Yuancheng District 源城区

History

The district covers part of the former Heyuan County, set up in 483 under the Southern Qi (南齐) dynasty, and today's old town was that county's political and cultural centre. In January 1988 the county was abolished to create Heyuan city, and its land was divided between Yuancheng and a suburban district that later became Dongyuan County (东源县).

Setting and landscape

Most of the district sits in the Heyuan basin. The small Dongpu (东埔) plain in the north was built up by the Dong and Xinfeng rivers, the centre is hilly, the Puqian (埔前) basin lies to the south and the west is mountainous. Twenty-one rivers cross the district, among them the Puqian and Xiangche (香车河) rivers. The Dagui Mountain (大桂山) provincial nature reserve protects lower subtropical evergreen broadleaf forest; silver pheasants and leopard cats are among the protected animals recorded there.

What to see

The Dinosaur Culture Park (恐龙文博园), a national 4A scenic area in Guifeng Park (龟峰公园) on Binjiang Avenue, groups the Heyuan Museum, the Heyuan Dinosaur Museum (河源恐龙博物馆) and the Guifeng Pagoda (龟峰塔), a national key protected site. The dinosaur museum holds more than 20,000 fossil dinosaur eggs, a collection that won a Guinness World Record, along with skeletons of the oviraptorosaur Heyuannia huangi (黄氏河源龙) and tyrannosaur teeth.

Taiping Old Street (太平古街), near the Xinfeng River, was first built in the Qing dynasty and runs for 300 metres under arcaded shophouses; it was first called Cross Street. The old town also holds Crocodile Lake Park (鳄湖公园), Zhongshan Park, the former home of Li Tao (李焘故居) and the Heyuan Martyrs' Cemetery, founded in 1958 in memory of the revolutionary Ruan Xiaoxian (阮啸仙). Six kilometres from the city, the 124-metre Xinfengjiang Dam (新丰江大坝) is described by the district as the first concrete dam over 100 metres high anywhere to have come through a magnitude-6 earthquake.

Food and local products

The district lists Hakka yellow wine, Guishan tea (桂山茶) and radish cakes (萝卜粄) as intangible-heritage foods, and pig's-trotter rice noodles (猪脚粉), mugwort cakes (艾粄) and "rat noodles" (老鼠粉) among its snacks. Heyuan wuzhimaotao (五指毛桃), the root of the hairy fig, is simmered into fragrant soups.

Getting oriented

The Beijing–Kowloon and Guangzhou–Meizhou–Shantou railways and the Ganzhou–Shenzhen high-speed line all cross the urban area, and national highway G205 and the Guangdong–Jiangxi expressway run north to south. To the south the district borders Boluo County (博罗县) in Huizhou.

Highlights

• Heyuan Dinosaur Museum 河源恐龙博物馆: More than 20,000 fossil dinosaur eggs, recognised with a Guinness World Record.
• Guifeng Pagoda 龟峰塔: National key protected site inside the Dinosaur Culture Park.
• Taiping Old Street 太平古街: Qing-dynasty arcaded shopping street, 300 metres long, near the Xinfeng River.
• Xinfengjiang Dam 新丰江大坝: 124-metre concrete dam six kilometres from the city, described as the first of its height to withstand a magnitude-6 earthquake.
• Heyuan wuzhimaotao 五指毛桃: Hairy-fig root used for soup.