Xuzhou (Chinese: 徐州), also known as Pengcheng (彭城) in ancient times, is a major city in northwestern Jiangsu province, China.

[5] Before the official adoption of Hanyu Pinyin, the city's name was typically romanized as Suchow[6] or Süchow,[7][8] though it also appeared as Siu Tcheou [Fou],[9] Hsu-chou,[10] Hsuchow,[11] and Hsü-chow.

[15][16] During the time of Western Zhou, a Huaiyi chiefdom called Xuyi or Xu rose centered around modern Xuzhou and controlled the Lower Yellow River Valley.

In the intervening years, the seat of Xuzhou (Xu province) was transferred from Tancheng to Xiapi, which located in the northwest of Suining.

Keeping the northern rebellions and warfare a distance gave Xuzhou scope for developing during the most period of the Tang dynasty.

Wang Zhixing, another military governor of Wuning, established several battalions (the most notorious one among is the Silver Sword) in the Army specifically for select recruits.

In 864, the court declared an amnesty in the area, and promised that all thugs who willingly re-enrolled would be sent for a tour of duty in the southern, and then, presumably, returned to regular army service in the north.

[28] The local civil governor refused Pang's demand to have the hatred officers removed, and a military confrontation ensued.

In the first month of 1129, Nijuhun took the city after a siege of 27 days, and the then governor Wang Fu (王復) was executed for refusing to submit.

Regarding Anyong's behave as grabbing reputation, the Mongolian general Asuru (Chinese: 阿术鲁/额苏伦) irritated and persisted to kill him.

In the spring of the next year, the Mongolian commander Zhang Rong (张荣) attacked Xuzhou,[33] Anyong drowned himself after the final defeat.

[36] Thus, Xuzhou was renamed Wu'an (武安; literal meaning: Restoring peace by force") as a favour for him, and a stone slab celebrating his deed was erected by the court in the city.

Fu Youde (傅友德) and Lu Ju (陸聚) who held the city raided them outside, most of the enemy were drowned while the remained about 270 soldiers and 500 horses were captured.

[49] After the Hongguang Emperor enthroned in Nanjing, the court designated four defense areas along the southern bank of the Yellow River (江北四鎮) to repulse the Qing armies.

While the former bandit general, Gao Jie (高傑) was designated to take the crucial forward position at Xuzhou by Shi Kefa.

[52] In the 1850s, the Yellow River shifted its course from the southern to the northern side of the Shandong peninsula, the process caused serious floods and famine in Xuzhou, and almost made the waterway system within the prefecture defunct.

In the autumn of this year, the Second Zhili–Fengtian War broke out, Zhang Zongchang who supported the Fengtian clique seized the city with his thirty thousand soldiers.

On 2 March, the "Committee of Three", comprising George Marshall, Zhang Zhizhong and Zhou Enlai arrived for the ceasefire in Central China.

Fighting centred around the city of Xuzhou, seat of the Bandit Suppression Headquarters (剿匪總司令部) established on 6 June 1948.

Its arable land was severely depleted by the changes in the course of the Yellow River since the mid 11th century, and the drought-resistant crops: wheat, sorghum, soybean, maize and potato, became the local staples.

[70] The city astride the old course of the Grand Canal had been through several transitory periods of prosperity, before the grain tribute system was abolished in 1855.

It was the world's tenth-largest construction equipment maker measured by 2011 revenues, and the third-largest based in China (after Sany and Zoomlion).

Xuzhou was a regional centre for education, but two defunct institutions once chose their sites within the city: Provincial College of Kiangsu (省立江蘇學院) and North China Theological Seminary.

In the 1950s, the then Jiangsu Normal Academy relocated to the city in 1958, and the then Nanjing Medical College, Xuzhou was founded later, both survived the Great Leap Forward.

In 1978, the then China Institute of Mining and Technology relocated to Xuzhou.According to the local administrator's survey in 2014, around 4.76% of the population of Xuzhou, namely 0.46 million people belongs to organised religions.

Xuzhou is deemed one of earlier Buddhist centres in China supposedly because the Emperor Ming of Han mentioned that the then Prince of Chu Liu Ying built a "temple for Buddha".

According to Xu Wei's Nanci Xulu (南詞敘錄; [Treatises and Catalogue of Nanqu]), Yuyao Tone (余姚腔), one of then major Southern Operas, was prevalent in Xuzhou during the Mid-Ming period.

Xuzhou's most well known foods include bǎzi ròu (pork belly, and other items stewed in a thick broth), sha tang (汤), and various dog meat dishes.

Common staples of di guo style cooking include chicken, fish, lamb, pork rib and eggplant.

5The claimed province of Taiwan no longer have any internal division announced by Ministry of Civil Affairs of PRC, due to lack of actual jurisdiction.