Xuzhou

Xuzhou is a prefecture-level city in northern Jiangsu Province, China. It sits in the northern Jiangsu Plain at the confluence of major water systems and is a major transportation hub connecting the region to northern and eastern China. The urban core includes several districts, and the prefecture administers additional counties. Xuzhou Guanyin International Airport serves air travel, and the city is a crossroads for rail and road networks, including the Beijing–Shanghai railway corridor and the Xuzhou–Lianyungang high-speed railway.

The area has been inhabited for thousands of years and was known in ancient times as Pengcheng. It developed as a political, economic and cultural center during the Han dynasty and remained an important logistics and commercial hub in later periods.

Geographically, the city lies on the northern Jiangsu Plain and experiences a humid subtropical climate, with hot summers, cool winters, and seasonal rainfall driven by the East Asian monsoon.

Xuzhou has a diversified economy with manufacturing, metallurgy, machinery, chemicals and logistics. It is an important regional hub for freight and distribution, supported by a broad transport network and growing industrial parks.

Culturally, the city hosts several higher education institutions and cultural facilities. The Xuzhou Museum preserves artifacts from local history, including Han dynasty relics. The local dialect is a variant of Jianghuai Mandarin, reflecting the city’s position at a crossroads of northern and central Chinese linguistic traditions.