As early as the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD), Danyang Shire was established on this region with Wanling (presently Xuanzhou District) as its capital city. Since then, Xuanzhou has been the political, economic and cultural center of administration for two thousand years. However, the name of Xuzhou was changed during the Sui Dynasty (581-618). The terrain of Xuancheng is varied and complicated, basically sloping downward from the south to the north. Its landform can be approximately divided into five types: Mountain, hill, valley and basin, hillock and plain. The south and southeast regions belong to ranges of Tianmu Mountain, while the southwest and west regions are respectively parts of ranges of Mt. Huangshan and Mt. Jiuhua.