Huoqiu County 霍邱县

Setting and landscape

The county government sums up its setting as resting on the Dabie Mountains, facing the Huai and holding the East and West lakes. There are three lakes, four medium-sized reservoirs and four tributaries of the Huai. These West and East lakes, Chengxi Lake (城西湖) and Chengdong Lake (城东湖), are national wetland reserves. Chengxi Lake covers about 95 square kilometres and is fed by the Feng River (沣河) and the Niujiao River (牛角河); its outflow sluice was built between 1999 and 2004. Shuimen Pond (水门塘), which the county describes as a thousand-year-old pond, is nicknamed 'the Thousand Island Lake of western Anhui' (皖西千岛湖).

History

Under the Western Zhou the area was the state of Liao (蓼国), and the town was once known as Liaocheng (蓼城). A county was created in 599 under the Sui and named Huoqiu (霍丘) after Huo Shu (霍叔), who is said to have moved here in the reign of King Cheng of Zhou. The Qing changed the second character of the name (丘 to 邱) to avoid writing Confucius's personal name. In 1918 Chen Duxiu (陈独秀), a founder of the Chinese Communist Party, spread Marxist and New Culture ideas here, and a party organisation was set up in 1926.

What to see

The Linhuaigang project (临淮岗工程) is a national 4A scenic area. The Li family manor (李氏庄园) is a national key protected heritage site.

Food and local products

The county's registered geographical-indication marks include Huoqiu crayfish (霍邱龙虾), Huoqiu Mahuang chicken (霍邱麻黄鸡), Huoqiu goose foie gras (霍邱鹅肥肝), Linshui liquor (临水酒), Huoqiu rice (霍邱大米), Huoqiu foxnut (霍邱芡实) and Huoqiu willow weaving (霍邱柳编). Crayfish are farmed together with rice, and Landes geese are kept for foie gras. Huoqiu people have a name for drinking: in the local dialect 'Huoqiu' sounds like 'drink liquor' (喝酒), so outsiders jokingly call it the 'drinking county'.

Getting oriented

National Highway 105, the Jinan–Guangzhou expressway (济广高速) and the Fuyang–Lu'an railway (阜六铁路) cross the county from north to south, National Highway 328 runs east to west, and the Hefei–Huoqiu–Fuyang expressway (合霍阜高速) passes through the town. Huoqiu station is on the Fuyang–Lu'an line, and the county seat is Chengguan Town (城关镇).

Highlights

• Linhuaigang project 临淮岗工程: National 4A scenic area in the county.
• Li family manor 李氏庄园: National key protected heritage site.
• Chengxi Lake 城西湖: Lake of about 95 km² fed by the Feng and Niujiao rivers; national wetland reserve.
• Shuimen Pond 水门塘: Old pond nicknamed the Thousand Island Lake of western Anhui.
• Huoqiu willow weaving 霍邱柳编: Registered geographical-indication craft.