Zhongshan County 钟山县

Setting and landscape

The county government describes the Hetang scenic area (荷塘风景区), 18 km west of the county town beside National Road 323, as some 6 square kilometres of rock peaks rising from the ground with lotus ponds among them. At its centre stand two leaning peaks known as Gongpo Mountain (公婆山, the "old couple"). Aerial photographs published by the People's Daily picture service in August 2023 show the Baili Shuimo Gallery scenic area (百里水墨画廊) at Hetang village: karst peak forest, villages, fields and lakes.

History

In 111 BC the Han set up Fuchuan County (富川县) with its seat at Zhongshan. In 1396 that seat moved to today's Fuyang (富阳镇), and Zhongshan became a town with no county of its own until September 1916, when it was joined with two districts of Zhaoping to form Zhongshan County. The name comes from a local legend of a rock on the mountain that rings like a bell (钟) when struck. From 1953 to 1962 Zhongshan and Fuchuan were merged as Fuzhong County (富钟县), and since 2002 the county has belonged to Hezhou city.

What to see

Yingjia (英家), an old town on the west bank of the Siqin River (思勤江), has nearly a kilometre of flagstone street and close to 200 old shopfronts. Behind the street stands the Yuedong Guild Hall (粤东会馆), built in 1777 and carved with dragons, qilin and the Eight Immortals. In June 1947 the Yingjia Uprising opened its granary to the poor; the hall became an autonomous-region protected site in 2000.

About 10 km from the county town in Datian village (大田村), Gong'an town, the Datian opera stage (大田戏台) dates from 1878. It stands more than 10 m high, with an octagonal coffered ceiling and carved stone and wood, and was listed as an autonomous-region protected site in 1981.

Food and local products

Honghua yuba (红花腐竹) is made in Tangshui village (汤水村), Honghua town (红花镇): soybeans soaked in spring water are stone-milled, the milk is heated over wood-fired stoves, and the skin that forms is lifted by hand onto bamboo poles and dried into crisp, leaf-shaped sheets. Each winter Yingjia village dries so much turnip that it is nicknamed the "turnip village"; the Yingjia turnip (英家大头菜) is cooked with pork belly, and it and Zhongshan gonggan mandarins (钟山贡柑) are national geographical-indication products.

Getting oriented

The county seat is Zhongshan town (钟山镇), and the county has ten towns and two Yao townships. The Guiyang–Guangzhou high-speed railway (贵广高铁), the Guilin–Wuzhou (桂梧) and Yongzhou–Hezhou (永贺) expressways and National Road 323 all cross it.

Highlights

• Hetang scenic area 荷塘风景区: Karst peaks and lotus ponds 18 km west of the county town, with the paired Gongpo Mountain peaks at its centre.
• Yuedong Guild Hall, Yingjia 粤东会馆: Carved 1777 guild hall whose granary was opened in the 1947 Yingjia Uprising; protected since 2000.
• Datian opera stage 大田戏台: Carved 1878 stage in Datian village, an autonomous-region protected site since 1981.
• Honghua yuba 红花腐竹: Tofu skin stone-milled and lifted by hand in Tangshui village, Honghua town.
• Yingjia turnip 英家大头菜: Sun-dried turnip from Yingjia village, a national geographical-indication product.