Meaning of the name

Population
83,000 (urban area), with over 400,000 in the surrounding county.

Location
On the southeast bank of the Yangzi River (Chang Jiang) at the foot of the Southern Anhui Mountains, 350 km east of Shanghai and 120 km south of Hefei.

History
Tongling has been famous as a beautiful mountain city since its origins in the Han dynasty over 1500 years ago. Owing to its copper and tin deposits, it was an important center in the past for bronze production. The scale of industrial activity gradually increased through the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, the Japanese occupation of 1938-45, and especially under the Communist government in the years since 1949.

Today the city's industrial base still revolves around the several nearby copper mines and copper processing operations. The local mineral resources also include : iron, coal, gold, silver and tin, plus more than twenty other rare minerals associated with them such as nickel, cadmium, gallium, molybdenum, germanium and selenium. Other important industries include chemical works, textiles, building materials, electronics, machinery and food processing. Long a hub of water transportation, in 1995 Tongling became the site of Anhui Province's first highway bridge spanning the Chang Jiang. At 2.6 km long (1.6 miles) it is said to be the world's third longest suspension bridge.

Although Tongling City is mostly mountainous, the surrounding flatlands are rich agricultural regions producing rice, wheat, cotton, beans, garlic , herbal medicines and ginger. Large amounts of fish are also harvested in the region.

Tongling is the center for conservation efforts to preserve the last remaining Chang Jiang freshwater dolphins (Latin name Lipotes vexillifer, Chinese name Baiji). Two semi-natural reserves have been established in the Tongling area, in the Tongling and Shishou oxbow lakes, but as yet no dolphins have been successfully captured and moved from the river into the lakes.

Culture
The famous poet of Tang Dynasty, Li Bai (c.700?62, also known as Li Po) praised the beauty and richness of Tongling.

Recently, Tongling's educational and health care institutions have grown rapidly. Now, there are more than 3000 institutes, colleges, middle and high schools, kindergartens, cinemas, clubs, and hospitals in the district.