Pinghe County 平和县

Setting and landscape

Two ridges, Daqin Mountain (大芹山) and Shuangjian Mountain (双尖山), run north to south through the county and split it into a south-eastern and a north-western half; the ground is highest in the centre and west. Hills cover about two-thirds of the land, mostly in the Huashan Stream (花山溪) valleys of the south-east and in basins between the mountains. Daxi town (大溪镇) calls Daqin Mountain the highest peak in Zhangzhou, and Jiufeng town (九峰镇) grows tea on its slopes.

History

Under the Yuan, between 1321 and 1323, the short-lived Nansheng County (南胜县) was set up with its seat at today's Nansheng (南胜); it later moved away and became Nanjing County (南靖县). Pinghe itself was carved out of Nanjing in 1518. Its first seat, Jiufeng, remained the county town until 1949 and was named a national historical and cultural town in 2010; it keeps more than 20 protected sites, among them a Confucian temple and a City God temple. Pinghe kilns made porcelain for export, and only in the 1990s was the Kraak ware (克拉克瓷) prized in Europe traced to the Zhangzhou kilns; Nansheng and Wuzhai (五寨) hold the kiln sites.

What to see

Lingtong Mountain (灵通山), in the north-east of Daxi, has been a provincial scenic area since 1990, with seven peaks, ten temples and cliff inscriptions; the Ming scholar Huang Daozhou (黄道周) studied and taught there. Sanping Temple (三平寺) in Wenfeng town (文峰镇), inside the national 4A Sanping scenic area, was founded in 866 and enshrines its founding monk, Yang Yizhong (杨义中), revered as Master Sanping. Its present halls, rebuilt in the late Qing, climb the hillside, and crowds fill it on the sixth day of the first, sixth and eleventh lunar months.

Banzai town (坂仔镇) is the birthplace of Lin Yutang (林语堂); his former home and the Beidou Qixing earthen-building cluster (北斗七星土楼群) are well-known sights. Nansheng has more than 60 earthen buildings, round, square or walled, most of them built in the Qianlong reign.

Food and local products

Guanxi honey pomelo (琯溪蜜柚) from Xiaoxi town (小溪镇), the county seat, was sent to the imperial court more than 400 years ago and is a national geographical-indication product. Pinghe is a main oolong district, known for Huangdan (黄旦), Qilan (奇兰) and Baxian (八仙) teas. Nansheng makes sesame dates (南胜麻枣), crisp outside and tender within, with a 700-year history; Daxi counts cast-iron pots, dried tofu and rice noodles as its three specialities.

Getting oriented

Xiaoxi lies 47 kilometres from Zhangzhou city. Jiufeng, near the Guangdong border, has long been a trading town between south-west Fujian and north-east Guangdong.

Highlights

• Lingtong Mountain 灵通山: Provincial scenic area since 1990 in Daxi town, with seven peaks and ten temples.
• Sanping Temple 三平寺: Buddhist temple founded in 866 that enshrines its founding monk Yang Yizhong, in a national 4A scenic area.
• Jiufeng 九峰镇: County seat from 1518 to 1949; national historical and cultural town since 2010.
• Lin Yutang's former home 林语堂故居: In Banzai town, where Lin Yutang was born.
• Guanxi honey pomelo 琯溪蜜柚: Xiaoxi pomelo, a national geographical-indication product and former court tribute.