Yangjiang 阳江市

Setting and landscape

The land slopes from north to south. Ehuangzhang (鹅凰嶂) rises to 1,338 metres in the Wangfu range (望夫山脉), and the 199-kilometre Moyang River, which gave the city its name, flows south through the whole city to the sea. Sixty-eight main islands lie off the coast, and typhoons and heavy rain are common in summer and autumn.

History

The name Yangjiang County first appeared under the Sui, and in 1048 the prefecture governed from here was renamed Nan'en Prefecture (南恩州). In 1097 the prefect built an earthen town beside Tuo Hill (鼍山), the forerunner of the present city; because the seat long stayed below the hill, Yangjiang is also called Tuocheng (鼍城).

Yangjiang speech (阳江话) is a local Yue dialect that differs from Guangzhou Cantonese, while a Southern Min "sea speech" (海话) is spoken in Rudong (儒洞) and Shaba (沙扒) in Yangxi County (阳西县). Lacquerware, one of the "three treasures of Yangjiang" (阳江三宝), has been made here since at least the late Ming or early Qing; by the late Qing a locally developed cashew lacquer set it apart, and much of the output went to Southeast Asia. The national intangible heritage list, which added the craft in 2011, singles out its leather-bodied trunks and pillows.

What to see

Hailing Island (海陵岛) lies in the city's southwest. Dajiao Bay (大角湾) is a national 5A scenic area, and Shili Yintan (十里银滩), the "ten-li silver beach", runs for 16.5 kilometres along the south of the island. On the beach's west side the Maritime Silk Road Museum of Guangdong (广东海上丝绸之路博物馆), a national first-grade museum, holds the Song merchant ship Nanhai No. 1 (南海一号), from which 180,000 objects have been recovered. Zhapo (闸坡), a national central fishing port, has a fishermen's street with an exhibition on Tanka (疍家) boat-dweller life. Chunwan (春湾) and Lingxiao Cave (凌霄岩) in Yangchun (阳春市) form a provincial tourist resort.

Food and local products

Chengcun oysters (程村蚝) come from beds at the mouths of the Fengtou (丰头河) and Zhigong (织篢河) rivers in Yangxi, where the water is neither too salty nor too fresh; oysters have been farmed there for over 500 years and are also dried or made into oyster sauce. Zhuchanglu (猪肠碌), named for its likeness to pork intestine, is a sheet of rice noodle rolled around bean sprouts and fried rice noodles, topped with sesame and spring onion and dressed with beef-brisket sauce. Yangchun grows the medicinal plant chunsharen (春砂仁).

Highlights

• Maritime Silk Road Museum of Guangdong 广东海上丝绸之路博物馆: National first-grade museum on Hailing Island holding the Song merchant ship Nanhai No. 1.
• Dajiao Bay 大角湾: Hailing Island bay, a national 5A scenic area.
• Shili Yintan 十里银滩: Beach running 16.5 km along the south of Hailing Island.
• Yangjiang lacquerware 阳江漆器: Lacquer craft known for leather-bodied trunks and pillows and a local cashew lacquer; national intangible heritage since 2011.
• Chengcun oysters 程村蚝: Farmed for over 500 years in brackish river mouths in Yangxi.