Boluo County 博罗县

Setting and landscape

The land tilts from northeast to southwest: mountains and hills with valley plains in the north, hilly terraces in the middle, and three alluvial plains strung along the Dong River in the south. The river runs through the county in two stretches totalling about 125 kilometres. The county government describes the climate as subtropical monsoon, with an average annual temperature of 21°C. Hakka is the main dialect, while Shiwan (石湾镇) and Yuanzhou (园洲镇), the towns nearest Dongguan and Guangzhou, mostly speak Cantonese. The She (畲族) people have lived for generations in Zhangbei She village (嶂背畲族村) in Henghe town (横河镇).

History

The Qin founded the county in 214 BC as Fuluo (傅罗), with its seat at Lianghua (梁化), now in Huidong (惠东). It became Boluo in AD 280, and in 503 the seat moved to the west side of Fudinggang (浮碇岗), the hill called Hulu Ling (葫芦岭) in today's county town of Luoyang (罗阳). Before the Qin the area was the small state of Fulou (缚娄), near Mount Luofu; Luofu is read as another rendering of that old Yue name, meaning "people of the mountains". Boluo has belonged to Huizhou city since 1988.

What to see

Mount Luofu is a national scenic area and a national 5A tourist attraction, with 432 peaks and a main summit, Feiyun Ding (飞云顶), at 1,296 metres. Taoism counts it as the seventh grotto-heaven and the 34th blessed land. Between 326 and 334 the alchemist Ge Hong (葛洪) founded four Taoist temples here; his Chongxu Temple (冲虚观) and the Buddhist Yanxiang Temple (延祥寺) are the only temple buildings that survive, and Chongxu served as headquarters of the Dongjiang Column (东江纵队) during the war against Japan. The Song poet Su Dongpo (苏东坡) lived on the mountain for a long time and wrote here his lines about eating three hundred lychees a day, and the Ming scholar Zhan Ruoshui (湛若水) lectured at its Zhuming Academy (朱明书院) at the age of ninety.

Food and local products

Luofushan rice (罗浮山大米) is a Chinese geographical-indication product. More than 1,200 medicinal plant species grow on Mount Luofu, and the mountain's own products include Luofushan herbal oil (罗浮山百草油), suliao greens (酥醪菜) and Yunwu sweet tea (云雾甜茶).

Getting oriented

The county seat is 18 kilometres from Huizhou, 110 kilometres from Guangzhou and 97 kilometres from Shenzhen. The Guangzhou–Shanwei high-speed railway stops at Luofushan and Boluo stations, the Ganzhou–Shenzhen line at Boluo North, and the Beijing–Kowloon railway at several stations including Boluo East.

Highlights

• Mount Luofu 罗浮山: National scenic area and 5A attraction; 432 peaks, main summit Feiyun Ding at 1,296 m.
• Chongxu Temple 冲虚观: Taoist temple founded by Ge Hong in 326–334; wartime headquarters of the Dongjiang Column.
• Zhuming Academy 朱明书院: Academy on Mount Luofu where the Ming scholar Zhan Ruoshui lectured at ninety.
• Luofushan rice 罗浮山大米: Chinese geographical-indication product.