Pingnan County 屏南县

Setting and landscape

The county covers 1,487 square kilometres in the middle section of the Jiufeng Mountains (鹫峰山脉). Jiaocheng District (蕉城区) lies to the southeast, Gutian County (古田县) to the south and southwest, Jian'ou (建瓯市) to the west, Zhenghe County (政和县) to the north and Zhouning County (周宁县) to the northeast. The land falls from northwest to southeast, from Dongfengjian (东峰尖) at 1,627 metres to 250 metres at Yuanping village (园坪村), and the county government gives an average elevation of over 800 metres, with an annual mean temperature of 17°C.

History

Pingnan became a county in 1734 under Fuzhou prefecture. After 1949 it came under Nanping (南平), moved to Minhou (闽侯) in 1963 and to Fu'an (福安) prefecture in 1970, which was renamed Ningde in 1971. The county lists 56 sites linked to the revolutionary period; the Sixth Regiment of the New Fourth Army's Third Detachment gathered here before marching north to fight Japan.

What to see

Travel was once hard among Pingnan's steep valleys, and the county government records more than 50 wooden arch covered bridges built here to cross them; the earliest, including Wan'an (万安桥) and Qiansheng (千乘桥), were first built in the Song dynasty. The type is framed from round fir logs without a single piece of iron and carries a roofed gallery with long benches along both sides. The craft of building these wooden arch bridges is on the world list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding. Wan'an Bridge, on the Changqiao Stream (长桥溪), is described by Chinese Wikipedia as the longest surviving wooden arch covered bridge in China.

Baishuiyang and Yuanyang Stream form a 5A-rated scenic area. Baishuiyang became a national geopark in August 2005 and in 2010 joined Baiyun Mountain (白云山) in Fu'an and Taimu Mountain (太姥山) in Fuding in the Ningde World Geopark. The county also lists Tianxing Mountain (天星山) national forest park and Longtan (龙潭), a national key village for rural tourism.

Food and local products

Pingnan laojiu (屏南老酒), a low-sugar, low-alcohol wine, is a national geographical-indication product, and the county styles itself a home of red-yeast (红粬) yellow wine. Chinese Wikipedia notes that summer shiitake mushrooms have earned it the name China's home of summer shiitake. Siping opera (四平戏), Pingjiang opera (平讲戏) and Shuangxi tiezhi (双溪铁枝) are on the national intangible heritage list.

Highlights

• Wan'an Bridge 万安桥: Wooden arch covered bridge first built in the Song dynasty, on the Changqiao Stream.
• Baishuiyang 白水洋: National geopark since 2005 and part of the Ningde World Geopark since 2010.
• Longtan village 龙潭: Listed as a national key village for rural tourism.
• Pingnan laojiu 屏南老酒: Low-sugar, low-alcohol wine with national geographical-indication status.