Meizhou 梅州市

Setting and landscape

Plains make up only about 13.7 percent of the land. The Mei River (梅江), called the Qin River (琴江) upstream, flows northeast across the city and joins the Ting River (汀江) at Sanheba (三河坝) in Dabu County (大埔县) to become the Han.

History

In 971 the Northern Song renamed Jingzhou (敬州), whose name broke an imperial taboo, first as Gongzhou (恭州) and soon after as Meizhou, a name traced to local plum trees or to a Mei peak and stream. In 1733 the area became Jiaying Department (嘉应州), governing Chengxiang (程乡) and four other counties. The prefecture-level city dates from 1988, and Meizhou is a national historical and cultural city.

The Meixian dialect (梅县话) is regarded by linguists as the standard or representative form of Hakka. Meizhou Hakka folk songs (梅州客家山歌), sung to nearly a hundred tunes, entered the first national intangible heritage list in 2006. The mat lion dance (席狮舞) of the Meijiang District (梅江区) outskirts, in which performers draped in straw mats mimic a lion during Buddhist funeral rites, followed in 2008.

What to see

Meijiang, the city seat, has the Hakka Museum of China (中国客家博物馆). Meixian District (梅县区) has the Yannanfei Tea Garden (雁南飞茶田), a national 5A scenic area since 2011, and the former home and memorial hall of Marshal Ye Jianying (叶剑英), a Meizhou native. Pingyuan (平远县) has Wuzhishi (五指石), a scenic area of Danxia landforms; Fengshun County (丰顺县) has the Longguizhai Waterfall (龙归寨瀑布); Jiaoling (蕉岭县) has the Changtan (长潭) resort and the former homes of Qiu Fengjia (丘逢甲) and Xie Jinyuan (谢晋元), both national key heritage sites. Dabu has Tai'an Lou (泰安楼) and the Hakka earthen enclosure of Hua'e Lou (花萼楼), and nearly half of Meizhou's weilongwu (围龙屋) Hakka houses stand in Xingning (兴宁市).

Food and local products

Hakka cooking here favours chicken, duck and goose and is salty, fragrant and rich. Salt-baked chicken (盐焗鸡) is marinated, wrapped in paper and baked for about an hour in a clay pot of heated salt, giving springy skin and silky meat. Yan mian (腌面), the usual breakfast and late-night bowl, is fresh, mostly flat noodles tossed with garlic fried golden in lard, salt and spring onion, often with sanjidi soup (三及第汤). Pork belly with preserved mustard greens (梅菜扣肉) and stuffed tofu (酿豆腐) are other specialities, and the Guangdong Cuisine Association has named Dabu a "Guangdong Hakka food county" (广东客家美食名县).

Highlights

• Hakka Museum of China 中国客家博物馆: In Meijiang District, the city seat.
• Yannanfei Tea Garden 雁南飞茶田: A national 5A scenic area in Meixian District since 2011.
• Wuzhishi 五指石: Scenic area in Pingyuan County known for its Danxia landforms.
• Meizhou Hakka folk songs 梅州客家山歌: On the first national intangible heritage list (2006), which records nearly a hundred tunes, love songs the most numerous.
• Salt-baked chicken 盐焗鸡: Marinated chicken wrapped in paper and baked about an hour in hot salt in a clay pot.