Qingliu County 清流县

Setting and landscape

The Jiulong Stream, in the upper Min River system, winds through the county town in an S-shaped bend that the county compares to a taiji diagram. Qingliu is a national hot-spring geopark with more than ten natural geothermal outlets; at Gaolai (高赖) the water emerges at up to 93°C, which the county lists as the hottest spring in Fujian, and the Tianfang Yuetan (天芳悦潭) resort stands there. Forest covers 80.2% of the county.

History

The county was created in 1098 under the Northern Song, after the judicial commissioner Wang Zudao (王祖道) proposed carving it out of Ninghua and Changting; it was abolished in 1228, restored in 1271, and belonged to Tingzhou (汀州) through the Qing. In January 1930 Mao Zedong wrote "Ru Meng Ling: New Year's Day" (如梦令·元旦) while camped at Linshe (林畲), and a county soviet government was set up in 1932. The county describes Yiyandi (诒燕第) in Tangku village (塘堀村), Linshe, as the best-preserved former residence of Mao in Fujian.

What to see

Jiulong Lake (九龙湖) in Shawu Township (沙芜乡) covers 128 square kilometres, 33 of them water, amid karst hills; the Jiulong caves (九龙洞群) in Baima Mountain (白马山) have about 1.5 kilometres of developed passages. Six fossil human lower molars collected in these caves in 1988 and 1989 were named "Qingliu Man" (清流人) by Chinese Academy of Sciences archaeologists, and the county names Fox Cave (狐狸洞) as Fujian's oldest human-fossil site.

Laifang village (赖坊村) is a national historic and cultural village with 106 old houses. On Lingtai Mountain (灵台山) in Changxiao town (长校镇), revered as a Hakka ancestral mountain, a 45.99-metre statue of Dingguang Gufo (定光古佛), protector of the Hakka, stands at the summit. Beidou Mountain (北斗山) has Danxia landforms, and Dafeng Mountain (大丰山) provincial forest park rises to 1,706 metres. At Huangboyang (黄泊洋) in Songxi town (嵩溪镇), the county protects an old volcanic crater and its basalt; at a disused quarry about 10 kilometres from Huangboyang, the cut hillside shows the basalt in vertical columns.

Food and local products

Qingliu yellow goat (清流黄羊), Qingliu cut flowers (清流鲜切花), Qingliu tofu skin (清流豆腐皮) and Qingliu stream fish (清流溪鱼) are Chinese geographical indication products. Among handicrafts, Qingliu is known for its scissors.

Getting oriented

The county government sits in Longjin town (龙津镇). Yong'an (永安) and Mingxi (明溪) lie to the east, Ninghua (宁化) to the west, and Liancheng (连城) and Changting (长汀) to the south. Qingliu was one of the eight Hakka counties of Ming and Qing Tingzhou.

Highlights

• Jiulong Lake 九龙湖: Karst lake area in Shawu Township with the Jiulong caves and the Qingliu Man fossil finds.
• Lingtai Mountain 灵台山: Hakka ancestral mountain in Changxiao town with a 45.99-metre Dingguang Gufo statue.
• Laifang village 赖坊村: National historic and cultural village with 106 old houses.
• Tianfang Yuetan hot spring 天芳悦潭温泉: Resort at Gaolai, where spring water emerges at up to 93°C.
• Qingliu tofu skin 清流豆腐皮: Chinese geographical indication product.