Hua'an County 华安县

Setting and landscape

The county describes itself with the saying "eight parts mountain, one part water, one part field"; the Jiulong River runs for 107 km through it. Terraced fields spread over the slopes at Hulin (湖林) and at Pingshui in Gao'an (高安坪水), and the county was the second in China, after Zhangjiajie (张家界), to give its name to a national forest park. Its hot springs are rich in radon, and a bamboo garden holds more than 300 bamboo species.

History and people

The area long belonged to Longxi County (龙溪县); in 1747 Longxi's assistant magistrate moved his office to Huafeng (华丰), and Hua'an became a county in 1928. The name joins the first characters of Huafeng and Anxi (安溪), and the place's old name was Chahong (茶烘). Hua'an has the largest community of Gaoshan (高山族) people on the mainland, whose hand-in-hand dance (拉手舞) is on the national intangible-heritage list, and the She (畲族) villages of Guanshe (官畲) and Pingshui (坪水).

What to see

The Dadi Tulou Cluster (大地土楼群), in Dadi Village (大地村) of Xiandu Town (仙都镇), was inscribed in 2008 among the Fujian Tulou. Its centrepiece, Eryi Lou (二宜楼), was completed in 1770 and holds 952 murals and painted decorations; it is the representative example of the southern Fujian unit-type tulou, in which each household has its own door, courtyard and stairs.

The Xianzi Pool rock carvings (仙字潭摩崖石刻) in Tainei Village (汰内村), Shajian Town (沙建镇), have been a national key cultural relics protection unit since 2013. The Dongxi kiln site (东溪窑遗址), shared with Nanjing County (南靖县), produced mainly blue-and-white porcelain from the Ming to the mid-Qing; some of its wares have been found in shipwrecks overseas.

Local products

Hua'an calls itself the second main Tieguanyin (铁观音) tea growing area in China. It is also the source of Jiulong jade (九龙璧), known as Hua'an jade, which the county says lines a natural corridor about 10 km long, and it is named a home of Chinese folk jade carving.

Getting oriented

The Yingtan–Xiamen railway, with 11 stations in the county, and the Zhangzhou–Yong'an Expressway run through along the North River. The county's economic development zone lies 15 km from urban Zhangzhou and 35 km from Xiamen.

Highlights

• Dadi Tulou Cluster 大地土楼群: World Heritage tulou group in Xiandu Town, inscribed in 2008.
• Eryi Lou 二宜楼: Unit-type tulou completed in 1770, with 952 murals and painted decorations.
• Xianzi Pool rock carvings 仙字潭摩崖石刻: Cliff carvings in Shajian Town, national key cultural relics protection unit since 2013.
• Dongxi kiln site 东溪窑遗址: Ming–Qing kilns whose blue-and-white wares turn up in overseas shipwrecks.
• Jiulong jade 九龙璧: Hua'an's ornamental stone; the county describes a natural corridor of it about 10 km long.