Wudang District 乌当区

Setting and landscape

The land slopes from north to south. The highest point is Yunwu Mountain (云雾山) at Anduo village in Shuitian (水田镇), 1,659 metres; the lowest, 872 metres, is at Jiangjiadu (姜家渡) in Baiyi (百宜镇), where the Nanming River (南明河) leaves the district. Fenghuang Mountain (凤凰山), running east to west, divides the drainage of north and south. Karst covers 90.6 per cent of the land. The Luowan basin (洛湾盆地) in Dongfeng (东风镇) holds Quaternary glacial deposits, and around Xintianzhai (新添寨) the Wudang fault exposes a geothermal belt, with hot-water wells drilled at Liangchahekou (两岔河口).

History

Under the Yuan, Wudang (武当) was one of the chieftaincies listed in 1292, centred on today's Wudang in Dongfeng. The district government calls the area the political, military and educational centre of the Song clan of Shuidong (水东宋氏) at its height. To guard Guiyang against the An and Song chieftains, the Ming placed 2 relay posts, 6 watch posts, 4 garrisons and 28 forts within the present district; the Guizhou Front Guard (贵州前卫) of 1395 held forts such as Xinbao (新堡) and Yangchang (羊场堡). Wudang District was created on 24 February 1958 from the suburbs north of the Guizhou–Yunnan and Guizhou–Guangxi highways, and its government moved to Xintianzhai in the second half of 1959.

What to see

Old sites named by the district include Ming garrison villages and the Laixian (来仙阁) and Wansong (万松阁) pavilions. Buyi people keep the 'Third of the Third Month' (三月三) and 'Sixth of the Sixth Month' (六月六) festivals, and the Miao hold tiaochang (跳场) dance gatherings. At Longjiao village (陇脚村) in Xinbao Buyi Township (新堡布依族乡), Xiangzhigou (香纸沟) papermakers turn bamboo into pulp by water power through dozens of steps, matching the bamboo-paper process in the Ming work Tiangong Kaiwu (天工开物); the craft entered the first national intangible-heritage list in 2006.

Baiyi, on the lower Nanming River, has the Baiyi Red Army Martyrs' Cemetery (百宜红军烈士陵园) and a Long March walking route past a Red Army well and an old post road to the Songjiadu (宋家渡) ferry. Its produce includes tea, Baiyi chillies (百宜辣椒), golden pears and red rice.

Getting oriented

The district seat is 7 kilometres from central Guiyang, 8 kilometres from the international airport and 10 kilometres from Guiyang railway station.

Highlights

• Xiangzhigou papermaking 香纸沟古法造纸: Water-powered bamboo papermaking at Longjiao village, on the first national intangible-heritage list in 2006.
• Baiyi Red Army Martyrs' Cemetery 百宜红军烈士陵园: In Baiyi town on the lower Nanming River, with a Long March walking route.
• Yunwu Mountain 云雾山: The district's highest point at 1,659 metres.
• Luowan basin 洛湾盆地: Holds Quaternary glacial deposits.