Yingdong District 颍东区

Setting and landscape

The Ying River forms the southern edge, facing Yingzhou District (颍州区) and Yingshang County (颍上县). The Cihuai New River (茨淮新河) also crosses the district, and Lixin County (利辛县) of Bozhou lies to the north. On the east the Wu River (乌江) divides it from Yingshang and Lixin, and Yingquan District (颍泉区) lies to the west.

History

The Yuejiahu Neolithic site (岳家湖新石器时代遗址) dates back 4,500 to 5,000 years. Local stories recall the Three Kingdoms strategist Xu Shu (徐庶), the Jin poet Liu Ling (刘伶) of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, and Liu Futong (刘福通), leader of the Red Turbans at the end of the Yuan. The district was created in 1996, when Fuyang became a prefecture-level city.

What to see

The residence of Cheng Wenbing (程文炳宅院), a late-Qing general from Zaozhuang town (枣庄镇) who argued for resisting Japan and France, is billed as the only intact complex of Jiangnan-style buildings in northern Anhui. It covers 2,283 square metres of floor space with more than a hundred rooms and has been a provincial protected site since 2004. The former home of his fourth son Cheng Enpu (程恩普旧居), in the eastern courtyard, was listed in 2018; Enpu studied in Japan, joined Sun Yat-sen's Tongmenghui (同盟会) and declared Yingzhou independent in 1911. Its seven exhibition halls include displays of Cheng family paper-cutting, Du family copper engraving (杜氏刻铜) and Beizhao pottery (北照古陶).

Beizhao Temple (北照寺) stands in Yuanzhai town (袁寨镇), 9 kilometres southeast of Fuyang with the Ying River to its south. It was founded in the Jin dynasty and flourished under the first Ming emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang (朱元璋), who is said to have lived there as a monk.

Food and local crafts

Cheng family paper-cutting (程氏剪纸) comes from Chengwei village (程圩村) in Zhengwu town (正午镇) and was founded by Cheng Jianli (程建礼, 1921–2006); it is the district's first item on the national intangible-heritage list, pairing lively southern-style lines with bold northern shapes. Fuyang huaji (阜阳滑鸡), or fenji (粉鸡), is made from free-range chicken, sweet-potato starch, scallion, ginger and egg white; the chicken is marinated and coated in batter, slapped repeatedly, set in boiling water, firmed in ice water and steeped in the original broth, giving a clear soup and slippery, tender meat. Yingdong flower buns (颍东花馍), made for more than two centuries with local wheat and an old-dough starter, are coloured with fruit and vegetable juice and shaped as longevity peaches, wild geese, carp and lucky bags for festivals, weddings and birthdays.

Highlights

• Cheng Wenbing Residence 程文炳宅院: Late-Qing general's Jiangnan-style compound of over a hundred rooms; provincial protected site since 2004.
• Beizhao Temple 北照寺: Temple founded in the Jin dynasty, 9 km southeast of Fuyang, linked by tradition with Zhu Yuanzhang.
• Cheng family paper-cutting 程氏剪纸: Paper-cutting from Chengwei village, the district's first national intangible-heritage item.
• Fuyang huaji 阜阳滑鸡: Starch-coated chicken slapped, set in boiling water and ice water, served in clear broth.