Lin'an District 临安区

Setting and landscape

Two ranges cross the district, the Tianmu Mountains and the Yuling Mountains (昱岭山脉). The main peak of the Tianmu range, Qingliang Peak (清凉峰, 1,787 metres), stands on the border with Jixi (绩溪) in Anhui; West Tianmu (西天目山, 1,505 metres) and East Tianmu (东天目山, 1,479 metres) are also in Lin'an. The land divides into three river basins: the South Tiao Stream (南苕溪) in the east, the Tianmu Stream (天目溪) in the centre and the Changhua Stream (昌化溪) in the west. The old Hangzhou-Huizhou road (杭徽古道) linked them, and for more than 1,100 years they formed three separate counties until they were merged in 1960.

History

A county was first set up here in 211 as Linshui (临水县) and renamed Lin'an in 280 after Lin'an Mountain. Qian Liu (钱镠), founder of the Wuyue kingdom (吴越国), was born in Lin'an, and while building his state he raised a new walled town, Yijin (衣锦城), where the Wuyue ancestral temple and his own tomb were built. At the Lin'an Museum (临安博物馆), a guide quoted by Hangzhou News calls his tomb the only well-preserved royal tomb in Zhejiang. Lin'an became a county-level city in 1996 and a district of Hangzhou on 15 September 2017.

What to see

The Tianmu Mountain reserve is built around the West and East Tianmu peaks. Logging was banned there in 1956; it became Zhejiang's first national nature reserve in 1986 and a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1996. The reserve records 2,351 species of higher plants and 5,024 animal species. The name comes from two pools on the mountain, said to be the eyes of heaven. Chanyuan Temple (禅源寺) is on Tianmu Mountain.

Other sights include Qingshan Lake (青山湖), Taihuyuan (太湖源), the Zhexi Grand Canyon (浙西大峡谷), Daming Mountain (大明山) and the Tuankou hot springs (湍口温泉). National key protected sites in the district are the Wuyue royal tombs (临安吴越国王陵), Gongchen Pagoda (功臣塔) with the Gongchen Temple site, the Tianmu kiln sites (天目窑遗址群) and the stone pagoda of Puqing Temple (普庆寺).

Food and local products

Lin'an's "old three treasures" are Tianmu Yunwu tea (天目云雾茶), Tianmu dried bamboo shoots (天目笋干) and hickory nuts (山核桃); Lin'an hickory nuts and Tianmu dried bamboo shoots are national geographical-indication products. Changhua bloodstone (昌化鸡血石), a prized seal stone, also comes from here. Tianmu hotpot (天目暖锅) is a clay pot simmered over a charcoal stove on the table. Guangming Daily reports that Lin'an has picked ten signature pots, the first being Zhaoming dried bamboo shoots and old duck (昭明笋干老鸭).

Highlights

• Tianmu Mountain 天目山: Zhejiang's first national nature reserve (1986) and a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1996.
• Wuyue royal tombs 临安吴越国王陵: National key protected site; Qian Liu, founder of Wuyue, was born and buried in Lin'an.
• Tianmu kiln sites 天目窑遗址群: National key protected site in the district.
• Lin'an hickory nuts 临安山核桃: One of the "old three treasures" and a national geographical-indication product.
• Zhaoming duck and dried-bamboo pot 昭明笋干老鸭暖锅: First of the ten signature Tianmu hotpots Lin'an has picked, as reported by Guangming Daily.