Bijie City 毕节市

Setting and landscape

The land slopes from the eastern Yunnan plateau in the west down to the hills of central Guizhou in the east, at an average of 1,600 metres. The city gives its highest point as Xiao Jiucaiping (小韭菜坪) in Hezhang County (赫章县), 2,900.6 metres, and its lowest as 457 metres in the Chishui valley. The Wumeng range runs through the west and the Dalou Mountains (大娄山) through the north, and summers average 21°C, which the city calls a "natural air conditioner".

History

The Guanyindong Paleolithic site (观音洞) in Qianxi (黔西市) is paired with Zhoukoudian: "Zhoukoudian in the north, Guanyindong in the south". Before the Qin, Bijie belonged to the Yelang (夜郎) realm, and the Kele site (可乐遗址) in Hezhang is a national key cultural relic, as are the Shexiang Museum in Dafang County (大方县), honouring the early-Ming Yi heroine Shexiang (奢香) who opened nine post stations, and the Yi Datun chieftains' manor (大屯土司庄园). The Qing set up Dading prefecture, today's Dafang, in 1666. In 1935 the Central Red Army crossed the Wu River southwards in Jinsha County (金沙县), and in 1936 the Red Second and Sixth Army Groups set up the Sichuan–Yunnan–Guizhou Provincial Revolutionary Committee here. On the national intangible-heritage list are Cuotaiji (撮泰吉), a masked Yi drama whose name means "drama of becoming human" and which the list says survives only in Luoga village (裸嘎寨), Weining County, and Zhijin Miao batik (织金苗族蜡染), whose makers lay out patterns with their fingernails alone.

What to see

Zhijin Cave (织金洞), a national scenic area, is described by the city as the world's largest and most beautiful show cave. Baili Azalea (百里杜鹃), a national forest park of 125.8 square kilometres with more than 60 kinds of azalea, flowers around the Qingming festival. Caohai (草海), a national nature reserve, is a plateau freshwater lake of 27.5 square kilometres with 155 bird species. At Jiudongtian (九洞天) a 7-kilometre underground river links nine caves, and the Jiucaiping scenic area (韭菜坪) in Hezhang has stone forest and upland grassland.

Food and local products

Bijie is known as China's home of bamboo fungus (竹荪), gastrodia (天麻) and walnuts. Kele pigs (可乐猪), a native breed of Kele township in Hezhang said to resemble the pottery pigs excavated there, are made into cured pork that is simply steamed.

Getting oriented

The city government sits in Qixingguan District (七星关区). The Chengdu–Guiyang high-speed railway, opened in December 2019, stops at Bijie, Dafang and Qianxi, and Bijie Feixiong Airport (毕节飞雄机场) lies east of the city.

Highlights

• Zhijin Cave 织金洞: National scenic area that the city describes as the world's largest and most beautiful show cave.
• Baili Azalea 百里杜鹃: National forest park of 125.8 km2 with more than 60 kinds of azalea, flowering around Qingming.
• Caohai 草海: Plateau freshwater lake of 27.5 km2 and national nature reserve with 155 bird species.
• Jiudongtian 九洞天: National scenic area where a 7 km underground river links nine caves.
• Cuotaiji 撮泰吉: Masked Yi drama that the national intangible-heritage list says survives only in Luoga village, Weining County; listed in 2006.
• Kele pig cured pork 赫章可乐猪腊肉: Cured pork from the native Kele pig of Hezhang, eaten simply steamed.