Yingshang County 颍上县

Setting and landscape

The county sits in the climate transition zone between northern and southern China and has four distinct seasons. It is so well watered that it is known for its "five rivers, three bays and seventy-two lakes" (五河三湾七十二湖).

Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya

The friendship of Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya (管鲍之交) became a Chinese idiom. Local researchers place Guan Zhong's birthplace at Guangu village (管谷村) in Jianying township (建颍乡), with Bao's home village a short way to the north. In the county town, the Guanbao Shrine (管鲍祠) began as a shrine to Guan Zhong alone; in 1578 the magistrate Tu Long (屠隆) added Bao Shuya and gave it its present name. Destroyed and rebuilt three times, it was restored with local funds in 1933 and became a provincial protected site in 1986. Its south-facing main hall has three bays and holds statues of the two men, and Guan Zhong's cenotaph, the Guanzhong Mound (管仲墩), stands on the west side of the courtyard, with a stele of 1588 among those in front of it.

What to see

The Balihe Scenic Area (八里河风景区) is in Balihe town in the south of the county, with the Ying River to the east and the Huai to the south. A Qing county gazetteer explains the name, 'eight-li river', by the water's span of about eight li from north to south. The county began turning the flood-prone lake into a farmers' park in the winter of 1992, and villagers built miniatures of world landmarks, such as the Arc de Triomphe, copied from calendar pictures; the park was completed in 1996. It became northern Anhui's first 5A scenic area on 11 October 2013. Of its 15.8 square kilometres, 13.3 are water, and it forms part of a provincial nature reserve where 57 species of birds have been recorded; the Ming-Qing Garden (明清苑) is a cluster of old buildings.

Guanzhong Old Street (管仲老街) is a commercial street of Ming-Qing style shops and courtyard houses themed on Guan Zhong and lit with lanterns at night. The Youjia Garden (尤家花园), by Wuli Lake (五里湖) west of the town, is a private garden begun in the late Qing, laid out in the Suzhou manner and nicknamed the 'Yu Garden of northern Anhui'.

Getting oriented

Yingshang Station is on the Fuyang–Huainan Railway and Yingshang North on the Shangqiu–Hangzhou high-speed line; the Chuxin Expressway (滁新高速) passes through the county.

Highlights

• Balihe Scenic Area 八里河风景区: Lake park built by villagers from 1992; northern Anhui's first 5A scenic area (2013).
• Guanbao Shrine 管鲍祠: Shrine to Guan Zhong and Bao Shuya, renamed in 1578; provincial protected site since 1986.
• Guanzhong Old Street 管仲老街: Ming-Qing style commercial street themed on Guan Zhong, lit with lanterns at night.
• Youjia Garden 尤家花园: Late-Qing private garden in the Suzhou style by Wuli Lake.