With a 6,000-year-old history, Xuzhou was called Pengcheng in ancient times. It is the oldest city in Jiangsu Province, as 2,500 years ago Yao set up the Kingdom of Dapengshi at the site here. Xuzhou was one of the nine divisions of China in the period of the Great Yu in the Xia Dynasty (21^st -17^th century BC).

Hometown of Liu Bang, founder of the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-8AD), Xuzhou is a national historical and cultural city with lots of historical cultural relics, especially of the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD). The tombs, pretrial paintings, and pottery figurine are listed as the three rare treasures of the Han Dynasty. The painted terracotta warriors and horses buried with the dead of the Han Dynasty are the third discovery after those unearthed in Xianyang and Xi'an. In order to explore and utilize its cultural resources, Xuzhou Research Institute of Han Culture was established, which conducted repairs to the Tomb of Beidongshan, the Tomb of Guishan, the Tomb of Baiji, the Mausoleum of King of the Chu Kingdom in the Lion Mountain, the Museum of Han Dynasty Terracotta Warriors and Horses and the museum of the stone carving portraits.

Xuzhou is also the hometown of Liu Yu, Emperor Wudi of the Song Kingdom in the Northern and Southern Dynasties Period (386-581). Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), Su Dongpo in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Fang Xiaoru and Fan Jixun in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Li Keran as the expert of the national painting and Ma Ke as the famous musician, all lived in or had been to Xuzhou.

Xuzhou is the connecting point of five provinces with relatively complete infrastructures and advanced transportation. It is the second important pivot of the railway of China. The Beijing-Shanghai Railway and the Longhai Railway cut through here. The road network in Xuzhou extends in every direction. The Grand Canal runs through it, providing convenient water transportation.