Wuchuan 吴川市

Setting and landscape

The land slopes south towards the sea. Low hills in the north-east and north-west cover about two-thirds of the area, the centre is an alluvial plain laid down by the Jian and Meihua (袂花江) rivers, the south-east is tableland, and the coast is lined with sand dunes. The Jian River enters from Shining (石宁) in Huazhou, runs past the city centre at Meilu (梅菉街道) and turns into the sea at Shajiaoxuan (沙角旋) near Wuyang (吴阳镇); the broad, well-watered plain on its banks is known as a "land of fish and rice" (鱼米之乡). The climate is a subtropical maritime monsoon, averaging 23.4°C a year between 1979 and 2000.

History

Pingding County (平定县), the forerunner of Wuchuan, was set up between 424 and 453 under the Liu Song dynasty. In 589 the Sui abolished it and created Wuchuan County, which later came under Huazhou and, from the early Ming, under Gaozhou prefecture (高州府), an arrangement kept by the Qing. Wuchuan joined the Zhanjiang Special District in 1956 and has been governed by Zhanjiang city since 1983.

Wuchuan piaose (吴川飘色), a parade art on the national intangible heritage list since 2008, is performed on the 16th and 17th of the first lunar month. Children, usually aged six to twelve and costumed mostly as characters from history and myth, are held aloft on a hidden rod: figures sitting or standing on the float's small stage are called "ping" (屏) and those that seem to hang in mid-air "piao" (飘). The parade stretches for several li, and Wuchuan troupes appeared at the CCTV Spring Festival Gala in 1992 and 1997.

What to see

The house of Lin Zhaotang (林召棠), the only top-ranked imperial examination graduate (zhuangyuan) from western Guangdong in the Qing, dates from 1775 and stands in Wuyang, with a memorial hall showing his calligraphy and examination papers. The house of General Zhang Yan (张炎), who fought against Japan, is a two-storey red-brick building of 1931 at Zhangshan village (樟山村) mixing Chinese and Western styles. In Huangpo town (黄坡镇) stand the courtyard house of Chen Lanbin (陈兰彬), China's first envoy to the United States, built in 1875, and the 1933 compound of Li Hanhun (李汉魂), wartime governor of Guangdong, whose two front lanes he named "Commoner Lane One and Two" (布衣一巷, 布衣二巷).

Food and local products

Rice, sweet potatoes, peanuts and sugar cane are the main crops, and the sea yields Spanish mackerel, grouper, jellyfish, sea cucumber, prawns and mud crab.

Highlights

• Wuchuan piaose 吴川飘色: National intangible heritage (2008): children held aloft on hidden rods in the Lantern Festival parade.
• Former Residence of Lin Zhaotang 林召棠故居: House of 1775 in Wuyang with a memorial hall to western Guangdong's only Qing zhuangyuan.
• Former Residence of Chen Lanbin 陈兰彬故居: Courtyard house of 1875 in Huangpo village, home of China's first envoy to the United States.
• Former Residence of Li Hanhun 李汉魂故居: 1933 compound at Lingtou village mixing Chinese and Western styles.
• Former Residence of Zhang Yan 张炎故居: Two-storey red-brick house of 1931 at Zhangshan village with a statue of the general.