Yun'an District 云安区

Setting and landscape

The district borders Yuncheng District (云城区) to the east, Xinxing County (新兴县) and Yangchun (阳春市) to the south, and Luoding (罗定市) and Yunan County (郁南县) to the west. More than 70 peaks rise above 500 metres; the main summits of Da Yunwu Mountain (大云雾山) and Dajin Mountain (大金山) exceed 800 metres. In the north, the middle and lower Pengyuan River (蓬远河) has built a small plain of close to 50 square kilometres that holds the district seat, while karst peak forests and karst caves appear around Liudu (六都), Baishi (白石), Zhen'an (镇安) and Fulin (富林). Most rain falls during the "dragon-boat water" (龙舟水) period, and the district government puts forest cover at 66.3% at the end of 2024.

History

In 1577 the Ming created Dong'an County (东安县), which covered this area; it was renamed Yunfu County (云浮县) in 1914. Yun'an County was carved out of Yuncheng District in January 1996 with its seat at Liudu, and in September 2014 the State Council replaced it with the present district. The district government counts the Ming general Chen Lin (陈璘), known for fighting Japanese pirates, as a native son, and the "Chen Lin legends" (陈璘传说) are on Guangdong's provincial intangible heritage list.

What to see

Da Yunwu Mountain, in Fulin town, is Yunfu's highest peak at 1,140 metres, and its summit is wrapped in cloud and mist for most of the year. In Daying village (大营村) of Nanxiang (南乡), Liudu town, the Longya Chen Ancestral Hall (龙崖陈公祠) and a barracks wall (兵营围墙) date from the fourth year of the Wanli reign (1576) and keep their Ming-period form. Matang Temple (马塘庙) in Fulin was founded in 1583 and rebuilt in the Daoguang years (1821–1850); its walls are covered with paintings. Its temple fair, held on the third day of the third lunar month and the thirteenth of the fifth, brings bayin gong-and-drum music (八音锣鼓), opera and lion dancing, and is on the third provincial intangible heritage list. A 172-kilometre network of slow greenways links Yunwu Mountain (云雾山) with other scenic areas and old villages.

Food and local products

Tuodong tofu skin (托洞腐竹) and Yun'an silk cocoons (云安蚕茧) are both Chinese geographical-indication products. Among the fruit grown in the district, the government lists lychee, longan, seedless wampee (无核黄皮), guava, olives, loquat and pomelo.

Getting oriented

The district seat at Liudu is 18 kilometres by road from central Yunfu and 178 kilometres from Guangzhou. National Highway 324, the Guangzhou–Kunming, Shenzhen–Cenxi and Shantou–Zhanjiang expressways, and the Nanning–Guangzhou railway pass through, with the railway stopping at Yunfu East station (云浮东站).

Highlights

• Da Yunwu Mountain 大云雾山: Yunfu's highest peak at 1,140 metres, in Fulin town, with a summit in cloud and mist most of the year.
• Longya Chen Ancestral Hall 龙崖陈公祠: Ming building of 1576 in Daying village, Liudu town, standing with a barracks wall of the same date.
• Matang Temple 马塘庙: Founded in 1583 in Fulin town, with painted walls; its temple fair is on the provincial intangible heritage list.
• Tuodong tofu skin 托洞腐竹: Dried tofu skin registered as a Chinese geographical-indication product.