Hezheng County 和政县

What to see

The Hezheng Paleozoological Museum (和政古动物化石博物馆) in Chengguan town (城关镇) was founded in 2003 and is a national second-grade museum holding more than 30,000 fossils of ancient animals. The prefecture government credits the collection with six "world records", among them the Hezheng sheep (和政羊), known from nowhere else, the richest collection of shovel-tusked elephant (铲齿象) fossils and the earliest woolly rhinoceros skull.

At Hualin (桦林), 16 kilometres south of the county town, four fossil faunas lie one above another. Giant rhinoceroses about 30 million years old sit in red conglomerate at the base, followed by shovel-tuskers of about 16 million years, three-toed horses of about 12 million years in red clay, and true horses of about 2 million years in the loess on top. The site has an in-situ burial hall and an exposed geological section.

Songmingyan in Songming town (松鸣镇) is a provincial scenic area and a national forest park. Temples from the Chenghua (成化) reign of the Ming, including the Jade Emperor Pavilion (玉皇阁), the Holy Mother Palace (圣母宫) and Dugang Temple (独岗寺), are set into the cliffs. The name, "pine-sounding cliffs", comes from wind in the pines roaring along the gorge. The county annals date the founding of Songmingyan Temple (松鸣岩寺) to 1404-1437; the revolutionary martyr Leba Buddha (肋巴佛) took his monastic vows there.

The Leba Buddha Revolutionary Memorial (肋巴佛革命纪念馆) commemorates him as one of the main leaders of a peasant uprising in southern Gansu, and holds 82 graded relics.

The Songmingyan flower fair

Songmingyan is the traditional venue of Hezhou "hua'er" (河州花儿) folk songs, also called "shaonian" (少年). The fair, popularly called the "Fourth Month Eighth" (四月八) fair, begins on the 26th day of the fourth lunar month at Songmingyan, whose three peaks are named Nantianmen (南天门), Xifangding (西方顶) and Dugangling (独岗岭). It dates from the Ming, and some singers are accompanied by the mimi (咪咪), suona and other instruments. It entered the first national list of intangible cultural heritage in May 2006.

Food and local products

Hezhou baozi (河州包子) are steamed buns of leavened dough. One recipe mixes carrot, minced mutton, spring onion and spinach, then adds mutton fat melted over high heat; the greens change with the season, from yellow chives in winter to chive shoots in summer. The steamed buns are eaten dipped in chilli oil and aged vinegar. Hezheng's baozi family also includes hezi (合子), with an exposed filling mostly of sugar and walnut, and triangular or half-moon jiaomo (角馍).

Highlights

• Hezheng Paleozoological Museum 和政古动物化石博物馆: National second-grade museum founded in 2003 with more than 30,000 fossils, including the Hezheng sheep.
• Hualin fossil site 桦林: In-situ burial hall and geological section showing four fossil faunas from about 30 to 2 million years ago.
• Songmingyan 松鸣岩: National forest park with Ming-dynasty cliff temples and a flower fair listed as national intangible heritage in 2006.
• Leba Buddha Revolutionary Memorial 肋巴佛革命纪念馆: Memorial to a leader of a peasant uprising in southern Gansu, with 82 graded relics.
• Hezhou baozi 河州包子: Leavened steamed buns with mutton, carrot and seasonal greens, eaten with chilli oil and vinegar.