Overview

Suzhou, the north gate of the province, is situated in the furtheset northern part of Anhui. With the Yellow River and Huaihe River Plain to the south, it adjoins to Huai'an, Xuzhou in Jiangsu, Heze in Shandong, Shangqiu in Henan and so on. In the Year 809 (Emperor Xian Zong of the Tang Dynasty ) Suzhou became a county. Since then it has successively been the capital of the area. On December 6, 1998, the State Council approved the establishment of Suzhou under the Provincial jurisdiction. In May 1999 it became a city consisting of Dangshan County, Xiaoxian County, Lingbi county, Sixian county, and Yongqiao District. It has jurisdiction over 110 townships with a total area of 9786 km², the arable land area of 773 million mu and the total population of 6.0452 million.

Suzhou City is rich in mineral resources, in addition to the existing 28 kinds, the identified reserves of 18 kinds, including coal, dolomite, marble, refractory clay Habitat all top the other areas in the province. Limestone is abundant in wide distributions. Coal is of many categories and fine texture, with the proven reserves of 2.68 billion tons, making up 10% of the provincial total. The coal areas, including Yongqiao District, Xiaoxian County, and Dangshan County, take up one fifth of the city's total. CBM proven reserves is of 315.9 billion cubic meters, distributed in the southern Yongqiao District and the western Xiaoxian County. The kaolin of superior quality and iron are located in Xiaoxian county. 20 varieties of marble are found in Lingbi county and Yongqiao. Dolimite in Yongqiao is of good quality, some of superior quality. The amount of quartzite is estimated 100 million tons, distributed in Sixian county -- the only one mineral site in Huaihai Economic Zone. The rocks located in Lingbi, Yongqiao and Sixian county are of international reputation.