Bengbu Travel Recommendations for 2024 (Updated in Apr)

Enjoy the collection of ancient bronze mirrors and paintings at the Bengbu Museum

Bronze mirrors are not only tools for arranging makeup, but also exquisite works of art. The bronze mirror is cast from bronze, with a smooth front for reflection and use in grooming, while the back often has beautiful patterns or text. According to research, its history can be traced back more than 4000 years. Ancient bronze mirrors have a variety of shapes, and the content of the decorations is even more colorful, ranging from geometric patterns to birds and flowers, from myths and legends to realistic patterns, ingeniously conceived, encompassing everything. They condense the social thoughts and aesthetic tastes of each historical period, and are treasures in China's ancient cultural heritage. The Bengbu Museum has a collection of more than 500 mirrors, covering from the Warring States to the Qing Dynasty, with a variety of types and rich themes. The Bengbu Museum's exhibition of fine bronze mirrors interprets the history of bronze mirrors from three aspects: patterns, inscriptions, and story themes, aiming to let visitors understand the functions of bronze mirrors in reflecting people, history, and the rise and fall of trends, and to appreciate the beauty of the patterns, inscriptions, and allusions on the bronze mirrors. Chinese bronze mirrors are mostly round, resembling the full moon, and in some inscriptions, the bronze mirror is often metaphorically compared to the bright moon, from which one can imagine the shadow of the moon at that time. The paintings and calligraphy works in the Bengbu Museum have different styles and schools, reflecting the overall appearance and brilliant achievements of the painting and calligraphy art in the Bengbu region and the Huai River basin.

National First-Class Museum—Bengbu Museum

The Bengbu Museum has a total investment of about 340 million yuan, with a total construction area of 34,000 square meters, of which 25,000 square meters are above ground and about 9,000 square meters are underground. The total building height is 34.1 meters, and the museum houses nearly 20,000 pieces (sets) of various cultural relics. The museum is a local comprehensive museum themed on the ancient history of Bengbu, the development of modern and contemporary cities, as well as the history and culture of the Huai River. It is divided into two permanent exhibitions: 'The Cradle of Sand—The Historical Civilization of Bengbu' and 'The Flowing Civilization—The Historical Culture of the Huai River', as well as the fine special exhibitions 'Combing Reflections—The Museum's Fine Bronze Mirror Exhibition' and 'Ink and Colors—The Museum's Fine Calligraphy and Painting Exhibition', and the special thematic exhibitions such as 'Memories Over the Years—Bengbu's Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition', 'Deciphering the Heavenly Book—The Archaeological Experience Hall', and the '4D Cinema'. In December 2020, Bengbu Museum was rated as the fourth batch of National First-Class Museums. The exhibitions at Bengbu Museum flow gently like water, narrating eloquently. Following the exhibition line from the mysterious Shuangdun Site to the ritualistic Zhongli Ji's gold, from the pottery of the Han Dynasty to the blue and white porcelain of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, from the opening of the railway to the strong industrial city, each step is a footprint, looking back at the hardships overcome and looking forward to continuing the past and opening up the future, they all tell the magnificent epic of Bengbu.

The tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang's fiancée, the Yan family of Huamingtang

