Longwen District 龙文区

Setting and landscape

The North Stream (北溪) of the Jiulong crosses the district from west to east, and the Jiushijiu Wan (九十九湾, "ninety-nine bends") waterway runs from north to south. Along the West Stream lies an 8.8-kilometre riverside park, and Bihu Ecological Park (碧湖生态公园) covers 1,557 mu. Guokeng (郭坑镇), the district's one rural town, sits on the north bank of the North Stream; its hills top out at Dingzhai Mountain (鼎寨山), 258 metres, and Huangqing village (篁卿村) has geothermal hot-spring water.

History

From the creation of Longxi County (龙溪县) in 540 the area belonged to that county. Longwen itself is recent: the State Council approved it on 31 May 1996, joining Buwen (步文) and Guokeng towns, taken from Longhai, with part of Xiangcheng's Dongyue Subdistrict (东岳街道), and the district came into being on 1 January 1997. Guokeng potters made "carp spitting a pearl" (鲤鱼吐珠) tea jars in the Chongzhen reign of the Ming, and Fuyao village (扶摇村) keeps 13 Ming kiln sites. The district also holds the site of Pushan Temple (璞山寺), named as the birthplace of the medicine Pien Tze Huang (片仔癀).

What to see

Yundong Rock (云洞岩), a national 4A scenic area and provincial scenic area, rises to a 280-metre main peak. Its name comes from a stone chamber that, local records say, lets out white clouds before rain. The granite hill has more than 40 caves and over 200 carved inscriptions, and is called the foremost historic forest of steles in southern Fujian; the Song Neo-Confucian Zhu Xi (朱熹) taught here and left three inscriptions, among them "Xishan Diyi" (溪山第一, "first of streams and hills").

Fuyao Guandi Temple (扶摇关帝庙) stands on the south bank of the North Stream at the entrance to Fuyao village; Guokeng town lists it among its three provincial-level protected sites. It has two halls and a pair of Qing-dynasty stone columns carved with coiling dragons and the Eight Immortals. On about ten days a year, in mid-May and mid-October, late-afternoon sun reflected off the river falls on the Guandi statue's face for a few minutes.

The Fujian Maritime Silk Road Clock Museum (福建省海丝钟表博物馆), opened in December 2017, is a clock factory and museum with workshops visitors can watch. The Minnan Water Town (闽南水乡) on the Jiushijiu Wan is a canal-side shopping street built from local brick, stone and timber.

Getting oriented

The district government is in Lantian Subdistrict (蓝田街道). The Yingtan–Xiamen railway crosses Longwen and Zhangzhou East railway station (漳州火车东站) stands in Guokeng, 7 kilometres from central Zhangzhou.

Highlights

• Yundong Rock 云洞岩: National 4A granite hill with over 200 carved inscriptions, including three left by Zhu Xi.
• Fuyao Guandi Temple 扶摇关帝庙: Temple by the North Stream, listed by Guokeng town as provincial-level protected, with Qing dragon-and-Eight-Immortals columns.
• Fujian Maritime Silk Road Clock Museum 福建省海丝钟表博物馆: Clock factory and museum opened in December 2017.
• Minnan Water Town 闽南水乡: Canal-side street on the Jiushijiu Wan built with local building materials.