Third-tier cities Huaian is located in the north-central part of Jiangsu Province, east of Jianghuai Plain. Located in the Yangtze River Delta, it is the central city in northern Jiangsu and a city in Nanjing metropolitan area. Hongze Lake, the fourth largest freshwater lake in China at the intersection of the ancient Huaihe River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, is a national historical and cultural city, a national health city, a national garden city, a national environmental protection model city, a national low-carbon pilot city and an excellent tourist city in China.