The tomb of the Yan family of Huamingtang, also known as the 'First-rank Lady Tomb' or 'Miss Yan Tomb', is located 500 meters southeast of Huamingtang Village, Xiaoxi Town, Wuhe County, Bengbu City, Anhui Province, beside National Highway 104, about 70 kilometers from the downtown area of Bengbu City. The 'Fengyang Prefecture Annals' record: 'The Yan family's grave is located under the fertile mountain east of Huayuan Lake, with stone figures, stone animals, and steles.' The tomb was built in the seventh year of the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty (1374), covering an area of 1,500 square meters. It once had a five-bay hall for ancestral offerings, and the tomb complex faces south from the north, situated at the southern end of Dagong Mountain, close to the hillside, with an open area to the south, making it a geomantic treasure spot - 'Ji land'. It has the typical burial style of a first-rank lady from the Ming Dynasty. Currently, there is one unmarked stele, pairs of stone elders, stone tigers, stone sheep, stone horses, and watch pillars; bricks with inscriptions such as 'the seventh year of Hongwu' and 'made in Zhenjiang Prefecture' have been unearthed, corresponding to historical records; it is an important physical material for the study of the Ming Dynasty's funeral system and history, now listed as a national key cultural relic protection unit of the seventh batch. The local legend of the tomb owner Miss Yan and the love story with Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, is widely circulated in Huamingtang. At the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, there was a place called 'Yanjiawa' near Huamingtang Village, where a wealthy Yan family lived, known locally as 'Yan's Tower'. The Yan family had a daughter who was literate and reasonable, beautiful and virtuous, and was a well-known lady in the Xiaoxi area. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang joined Guo Zixing's peasant uprising army in Fengyang. Since Xiaoxi bordered Fengyang, the Xiaoxi area also became a main battlefield between the uprising army and the Yuan forces. In one battle with the Yuan army, Zhu Yuanzhang was injured and fled to 'Yan's Tower', where Miss Yan hid him under her skirt in a basket and later took him to an embroidered building to heal. Over time, Zhu and Yan developed feelings for each other, and although they pledged to marry, they never did. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, when Zhu Yuanzhang intended to arrange the marriage to Miss Yan, he learned that she had already died of depression. Zhu Yuanzhang was heartbroken and greatly rewarded the Yan family, giving her a lavish burial with first-rank honors. Since Miss Yan died unmarried, only a phoenix was engraved on the stele, leaving it unmarked... The site is conveniently located by the national highway but is remote and far from the city center, not close to Wuhe County town either. Although it is open to the public for free, few visitors come. It is said that a few years ago, there was an incident of stone carvings being stolen, but fortunately, they were recovered in time, and now there are people on duty to guard the place.

Bengbu Nanshan Howard Johnson|Impression of Zhucheng, charming Bengbu

|Impression of Zhucheng, charming Bengbu. Bengbu, located in the middle reaches of the Huai River, was an ancient pearl mining area, known as "Zhucheng", and is the first city established in Anhui Province. Bengbu has a long history and profound cultural heritage, full of vitality, a charming central city in northern Anhui, known as the "cradle of culture, the hometown of emperors, the hometown of song and dance, and the city of mountains and rivers". The hotel is located in the core business district of Bengbu, opposite the city's landmark - Huaihe Cultural Square, Financial Center, Convention Center, and Bengbu Grand Theater. Bengbu is the most important transportation hub city in Anhui Province, and the hotel is only a 15-minute drive from the newly built Bengbu South Station. The hotel has 327 luxurious rooms and suites, 2 specialty restaurants, a 1,800 square meter pillarless luxury banquet hall suitable for various events, from luxurious social dinners to cocktail parties, high-end board meetings to newlywed banquets, to meet any needs. The fitness center and spa on the fourth floor lead guests on a journey of relaxation and relaxation. The excellent location and comprehensive facilities of Bengbu Nanshan Howard Johnson Hotel make it a wise choice for business or vacation. Howard Johnson Café offers fresh, delicious, and colorful Asian and international cuisine, as well as a selection of world-renowned wines, beers, and various fresh juices to pair with your favorite dishes. The carefully designed open kitchen showcases the entire process of making gourmet food by skilled chefs, creating a perfect dining experience. The gallery offers you traditional English afternoon tea, perfectly paired with mini sandwiches and selected delicious pastries, accompanied by a cup of classic black tea that has won the hearts of countless royals, creating a wonderful time for leisure or business negotiations. Help you maintain a healthy physique and achieve a relaxing urban oasis, equipped with a fully equipped fitness center, indoor constant temperature swimming pool and spa to take you on a journey of relaxation and perfection of body and mind.

In the Christmas cottage for Christmas dinner, the dreamy marshmallow tea and strawberry honey toast can not be less, the milk tea will not be too sweet, you must poke the cotton candy into the milk tea; the toast with the butter is baked crispy. It is most delicious with strawberry ice cream. The main dish is the flower burdock and hodgepodge, the latter has three kinds of chicken, pig and burdock. I heard that it is the best match for fancy cocktails! Japanese-style comb is a red dessert, you can add pearl milk tea or berries, I like strawberries and blueberries, with a smooth and tender combi, delicious and not greasy!

The third day --- hot snack street, pot paste, mutton burritos, hot soup ... one by one to eat