Kaiyang County 开阳县

History

In the early Ming the Shuidong Song chieftain directly governed the twelve matou (马头) of Shuidong, administrative units of Buyi settlement. After the Song were crushed in 1630, the Ming took away their posts the next year and made the twelve matou into Kaizhou (开州), ending more than a thousand years of chieftain rule. The name Kaiyang is traced to the Kaiyang Academy (开阳书院) founded in 1810 and explained at the time as 'opening up the learning of Wang Yangming (王阳明)'. In 1914 Kaizhou became Zijiang County (紫江县), named after the Zijiang river, and in 1930 it was renamed Kaiyang County. It has belonged to Guiyang since 1992.

What to see

Matouzhai (马头寨), a Buyi and Han village in Hefeng Buyi and Miao Township (禾丰布依族苗族乡), stands with the Qing River (清河) on its east and Baihua Mountain (百花山) behind it, and was listed as a national key protected site in 2006. The Yuan set up an administrative office here in 1283; the village later became one of the Song clan's twelve matou and took its present name. More than 90 Ming and Qing buildings survive alongside old paths, bridges and wells. In April 1935 the Red Army's First Corps had its headquarters in the Song ancestral hall, and Red Army slogans remain on houses of the chieftains' descendants. Each year on the sixth day of the sixth lunar month (六月六), people from surrounding counties gather here for the Buyi song festival.

At Liuyu village in Shuangliu (双流镇), the Nationalist secret service built a compound in 1941–42 to hold Zhang Xueliang (张学良), who was confined here from February 1942 to December 1944; the Guiyang culture and tourism bureau calls it the place where he was held longest on the mainland. The buildings were pulled down in the early years after 1949; foundations, a spring well, stone steps and old trees remain, and the site has been a Guiyang municipal protected site since 2003.

The Nanjiang Grand Canyon (南江大峡谷) is a national AAAA scenic area; a 2026 poetry gathering there took participants to Pingzhai (平寨), an old Buyi village, as well as on foot through the canyon.

Food and local products

Kaiyang loquats (开阳枇杷), also called Kaiyang selenium-rich loquats, and Kaiyang selenium-rich tea (开阳富硒茶) are both national geographical-indication products.

Highlights

• Matouzhai 马头寨: Buyi and Han village with more than 90 Ming and Qing buildings; national key protected site since 2006.
• Zhang Xueliang confinement site, Liuyu 开阳张学良幽禁处: Where Zhang Xueliang was held from 1942 to 1944; a Guiyang municipal protected site.
• Nanjiang Grand Canyon 南江大峡谷: A national AAAA scenic area.
• Kaiyang selenium-rich tea 开阳富硒茶: A national geographical-indication product.