Qingcheng County 庆城县

History

The county account says the Zhou ancestor Buzhu (不窋) fled among the Rong and Di peoples and founded a state at Beibin (北豳), the site of today's county town. In 221 BC the Qin created the Beidi Commandery (北地郡), seated at Maling (马岭) in the county. The Sui set up Qingzhou (庆州) here, and from the Tang to the Qing the town remained a prefecture or county seat. It was Anhua County (安化县) from 705, Qingyang County from 1913, and was renamed Qingcheng in 2002 when Qingyang prefecture became a city of the same name.

In September 1970 the first oil well of eastern Gansu, Qing-1 (庆一井), was drilled at Dongjiatan (董家滩) in Maling, and the same year the Changqing Oilfield (长庆油田) headquarters moved to the town, which the county calls the oilfield's birthplace.

What to see

The Zhou Ancestor Tomb (周祖陵, also written 周祖遗陵) crowns East Hill, known locally as Zhou Lanwang Hill (周懒王山). It is presented as the tomb of Buzhu, 19th-generation ancestor of King Wu of Zhou, and heads the traditional lists of eight views of the prefecture and the county.

Qingcheng County Museum (庆城县博物馆), founded in 1984 and rated a national grade-three museum, and its new exhibition building was completed in 2007. Its ten galleries cover local history, stone carving, fossils and prehistory, Qihuang medicine (岐黄), Zhou farming culture and the revolutionary period; painted Tang pottery figurines are the core of the collection. Ciyun Temple (慈云寺), founded in the Tang, keeps a large bell cast in the Taihe era of the Jin dynasty, inscribed in Siddham (Sanskrit) script and Chinese; Gansu listed the bell as a provincial protected relic in 1981.

Food and local products

The sanjiao xi (三角席), or "triangle banquet", is described as the highest-ranking banquet of the Qingyang area. A cold platter and eight hot dishes come first; the final courses arrive as four bowls and four plates, each plate holding three dishes set out like the three legs of a ding (鼎) vessel, which gives the feast its name. Apples and meat sheep are the county's two leading farm industries.

Getting oriented

The Lanzhou–Qingdao, Fuzhou–Yinchuan, Yinchuan–Baise and Yan'an–Jiuzhaigou expressways and the Xi'an–Yinchuan railway meet at Qingcheng, and national highways 309 and 211 cross the county. Qingyang airport is 40 km away.

Highlights

• Zhou Ancestor Tomb 周祖陵: Tomb attributed to the Zhou ancestor Buzhu on East Hill, first of the traditional eight views of Qingyang.
• Qingcheng County Museum 庆城县博物馆: National grade-three museum founded in 1984; painted Tang pottery figurines are its most valued holdings.
• Ciyun Temple bell 慈云寺: Jin-dynasty bell with Siddham and Chinese inscriptions, listed as a provincial protected relic in 1981.
• Triangle banquet 三角席: Formal Qingyang banquet whose plates each carry three dishes arranged like the legs of a ding.