Meixian District 梅县区

Setting and landscape

Meixian lies between two ranges: the Xiangshan (项山) range, an offshoot of the Wuyi Mountains, in the north-west and the Yinna (阴那) range of the Lianhua Mountains in the south-east. Along the Mei River (梅江) a chain of small valley basins has formed in the fault zone between them. The district describes its land with the saying "eight parts hills, one part water, one part fields" (八山一水一分田); nine peaks top 1,000 metres, the highest being Wuzhi Peak (五指峰) on Mount Yinna at 1,297 metres. The Mei River runs for about 70 kilometres through the district, and Fujian's Shanghang (上杭) and Yongding (永定) border it to the north-east.

History

The area became Chengxiang County (程乡县) under the Southern Qi (479–502), named after the local worthy Cheng Min (程旻). In 971 the Northern Song renamed the prefecture Meizhou, and in 1733 the Qing raised it to Jiaying Prefecture (嘉应州), which with four neighbouring counties formed the "five counties of Jiaying" (嘉应五属). It took the name Meixian in 1912, and the State Council turned the county into a district of Meizhou in October 2013.

What to see

Ye Jianying, a founder of the People's Liberation Army, was born on 28 April 1897 in Xiahuxing village (下虎形村) in Yanyang (雁洋); several of the district's recommended tourist routes start at the Ye Jianying Memorial Park (叶剑英纪念园) and continue to Lingguang Temple (灵光寺) and the Yannanfei tea fields (雁南飞茶田). Songkou (松口) old town, on the district's emigrant route, has a hall on the history of emigration to Southeast Asia, a migrants' memorial square and the steamboat pier (火船码头); the Dahuang (大黄) section of the South Guangdong Ancient Post Road (南粤古驿道) is on the same route. The former homes of the Qing poet Song Xiang (宋湘) and the Republican-era general Deng Zhongyuan (邓仲元) are in Baidu (白渡) and Bingcun (丙村) respectively.

Food and local products

The district names salt-baked chicken (盐焗鸡) as its best-known dish and Meixian yanmian (梅县腌面), hand-made noodles tossed with a ready-made dressing and spring onion, as its staple, eaten with "three-champion soup" (三及第汤). Songkou's fish-flake rice noodles (松口鱼散粉) are made by boning and chopping dace, frying it, and stir-frying it with soaked rice noodles, fermented rice lees, ginger and pepper; the district describes it as a food memory of the Hakka who left for Southeast Asia. Golden pomelo, tea and Chinese mesona (仙人草) are among the district's crops.

Highlights

• Ye Jianying Memorial Park 叶剑英纪念园: Starting point of several of the district's recommended tourist routes.
• Songkou old town 松口古镇: Emigration history hall, migrants' memorial square and old steamboat pier.
• Yannanfei tea fields 雁南飞茶田: Tea-field scenic area on the district's recommended routes.
• Meixian yanmian 梅县腌面: Hand-made noodles tossed with dressing and spring onion, eaten with three-champion soup.
• Songkou fish-flake rice noodles 松口鱼散粉: Fried dace flakes stir-fried with rice noodles and rice lees.