Wuhu ("Weedy Lake") at the juncture of the Changjiang and Qingyi rivers is an ancient City with a history of more than 2,000 years. It served as a commodity distribution center in the mountainous areas of southern Anhui, the Chaohu Lake areas, and the Changjiang River regions.

Wuhu is located on the south bank of the Yangzi River, 160 km upstream from Nanjing.

Major industries only began to be developed in Wuhu after World War II, with the development of the textile industry, paper mills, and a large automobile factory. Despite this, Wuhu has lagged behind Ma'anshan and Tongling in industrial production, and remains primarily a commercial and collecting center for trade in rice, silk, cotton, tea, wheat and eggs.

Known since 770 BC, Wuhu became a strategically important town during the Three Kingdoms period (220 BC-65 AD), when it was controlled by the Wu Kingdom. At this time it was known as Qiuzu (Chiu-tzu).
Under the Ming dynasty, from the 15th century onward, Wuhu developed into a major commercial center and river port, and since that time has been known as a center of the rice trade.
From 1876, Wuhu was a treaty port, which allowed foreign traders to reside there. A huge, American-built Catholic church dates from this time. Trade in rice, wood, and tea flourished at Wuhu until the Warlord Era of the 1920s and 1930s, when bandits were active in the area.
During the Japanese occupation in the late 30's and early 40's, Chinese resistance fighters hid in the lakes around Wuhu, by submerging themselves and breathing through reeds.