Longmen County 龙门县

Setting and landscape

The county sits between two mountain systems, the Jiulian (九连) and the Luofu (罗浮), and the county yearbook calls it a "land of mountains". Ground falls from the high northwest and southwest towards low hills and basins in the east and south, with ten river-valley basins of 5 to 70 square kilometres among the mountains and hills.

The Zeng River rises at Qixingling (七星岭) in Xinfeng and runs north to south through the whole county before joining the East River (东江) at Guanhaikou (观海口); 128.6 km of its course lies in Longmen. The county government named it the Longmen River in 1981, but the provincial place-name committee fixed Zengjiang as the standard name in 1990. The climate is south-subtropical monsoon with a mountain character: spring warmth comes late, autumn cool comes early, and winter brings wide day-night swings and some frost.

History

Longmen was carved out in 1496, the ninth year of the Ming Hongzhi reign, from three rural districts in the northeast of Zengcheng and a small part of Boluo (博罗). The land had been Zengcheng's "upper Longmen" area, which gave the county its name. It belonged to Guangzhou prefecture until the end of the Qing. In 1958 it was merged with Zengcheng, and it was re-established on 25 October 1961. It came under Guangzhou in January 1975 and has been part of Huizhou since April 1988.

What to see

Nankunshan National Forest Park (南昆山国家森林公园), set up in 1993 in the southwest of the county, lies on the Tropic of Cancer and is known as the "oasis on the Tropic of Cancer". Its main peak, Tiantangding (天堂顶), reaches 1,228 m, and the provincial government made the mountain a nature reserve in 1984; clouded leopards and forest musk deer are among the protected animals recorded there. Longmen Iron Spring (龙门铁泉), at Reshuiguo village (热水锅村) in Longtian town (龙田镇), is a hot-spring resort, and Tashan Forest Park (塔山公园) on the edge of the county town holds the Shuixi Pagoda (水西塔), first built in the Ming, destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt in 1992.

Lantian Yao Ethnic Township (蓝田瑶族乡) is the only ethnic-minority township in Huizhou. In 2025 its blue-print cloth dyeing craft (蓝印花布印染技艺) and Lantian rice-fragrance tea (蓝田瑶乡米香茶) were listed as county-level intangible heritage.

Food and local products

Farming weighs heavily in the county. Its characteristic produce includes indica rice, bamboo shoots, longan, lychee, mango and honey, and its specialities include three-yellow bearded chicken (三黄胡须鸡), rice cakes (米饼) and honey vinegar (蜂蜜醋).

Highlights

• Nankunshan National Forest Park 南昆山国家森林公园: Forest park set up in 1993 on the Tropic of Cancer; main peak Tiantangding reaches 1,228 m.
• Longmen Iron Spring 龙门铁泉: Hot-spring resort at Reshuiguo village in Longtian town.
• Shuixi Pagoda 水西塔: Ming-dynasty pagoda in Tashan Forest Park, destroyed in the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt in 1992.
• Lantian Yao Ethnic Township 蓝田瑶族乡: The only ethnic-minority township in Huizhou; blue-print cloth dyeing is listed as county-level intangible heritage.
• Three-yellow bearded chicken 三黄胡须鸡: One of the county's named local products, with rice cakes and honey vinegar.