Yangzhou, one of China's famous historical and cultural cities, has long been eulogized as "famous city on Jianghuai Plain". The city began to be built in 486 B.C. during the Spring and Autumn Period. So far it has a history of over 2,480 years. In the past, Yangzhou was named Hangou, Guangling, Jiangdu, Wucheng and Weiyang.

Yangzhou was one of the country's nine natural regions in remote antiquity. It became not only a political and military base of southeastern China in the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), but also an important distribution center of grain, salt and iron in China, and a major harbor as well because of its favorable location in the Jianghuai Plain.

Since ancient times, Yangzhou has been a tourist city. From as early as the Six Dynasties (222-589), there was an old saying "to visit Yangzhou by riding on a crane, one has to tie myriads of strings of coins around the waist", which means that Yangzhou is really an amazing land while you have to spend a lot of money.

Yangzhou has been the ideal place to be frequently visited by men of letters and scholars since ancient times. In the Tang Dynasty, it lured numerous celebrities and scholars. Its ancient civilization and splendid culture even aroused the emperors' interest in touring the city.

It is said that the Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty visited Yangzhou three times for appreciating the city's rare flowers, and the emperors Kangxi and Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) had been to the city six times each.

Yangzhou features humid climate in the subtropical zone, and its annual average temperature is 15℃ In July, its average temperature is 27.6 ℃. The coldest month is January, with an average temperature of 1.5 ℃. The frost-free season is about 222 days, and its duration of yearly sunshine is about 2,176.7 hours.

The most interesting scenic spot in the city is perhaps Shou Xihu, or Slim West Lake, which is so named because it resembles the West Lake in Hangzhou in terms of natural beauty, but is narrower and more twisted.