Why it looks like this

Lu'an is the market centre for a big slice of western Anhui: behind it rise the Dabie Mountains, famous for tea and for their revolutionary-era history; in front stretches the crowded Huai River plain. The city grew on the flat ground at the seam between the two.

Reservoirs in the hills above supply water and power, and the high-speed railway toward Wuhan has pulled new districts westward from the old core.