Huiyang District 惠阳区

Setting and landscape

Plains and hills alternate across the district, with low mountains and shallow valleys; the land is higher in the west than the east and reaches 1,003.5 metres at its highest point. The Xizhi River (西枝江) flows through Pingtan (平潭) and Liangjing (良井), and the Danshui River (淡水河) runs 49.5 kilometres through Qiuchang (秋长), Danshui, Sanhe (三和) and Yonghu (永湖). Zhenlong town (镇隆镇) carries the title "China's hometown of lychees".

History

From 214 BC the area belonged to Fuluo County. In 588 the local Xinle County (欣乐县) was renamed Guishan (归善), a name that lasted 1,324 years until it became Huiyang County in 1912. The county seat moved from Huizhou city to Danshui in 1990; Huiyang became a county-level city in 1994 and a district of Huizhou in 2003. During the war against Japan, more than 200 cultural figures and democrats rescued from occupied Hong Kong, including Zou Taofen (邹韬奋) and Mao Dun (茅盾), passed through Huiyang villages such as Tianxin (田心村) and Chayuan (茶园村); an exhibition in the district tells that story.

What to see

The Ye Ting Memorial Hall (叶挺纪念馆) stands in Zhoutian village (周田村), Qiuchang, next to Ye Ting's former home, a national key protected site. It moved there from Danshui and opened in 2011; its 4A scenic area also includes an anti-Japanese war exhibition in the Yuying Building (育英楼) and a Hakka folk museum; the hall itself is a two-courtyard building with whitewashed walls and dark tiles in Hakka style. At the foot of Ma'an Shan (马鞍山) in Zhenlong, the four walled villages known as Sidaban Wei (四大半围) were the centre of the peasant movement across Huizhou's eight counties from the 1920s; a Huang clan ancestral hall there is now a revolutionary history exhibition.

Food and local traditions

The Hakka "nine big bowls" (客家九大碗) feast, a municipal intangible heritage item since 2015, centres on steamed dishes; the district's list includes spare ribs steamed with fermented black beans, beef steamed in rice flour, white-cut chicken, Hakka braised goose and pork belly with preserved mustard greens. Nine is a lucky number, and a feast need not have exactly nine dishes. Huiyang jiege (惠阳皆歌), provincial intangible heritage since 2013, is a Hakka folk song sung in improvised seven-character lines, solo or in answering groups.

Getting oriented

The district is 58 kilometres from Shenzhen and 190 kilometres from Guangzhou. Huiyang Station is on the Xiamen–Shenzhen railway, and Huizhou Airport, formerly Pingtan Airport, is in Pingtan town.

Highlights

• Ye Ting Memorial Hall 叶挺纪念馆: In Zhoutian village, Qiuchang, beside Ye Ting's former home; opened there in 2011, a 4A scenic area.
• Sidaban Wei 四大半围: Four walled villages in Zhenlong, centre of the 1920s peasant movement; ancestral hall exhibition.
• Hakka nine big bowls 客家九大碗: Steamed-dish feast, municipal intangible heritage since 2015.
• Huiyang jiege 惠阳皆歌: Improvised Hakka folk song in seven-character lines; provincial intangible heritage since 2013.