Fengshan County 凤山县

Setting and landscape

Three ranges cross the county: the Dongfengling (东凤岭), the Qinglong (青龙山脉) and the Duyang (都阳山脉). Heights run from 262 m to 1,318 m, and the only level farmland is the strips and strings of small flats along the rivers, where the county grows its rice. The climate is subtropical monsoon with no severe winter or summer heat. The mean temperature is 19.7°C.

History

The first administrative unit here was Luobo Prefecture (罗博州), set up in the Southern Song around today's Pingle (平乐) as one of 48 loosely ruled prefectures under Yongzhou (邕州). In 1730 the Qing split the Donglan native prefecture and made its outer districts a sub-prefecture, later named Fengshan, the start of Fengshan as a county-level unit. It became a county in May 1919 and moved from Baise to Hechi prefecture in 1965.

What to see

Sanmenhai (三门海), a 4A scenic area at Poxin village (坡心村) in Sanmenhai town (三门海镇), sits at the source of the Panyang River (盘阳河). It brings together an underground river, karst lakes, caves, sinkholes, skylights and a natural bridge, and the county describes its boat-visited skylight group as the only one in the world.

Three kilometres east of the county town, Yuanyang Spring (鸳鸯泉) is a pair of pools a little over ten metres apart at the foot of Fenghuang Mountain (凤凰山): a murky "male pond" and a clear "female pond". It was ranked first of Fengshan's eight views and entered the Cihai dictionary in 1945. Higher up the same mountain, Yuanyang Cave (鸳鸯洞) is a two-level cave 480 m long whose hall rises to 52 m, with a stalagmite 36.4 m tall.

In Qiaoyin township (乔音乡) the Tongle terraces (同乐梯田) count 3,337 fields between about 600 and 1,000 m. Xiaya (下牙) in Jinya Yao Township (金牙瑶族乡) is a geological culture village with a science hall and the Shima Lake (石马湖) geological site.

Food and local products

The county's farm specialities include tea-seed oil, red star anise, walnuts, passion fruit and silkworms. Among dishes promoted by the county, hemp-seed tofu (火麻豆腐) is made from hemp seed, soy milk and egg with camellia oil.

Getting oriented

The county seat is Fengcheng town (凤城镇). Fengshan borders Donglan (东兰) to the east, Bama (巴马) to the south, Tian'e (天峨) to the north, and Lingyun (凌云) and Leye (乐业) of Baise to the west. There is no railway; provincial roads 208 and 318 cross the county, and the county government gives the distance to Jinchengjiang as 198 km.

Highlights

• Sanmenhai 三门海: 4A karst area at the source of the Panyang River, with skylights visited by boat.
• Yuanyang Spring 鸳鸯泉: Paired murky and clear pools below Fenghuang Mountain, listed in the 1945 Cihai.
• Yuanyang Cave 鸳鸯洞: Two-level cave 480 m long with a 36.4 m stalagmite.
• Tongle terraces 同乐梯田: 3,337 terraced fields between about 600 and 1,000 m in Qiaoyin township.