According to the History of Qing Dynasty, before the early Qing Dynasty, Anhui and Jiangsu (including Shanghai now) were a province-jiangnan province. In the 6th year of Kangxi (1667), in order to reduce "red tape", the Qing government divided jiangnan province into Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. In the twenty-five years of Qianlong (1760), it was officially designated as the provincial capital in Anqing prefecture (now Anqing city). Anhui Province is called "Anhui" for short, because there are mountains and water in Anqing and Anhui in Spring and Autumn.
After the 13th year of Yongzheng (1735), the number of Anhui Province increased from three zhili provinces in seven states to five zhili provinces in eight states (Anqing, Huizhou, Ningguo, Chizhou, Taiping, Luzhou, Fengyang and Yingzhou) (Chuzhou, Hezhou, Guangde, Lu 'an and Sizhou). In this way, people call Anhui, which has eight provinces, "Eight Anhui".