. Metro Line 3 has a Provincial Museum station (省博物院站) serving the new building.

The west of the district holds Kaifu Temple (开福寺) and the Hefei Wildlife Park (合肥野生动物园), both at the foot of Dashu Mountain, and the Anhui Celebrities Hall (安徽名人馆). In the east lie the Heichiba (黑池坝) scenic area and Hupo Pool (琥珀潭), and to the south the Hui Garden (徽园); the Hefei Botanical Garden (合肥植物园) is in the north.

History and institutions

The district took its present name in February 2002, when Hefei's Xishi District (西市区) was renamed Shushan and took over Jinggang Town (井岗镇) from the old suburban district. It is home to the University of Science and Technology of China (中国科学技术大学), Anhui University (安徽大学), Anhui Agricultural University (安徽农业大学) and Anhui Medical University (安徽医科大学), as well as the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院合肥物质科学研究院).

Highlights

• Dashu Mountain 大蜀山: Extinct volcano 284 m high with two summit craters; national forest park since January 2013.
• Anhui Museum 安徽博物院: New building on Huaining Road opened on 29 September 2011; close to 220,000 objects.
• Kaifu Temple 开福寺: Temple at the foot of Dashu Mountain in the west of the district.
• Dongpu Reservoir 董铺水库: Key drinking-water source for Hefei in the district's northwest.