Wuhua County 五华县

Setting and landscape

Mountains cover 49.1% of the county and hills another 41.3%. The highest peak is Qimuzhang (七目嶂, 1,318 m) in the west. The Qin River (琴江) and the Wuhua River (五华河) join at Shuizhai (水寨), the county seat, and flow east through Xingning and Meixian to meet the Han River at Sanheba (三河坝) in Dabu. The Tropic of Cancer crosses the southern tip of the county.

History

The county was founded in 1071, under the Northern Song, as Changle (长乐), with its seat at Changle town, now Huacheng (华城). It took the name Wuhua in 1914, and the seat moved from Huacheng to Shuizhai in 1954. The Shixiongshan site (狮雄山遗址) at Tagang village in Huacheng is a large Qin-Han complex of the Nanyue (南越) kingdom, found in 1982; excavations turned up 68 clay seal impressions, and the State Council made it a national key protected site in 2019.

Wuhua is the home of Lee Wai Tong (李惠堂), whom the county calls the "world king of football". His family house, Lianqinglou (联庆楼) in Laolou village, Hengbei town (横陂镇), was built in 1892 with watchtowers at its four corners and a rounded Hakka enclosure at the back. In Huangpu village, Huacheng, the Hakka enclosed house of Li Weiguang (李威光), who topped the imperial military examination in 1772, is a provincial protected site.

What to see

Qimuzhang, at Changbu town (长布镇), is a provincial nature reserve of secondary broadleaf forest. Yitang Reservoir (益塘水库), built in 1971–74 in the north-west, has more than 300 inlets and 15 islets and is nicknamed Guangdong's "little Thousand Island Lake". Football sights include the Qiuwang Guli (球王故里) national 4A area around Huitang Stadium (惠堂体育场) in Qinjiang New Town, and Hengbei football town, with 15 pitches. String puppetry (提线木偶戏), brought from Fujian in the early Ming and listed as national intangible heritage in 2008, is sung mainly in Han opera style with dialogue in Hakka.

Food and local products

Shuizhai yusheng (水寨鱼生) is raw grass carp sliced thin and dried on bamboo sieves. Slices are dipped in white vinegar with garlic for about 15 seconds, passed through peanut oil and mixed with mint, ginger, fried peanuts, Sichuan pepper and coriander. Changle shaojiu (长乐烧酒), a rice liquor named after the Song-era county, is on Guangdong's intangible-heritage list. Datian dried persimmons (大田柿花) from Changbu are peeled after the start of winter, sun-dried and kneaded daily until frost-like sugar forms; they won national geographical-indication protection in 2017.

Highlights

• Shixiongshan Qin-Han site 狮雄山秦汉建筑遗址: Nanyue-period building complex at Huacheng; national key protected site since 2019.
• Lee Wai Tong's family house 李惠堂旧居联庆楼: Built in 1892 in Laolou village, Hengbei; provincial protected site since 2008.
• Yitang Reservoir 益塘水库: Over 300 inlets and 15 islets; called Guangdong's little Thousand Island Lake.
• Shuizhai yusheng 水寨鱼生: Raw grass carp dipped in garlic vinegar and peanut oil, eaten with mint, ginger and fried peanuts.
• Datian dried persimmons 大田柿花: Sun-dried and kneaded persimmons from Changbu; national geographical indication since 2017.