Huai'an

Huai'an is the atonal pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese name 淮安 (Huái'ān), the name of the River Huai and the Chinese word for "peaceful" or "pacified". The apostrophe is necessary because the second character begins with a vowel and pinyin generally avoids hyphens. The same name was previously romanized as Huai-an in Wade-Giles. For much of the 20th century, Huai'an was officially known as Huaiyin in pinyin, Huai-yin in Wade–Giles, and Hwaiyin in Postal Map, all romanizing the Chinese name written 淮陰 in traditional characters and 淮阴 in simplified ones, meaning "area on the yin, shady, or south bank of the Huai".

Huai'an lies southeast of the cradle of early Chinese civilization on the Wei and Yellow Rivers. Modern Chinese archaeology has found remains from Neolithic civilizations in the area as far back as the 4th millennium BC. The most famous of these is the Qinglianggang culture (青莲岗文化). Traditional Chinese historiography considered the area part of the Dongyi or "Eastern Barbarians", but Chinese myth sometimes extended the flood control efforts of Yu the Great to the Huai. Under the Zhou, the area became an important agricultural center contested by the petty kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn period. In 486 BC, the hegemon Fuchai of Wu completed the Han or Hangou Canal (t 邗溝, s 邗沟, Hángōu), connecting his center of power at Suzhou near the Yangtze Delta with the Huai River at Huai'an to ease his supply lines in conflicts against Qi. …

Huai'an lies on the Huai River in the alluvial Jianghuai Plain. The area is very flat with only a few notable hills in Xuyi County. The highest altitude in the municipality is 200 meters (660 ft). The area is notable for its large number of lakes, rivers, and canals. The Grand Canal connects with the Huai in the city. Hongze Lake, the fourth-largest freshwater lake in China, is southwest of the urban districts. Towards the south, there are also several smaller lakes. Huai'an is situated almost directly south of Lianyungang, southeast of Suqian, northwest of Yancheng, and north of Yangzhou and Nanjing in Jiangsu and northeast of Chuzhou in Anhui. The climate in Huai'an is mild, generally warm and temperate. Winters are much drier than summers. Its Köppen climate classification is Cwa: humid subtropical climate with dry winters.