Fengkai County 封开县

Setting and landscape

The West and He rivers run through most of the county, and the county seat, Jiangkou (江口), stands at their confluence. Fengkai borders Yunan County (郁南县) to the south, Deqing County (德庆县) to the southeast and Huaiji County (怀集县) to the northeast, with Cangwu County (苍梧县) and Wuzhou (梧州) in Guangxi to the northwest. Its dense forest has earned it the name "oasis on the Tropic of Cancer", and National Highway G321 passes through Jiangkou.

History

Human tooth fossils found in the county are dated to about 148,000 years ago, more than 20,000 years older than Maba Man (马坝人). In 111 BC Emperor Wu of Han set up the Jiaozhi (交趾) inspectorate for Lingnan and placed its seat at today's Jiangkou, which the county calls the earliest capital of Lingnan. Under the Song, land east of Guangxin (广信), the old name of the area, became Guangdong and land to the west Guangxi, the origin of both province names.

Kaijian County (开建县) was created in 426 and Fengchuan County (封川县) took its name in 598. The two were merged as Fengkai County in April 1961. Mo Xuanqing (莫宣卿), whom the county calls the youngest top graduate of the imperial examinations in Chinese history, came from here.

What to see

Da Ban Shi (大斑石), in Banshi village of Xinghua town (杏花镇), is a single granite rock 191.3 metres high and 1,365 metres long; after rain, water streaming down its bare western face streaks it with colour. The Longshan scenic area (龙山景区) at Heerkou (河儿口镇) is the central area of Fengkai National Geopark (封开国家地质公园) and a provincial-level scenic area. Its karst caves formed in rock laid down in a sea some 330 to 350 million years ago: Shuanglong Cave (双龙洞) runs through the hill for over 200 metres in nine chambers, and Longquan Cave (龙泉洞) follows an underground river.

Also at Heerkou, Qiancengfeng (千层峰) is a cluster of layered sandstone and shale peaks. The 55.8-metre Guangxin Tower (广信塔), built in 2005 in Han style, gives views over the county seat and the confluence, and the 15-metre Tropic of Cancer marker in Jiangbin Park (江滨公园) has a gilded ball pierced by a 10-centimetre hole that lines up with the sun at the summer solstice. A hall at Huangyan Cave (黄岩洞) displays finds excavated at the site.

Highlights

• Da Ban Shi 大斑石: A single granite rock 191.3 metres high in Banshi village, Xinghua town.
• Longshan scenic area 龙山景区: Karst caves at Heerkou forming the central area of Fengkai National Geopark.
• Tropic of Cancer marker 北回归线标志塔: A 15-metre tower in Jiangbin Park, Jiangkou, built to be checked by the solstice sun.
• Guangxin Tower 广信塔: A 55.8-metre Han-style tower from 2005 overlooking the West and He river confluence.