Fengyang County 凤阳县

Setting and landscape

The county's own description runs "hills in the south, water in the north, and rolling land with flat valleys in between" (南是山，北是湾，中间丘陵夹平川). Uplands and low hills cover 85.7 per cent of the county, part of the hill country between the Yangtze and Huai; the land falls from eroded hills in the south to a flat alluvial plain in the north; the Huai runs 52.5 kilometres through the county. The climate sits between the northern subtropics and the southern temperate zone.

History

In the Spring and Autumn period this was the state of Zhongli (钟离), and the county government links it to the "fish in the Hao River" (濠梁观鱼) dialogue between Zhuangzi (庄子) and Hui Shi (惠施). From 582 it was Haozhou (濠州). In 1369 Zhu Yuanzhang ordered a Middle Capital (中都) built here with walls and palaces on the model of the capital; in 1374 he moved the prefecture seat to the south side of Phoenix Hill (凤凰山) and gave his home town the name Fengyang. Bengbu (蚌埠) was split off from the county in 1947, and Fengyang has belonged to Chuzhou since 1993.

What to see

The site of the Ming Middle Capital (明中都皇故城遗址) and the stone carvings of the Ming Imperial Tomb (明皇陵) are listed together as a national protected site. The tomb, 7 kilometres south of the county town, was built between 1366 and 1379 for Zhu Yuanzhang's parents; its spirit way is lined with 28 pairs of stone carvings, among them qilin, lions, tigers, rams, civil officials, generals and eunuchs. The restored Hongwu Gate (洪武门), the southern gate of the Middle Capital's outer wall, anchors the old north-south axis together with the Daming Gate (大明门), the Chengtian Gate (承天门) and the Meridian Gate (午门).

At Xiaogang village, eighteen red fingerprints opened China's rural reform, in the county government's words, and the leaders of the village's dabaogan (大包干) contracting were honoured as a group with the title "Reform Pioneers" (改革先锋).

Food and local products

Fengyang flower-drum singing (凤阳花鼓), probably formed in the Ming, is on the first national intangible-heritage list of 2006; one or two performers sing while beating a small drum and gong, and performers who took it on the road to beg spread it across China. Local products named by the county include Fengyang peanuts (凤阳花生), Meishi salted goose (梅市盐水鹅), Fengyang vine tea (凤阳藤茶), Huayuan Lake hairy crab (花园湖大闸蟹) and Huangnipu grapes (黄泥铺葡萄).

Highlights

• Ming Middle Capital site 明中都皇故城遗址: Capital begun by Zhu Yuanzhang in 1369; national protected site.
• Ming Imperial Tomb 明皇陵: Tomb of Zhu Yuanzhang's parents, 7 km south of the county town, with 28 pairs of stone carvings on its spirit way.
• Xiaogang village 小岗村: Called by the county government the main birthplace of China's rural reform.
• Hongwu Gate 洪武门: Restored southern gate of the Middle Capital's outer wall.
• Fengyang flower-drum singing 凤阳花鼓: National intangible heritage since 2006.