Huaiyan Salt is named after Huaihe River crossing Jiangsu saltworks. Jiangsu saltworks are distributed in the embroidered needle estuary at the junction of Sulu and Shandong in the north, and the inclined long coastal zone at the Yangtze River estuary in the south, spanning Lianyungang, Yancheng, Huai 'an and Nantong 13 counties, covering an area of 653 square kilometers. Jiangsu coastal area has the largest and widest coastal beach in China, and the climate with four distinct seasons is suitable for sea salt production. Huai salt producing area is one of the four major salt producing areas in China.

As early as He Lv's time (5 14 BC), the coastal areas of Jiangsu province began to cook seawater into salt. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty recruited people to stir-fry salt, mow grass and stir-fry, and boiled the sea for salt, which could produce 1,000 kilograms day and night. In the Tang dynasty, ditches were dug to draw tide, pavilions were paved, ashes were drenched with brine, and boiled in a frying pan, and salt was also made. By the Song Dynasty, the process of cooking sea and making salt was very mature. "Tongzhou Boiled Sea Record" records: "The process of frying sea salt is divided into six processes: crushing, drying in the sun, drenching with brine, trying lotus, frying salt and picking flowers." By the Yuan Dynasty, Jiangsu salt industry had grown to 30 saltworks, and the scale of sea cooking ranked first in the country. Especially in the Ming Dynasty, Jiangsu salt industry developed from frying salt to drying salt. "Ming Shi Shi huo Lu" records: "Huainan salt fried, Huaibei salt dried." This shows that as early as 500 years ago, Jiangsu sea salt had two production technologies: frying salt and drying salt. By the mid-1960s, the new technology of plastic drying and crystallization was successfully tested, and at the same time, it was popularized and used in Yantian in the whole province, which produced a new major technological revolution and leap, which made Jiangsu sea salt production enter a new stage of stable, high-quality and high-yield development. '

Huaiyan salt was paid attention to by the imperial courts and governments in past dynasties because of its huge tax revenue. In slave society, it was one of the tributes from slaves to slave owners, and in feudal society, it was an important financial resource of the country. Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, salt fields have often accounted for one-third to one-half of the total national fiscal revenue, and the salt fields in Huaibei and Huaibei have accounted for the first place in the national salt revenue. During the reign of Shunzhi in Qing Dynasty, the income from salt tax in Huai River and Huai River accounted for 62% of the total national salt tax. During the period of the Republic of China, the salt tax of Huai River and Huai River accounted for more than one third of the national salt tax revenue. Therefore, in the era of underdeveloped economy, feudal rulers took the development of salt industry as the main means to enrich the national financial resources. During the war of liberation, Jiangsu salt industry was once an important economic pillar of the revolutionary army, and Huaibei salt field was once known as the "East China Treasury". After the founding of New China, especially in September 1984, the State Council promulgated the Detailed Rules for the Implementation of People's Republic of China (PRC) Salt Tax Regulations, which further improved the tax system, abolished all miscellaneous taxes, and kept the tax rate steady and declining.

Due to the prominent position of Huai salt, in the modern history of China, Huai salt resources were an important target plundered by imperialist powers. During the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai borrowed money from banks in Britain, France, Germany, Japan and Russia with salt tax and customs duties as collateral, and the salt tax fell into the hands of foreigners. Foreign banking groups have substantially increased their taxes through the Audit Bureau, and tried their best to search for salt taxes and prices in Huaibei. After the Japanese invasion of China broke out, Huaibei Salt Field suffered unprecedented natural and man-made disasters, which greatly affected the production of salt industry. During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression period, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army led by China's * * * Producer Party also successively entered northern Jiangsu and central Jiangsu, and some saltworks returned to the people's hands. In War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, the broad masses of soldiers and civilians in Jiangsu Salt Field fought hard with the Japanese aggressor troops and Kuomintang reactionaries. Many people with lofty ideals gave their lives for the liberation of saltworks. The broad masses of salt workers and people resumed the development of salt production, organized salt tax revenue and supported the front line, which provided important financial resources for War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation.