Bengbu

Bengbu straddles the Huai River in northern Anhui and grew from a small ferry crossing into a major railway junction, nicknamed the 'Pearl City' for its history of freshwater pearl trading. It stands at the boundary between north and south China, a transition reflected in its climate, food and dialect. Nearby Mount Tushan is linked in legend to Yu the Great, the flood-taming founder of the Xia dynasty, said to have married and gathered the tribes here; the Yuwang Temple still crowns the hill. The city's Longzihu Lake and Zhanggongshan Park offer green space within the urban core. Bengbu is a center for glass and sensor manufacturing and sits on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed line, roughly halfway between the two cities.