Si County 泗县

History

The county dates its organisation to the Xia; under the Xia, Shang and Zhou the area belonged to the state of Xu (徐国). Old names include Xiaqiu (夏邱), Hongxiang (虹乡) and Sizhou (泗州), and the town was once the seat of Sizhou prefecture. The Western Han created Xiaqiu County, the Tang set up Hong County (虹县) in 621, and the present name dates from April 1912.

What to see

Of 47 kilometres of canal channel in the county, 28 are well preserved, and the 5.8-kilometre World Heritage section of the Tongji Canal (通济渠) still carries water. A towpath follows banks that keep much of their Sui–Tang form. Tang and Song boat planks have come from the riverbed, and old ceramic shards litter the banks. The Sui–Tang Grand Canal Museum (隋唐大运河博物馆), white-walled under a single-eave hip-and-gable roof, uses five halls of objects and digital reconstructions to show canal shipping. Near the old canal, the China Ancient Shoe Museum (中国古鞋博物馆), billed as China's first shoe-culture museum, displays the craft of Si County medicinal cloth shoes (泗县药物布鞋).

Shilong Lake Wetland Park (石龙湖湿地公园), a national wetland park, lies in the south of the county, 15 kilometres from the seat, where the Longxu Ditch (龙须沟) meets the Shiliang River (石梁河). Its "four wonders" are reed beds, warm springs, migratory birds and rare stones; a spring in the lake that locals call the Dragon's Eye (龙眼) keeps the water around it at 23–24°C all year. Dayingjie (大营街) in the north of the area is the home of the early Ming general Deng Yu (邓愈), and Bawangcheng (霸王城) in the northeast is named as the place where Xiang Yu (项羽) stationed troops in the Chu–Han war.

Food and local products

Sizhou opera (泗州戏), on the first national intangible-heritage list and nicknamed the "soul-pulling tune" (拉魂腔), is nearly 300 years old and is ranked with Hui opera (徽剧) and Huangmei opera (黄梅戏) among Anhui's four major opera forms; it has been staged in the small theatre of the Si County Museum (泗县博物馆). Sweet potato and golden-thread squash (金丝绞瓜) are both national geographical-indication products, and cooking skills for the squash joined the Suzhou municipal intangible-heritage list in 2025. Sweet-potato starch noodles, now made without alum, go into Si County donkey meat with vermicelli (泗县驴肉粉丝), a red-braised home-style dish that is chewy and mildly spicy.

Getting oriented

The Suzhou–Huai'an railway (宿淮铁路) crosses the county from east to west, the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway passes close by, and national highways G104 and G343 run through it.

Highlights

• Tongji Canal World Heritage section 隋唐大运河通济渠泗县段: 5.8 km World Heritage section that still serves flood drainage and irrigation.
• China Ancient Shoe Museum 中国古鞋博物馆: Footwear museum near the old canal showing the medicinal cloth-shoe craft.
• Shilong Lake Wetland Park 石龙湖湿地公园: National wetland park 15 km from the seat with a warm spring called the Dragon's Eye.
• Golden-thread squash 金丝绞瓜: Geographical-indication product; its cooking skills are on the Suzhou intangible-heritage list (2025).