Yingquan District 颍泉区

History

The Shunhe ancient city site (顺河古城遗址) is billed as the only Western Zhou walled city found in Anhui's part of the Huai basin. The Spring and Autumn general Wu Zixu (伍子胥) is said to have camped troops here. In the Northern Song, Yan Shu (晏殊), Ouyang Xiu, Lü Gongzhu (吕公著) and Su Shi all governed Yingzhou. Its West Lake was once as famous as Hangzhou's; Ouyang Xiu chose it for his retirement, and Su Shi wrote a line asking which of the two lakes was the finer. The district dates from 1996.

What to see

Huilao Hall (会老堂), a provincial protected site inside the AAAA-rated Fuyang Ecological Park (阜阳生态乐园), was built by governor Lü Gongzhu when the 80-year-old former minister Zhao Gai (赵概) came from Nanjing, today's Shangqiu, to visit the retired Ouyang Xiu; Lü named it the 'Hall of the Old Friends' Meeting'. The brick-and-timber hall was restored on its original site in 2005 and holds a stone portrait of Ouyang Xiu carrying a poem by the Qianlong Emperor. In April 1928 the Communist Party's northern Anhui committee met here to bring forward the Fuyang 'April 9' uprising (四九起义).

Wenzhong Pavilion (文忠阁), 40.5 metres high and the tallest building of the Ou-Su Culture Park (欧苏文化园), is built in Song style with five storeys outside and eight inside; its halls cover Ouyang Xiu's and Su Shi's years in Yingzhou and local figures such as Guan Zhong (管仲), Gan Luo (甘罗) and Lü Meng (吕蒙). The Quanshuiwan Wetland Park (泉水湾湿地公园) is a national wetland park of 587 hectares, and the Plum Garden (梅园), laid out in 2011 north of Beijing West Road, is Fuyang's first plum-blossom park, with more than 1,000 trees of over 20 varieties.

Food and local products

Pisi (皮丝) is fresh pork skin taken through more than ten processing steps until it is golden and paper-thin; its shape earns it the nickname 'Fuyang shark's fin'. Before cooking it is fried to puff, soaked in water and steamed, and red-braised pisi is the first dish at local banquets. Pisi from Fuyang was named a famous Chinese speciality in 1914, and it has been made around Zhoupeng subdistrict (周棚街道) for more than 40 years.

Getting oriented

Fuyang North Station (阜阳北站), described by the district as the largest modern marshalling yard in East China, lies in the district and is served by the Beijing–Kowloon, Luohe–Fuyang and Fuyang–Huainan railways.

Highlights

• Huilao Hall 会老堂: Song-dynasty meeting hall of Ouyang Xiu and Zhao Gai, rebuilt in 2005; provincial protected site in the Fuyang Ecological Park.
• Wenzhong Pavilion 文忠阁: 40.5-metre Song-style pavilion with halls on Ouyang Xiu, Su Shi and Fuyang's historical figures.
• Quanshuiwan Wetland Park 泉水湾湿地公园: National wetland park of 587 hectares.
• Pisi 皮丝: Processed pork skin nicknamed 'Fuyang shark's fin'; red-braised, it heads local banquets.