Jinping County 锦屏县

Setting and landscape

Liping (黎平) lies to the south, Jianhe (剑河) to the west and Tianzhu (天柱) to the north. The name is said to come from green hills "like brocade" (锦) and "lovely as a screen" (屏). The climate is mid-subtropical, humid and monsoonal. Jinping is known as a home of China fir, bluestone and hydropower, and its landscapes include Sanbanxi Lake (三板溪湖), the 50,000-mu natural grassland of Qingshanjie (青山界) and the Sanjiang national water-conservancy scenic area.

Timber and the Jinping documents

Since the Ming and Qing, the banks of the Qingshui River were Guizhou's largest timber market, and the county government calls Jinping the birthplace and core of Qingshui "timber-merchant culture". Deals over forest land and timber produced the Jinping documents (锦屏文书): more than 100,000 contracts survive in private hands, and the collection is on the China Archival Documentary Heritage Register. Many contracts obliged those who felled trees to replant them.

What to see

Longli Ancient Town (隆里古城) is a Ming military fortress more than 600 years old, a national historic and cultural village and a 4A scenic area; its Ming-to-Qing buildings are a national key protected site, as is the Qing-dynasty Feishan Temple (锦屏飞山庙).

Wendou Miao village (文斗苗寨), a 3A scenic area reached from the Qingshui River, holds over 30,000 contracts, the oldest dated 1715, and has an eco-museum to study them. Outside the upper village gate stands the "Six Prohibitions" stele (六禁碑) of 1773, which fined villagers for cutting fir trees. The largest red yew in the village is over 30 m tall and estimated at more than 800 years old, and stone walls, gates and a beacon platform survive from defences built in the Xianfeng reign. Maoping (茅坪), a 3A timber-merchant old town, and the village of Leitun (雷屯) are also listed as sights by the county.

Crafts and local products

Dong silver forging and Dong embroidery are practised here, and the county's traditional China-fir planting and management system is on the list of China's important agricultural heritage. Provincial intangible-heritage items include Yaobai opera (瑶白大戏) and the making of pickled fish (腌鱼).

Getting oriented

The county lies 182 km from Kaili (凯里) and 358 km from Guiyang (贵阳). The Sansui–Liping (三黎) and Jianhe–Liping (剑黎) expressways cross it, and Liping airport is 60 km away.

Highlights

• Longli Ancient Town 隆里古城: Ming military fortress over 600 years old; its buildings are a national key protected site.
• Wendou Miao village 文斗苗寨: Holds over 30,000 forestry contracts, the oldest from 1715, and the 1773 Six Prohibitions stele.
• Feishan Temple 锦屏飞山庙: Qing-dynasty temple listed as a national key protected site.
• Jinping documents 锦屏文书: More than 100,000 forestry contracts on the China Archival Documentary Heritage Register.