Hancheng 韩城市

Setting and landscape

The west of the city is mountains and hills, while the east is plain and valley pressed against the Yellow River. Longmen (龙门), the "Dragon Gate" in the north-east, is the traditional name for the narrowest stretch of the river between Hancheng and Hejin, linked to the legend of Yu the Great (大禹) guiding the river. Li Yuan (李渊) at the end of the Sui and Li Zicheng (李自成) at the end of the Ming both crossed the river here.

History

Known in ancient times as Longmen, the area was the Han marquisate (韩侯国) under the Western Zhou. Qin set up Xiayang County (夏阳县) here in 327 BC, and the Sui created Hancheng County in 598. It became a city in January 1984 and a national historic and cultural city in 1986. Hancheng is the home town of the historian Sima Qian (司马迁).

What to see

The city government counts 208 protected heritage sites, 17 of them national and 33 provincial. The national list includes the Tomb and Shrine of Sima Qian (司马迁墓和祠), the Dayu Temple (韩城大禹庙), the Confucian Temple (韩城文庙) and the City God Temple (韩城城隍庙). The old town (韩城古城) keeps many historic streets and houses. Sights run south to north: the Sima Qian shrine and tomb, the old town and Dangjia Village, then Longmen.

Dangjia Village (党家村), in Xizhuang (西庄镇) about 9 km north-west of the city and 3.5 km from the Yellow River, lies on the north side of the Mishui (泌水) valley. Its houses are mainly Ming and Qing courtyard homes, more than 100 of them intact, along some twenty streets paved with stone slabs or pebbles; in the Qing it was nicknamed "Little Hancheng". It became a national protected site in 2001 and a historic and cultural village in 2003. The Zhou-dynasty site at Liangdai Village (梁带村两周遗址) was named one of China's ten major archaeological discoveries of 2005.

Food and local products

Hancheng's Dahongpao Sichuan pepper (韩城大红袍花椒) was the first Sichuan pepper in China to become a national geographical indication product. The city's most representative traditions include door-lintel inscriptions (门楣题字), baimian luogu gong-and-drum ensembles (百面锣鼓), shuashenlou (耍神楼) and yangge (秧歌) dancing.

Getting oriented

Hancheng is a little over 210 km from Xi'an. The Beijing–Kunming expressway, National Highways 108 and 327, the Yellow River road, and the Houma–Xi'an (侯西铁路) and Haoji (浩吉铁路) railways cross the city, and the Yumenkou Yellow River bridge links it to Shanxi.

Highlights

• Tomb and Shrine of Sima Qian 司马迁墓和祠: Tomb and shrine of the historian; national protected site.
• Dangjia Village 党家村: Over 100 intact courtyard houses, mainly Ming and Qing; national protected site since 2001.
• Hancheng Confucian Temple 韩城文庙: On the national protected list.
• Longmen 龙门: Traditional name for the narrowest stretch of the Yellow River around Hancheng and Hejin.
• Dahongpao Sichuan pepper 韩城大红袍花椒: First Sichuan pepper with national geographical indication protection.