Xinhui District 新会区

Setting and landscape

The land slopes from north-west to south-east. The Guifeng (圭峰), Gudou (古兜) and Niuguling (牛牯岭) uplands cover about 36 per cent of Xinhui; Shizitou (狮子头), the main peak of Gudou, is the highest point at 982 metres. Both the Xi River (西江) and the Tan cross the district, and the stretch of the Tan from Mingzuzui (溟祖咀) in Huicheng (会城) to the Yamen (崖门) mouth, where the two rivers' waters gather, is called Yinzhou Lake: 35.1 kilometres long and 1.5 to 2 kilometres wide.

History

The name dates from 420, when the Eastern Jin court created Xinhui Commandery (新会郡). In 1278 the Song grand tutor Zhang Shijie (张世杰) brought the boy emperor Zhao Bing (赵昺) to Yashan (崖山) in Xinhui and built a temporary palace. After the Yuan won the Battle of Yamen (崖山海战), the chancellor Lu Xiufu (陆秀夫) leapt into the sea with the emperor, and the Southern Song ended. Xinhui calls itself the birthplace of the Lingnan school of learning (岭南学派) and the Lingnan qin school (岭南琴派).

What to see

Liang Qichao's Former Residence (梁启超故居) in Chakeng village (茶坑村), Huicheng, is a national key cultural relics protection site: a grey-brick house from the Guangxu reign with the Yitang study (怡堂书室), built by Liang's great-grandfather, where he studied as a boy. A memorial hall south of the house, designed by Mo Bozhi (莫伯治), was completed in 2001.

The district also lists the Yashan battle site and Yashan Shrine (崖山祠), the Xinhui Academy (新会书院), and Yutai Temple (玉台寺) on Guifeng Mountain (圭峰山), one of Guangdong's four great temples. Guifeng Mountain national forest park and Bird Paradise (小鸟天堂) are 4A scenic areas. The oldest monument is the Sui-dynasty stone pagoda of Longxing Temple (龙兴寺石塔).

Food and local products

Chenpi is the dried peel of Xinhui's large red mandarin, sun-dried, sealed, dried again around the next Qingming festival and aged three years; the mandarin and the peel are both Chinese geographical-indication products. Restaurants serve deep-fried chenpi pork ribs (香炸陈皮骨), and hollowed mandarins are filled with Pu'er tea (柑普茶).

The wide, slow Xi River at Muzhou (睦洲) is good habitat for yellow-sand clams (黄沙蚬), best known as "bok-bok clams" (卜卜蚬): raw clams go into a pan of hot oil and make a "bok" sound as they open. Xinhui palm-leaf craft (新会葵艺), including fans decorated with a heated iron pen, joined the national intangible heritage list in 2008.

Highlights

• Liang Qichao's Former Residence 梁启超故居: National key relics site in Chakeng village: Guangxu-era brick house, the Yitang study and a 2001 memorial hall.
• Guifeng Mountain 圭峰山: National forest park and 4A scenic area with Yutai Temple, one of Guangdong's four great temples.
• Xinhui chenpi 新会陈皮: Mandarin peel aged three years; a Chinese geographical-indication product.
• Xinhui palm-leaf craft 新会葵艺: Fans and weaving from palm leaves; national intangible heritage since 2008.