Sanming 三明市

Setting and landscape

Low mountains and hills cover most of the land: the Wuyi range lies to the north-west, the Daimao Mountains (玳瑁山) run through the middle and the Daiyun range touches the south-east corner. The land is higher in the south-west and lower in the north-east; mountains make up 82 percent of the area, and Baishiding (白石顶) in Jianning (建宁) rises to 1,858 m. Rocks of the Late Archaean Tianjingping Formation (天井坪组) occur around Jianning. The city government gives forest cover as 77.12 percent.

History

Wanshouyan (万寿岩), an isolated limestone hill with karst caves at Yanqian Town (岩前镇) in Sanyuan District, is a Palaeolithic site and has been a national key protected site since 2001. Stone tools and animal fossils from its Lingfeng Cave (灵峰洞) are dated to about 185,000 years ago, and those from Chuanfan Cave (船帆洞) to 30,000–20,000 years ago. The whole city lay in the Central Soviet Area, and the city government counts it among the starting points of the Red Army's Long March. In 1956 Sanyuan (三元) and Mingxi (明溪) counties merged as Sanming County; the prefecture-level city dates from 1983.

What to see

The city government lists a World Natural Heritage site and a UNESCO Global Geopark in Taining (泰宁). The Taining Global Geopark, on the south-eastern side of the middle Wuyi range, was upgraded to UNESCO status in 2005; its 492.5 km² are mostly Danxia landforms, with volcanic and granite features, and it has five zones: the Shangqing Stream (上清溪), Taining Old Town (泰宁古城), Dajin Lake (大金湖), Longwangyan–Baxianya (龙王岩-八仙崖) and Jinnao Mountain (金铙山).

Food and local products

The making of Shaxian snacks (沙县小吃), concentrated in Shaxian (沙县), entered the national intangible heritage list in 2021. The listing describes a cuisine formed as Central Plains migrants settled in the south, blending northern and southern traits, which rose in the Tang and Song and flourished in the Ming and Qing. Mostly local ingredients such as bamboo fungus, taro and tea-tree mushrooms go into more than 110 snacks, among them Shaxian wontons (沙县扁肉), stuffed tofu balls and pressed duck, seasoned with Shaxian chilli sauce, peanut sauce and Maoxi winter wine (茂溪冬酒).

Getting oriented

Sanming borders Nanping to the north, Fuzhou to the east, Quanzhou and Longyan to the south, and Ganzhou and Fuzhou (抚州) in Jiangxi to the west. The government sits in Sanyuan District (三元区).

Highlights

• Taining County 泰宁: Home of the Taining Global Geopark, mostly Danxia landforms across 492.5 km².
• Dajin Lake 泰宁大金湖: One of the five zones of the Taining Global Geopark.
• Wanshouyan site 万寿岩遗址: Palaeolithic cave site in Sanyuan District; national key protected site since 2001.
• Shaxian Pork Wontons 沙县扁肉: One of more than 110 Shaxian snacks covered by the national intangible heritage listing.