Dushan County 独山县

Setting and landscape

The county sits on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau where it steps down towards the hills of Guangxi, and forms a raised platform 310 to 490 metres higher than the land around it. Elevations run from 500 to 1,465 metres. Geologists know Dushan for its standard Devonian-Carboniferous rock section, which is well exposed and rich in fossils.

Its water drains to the Hongshui River (红水河) and the Pearl River (珠江) systems, and there are 22 underground rivers. The climate is mild and monsoonal, with a mean annual temperature of 15°C and about 1,430 mm of rain a year.

History

In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods the area belonged to the ancient state of Wulian (毋敛), and under the Han it was Wulian County. In 1383 the Ming set up a chieftain's office for the "nine names and nine surnames" of Dushan, and in 1494 this became Dushan Department (独山州), later under Duyun Prefecture in the Qing. It became Dushan County in 1914. In 1941 it was the seat of Guizhou's Second Administrative Inspectorate, and in 1956 it was placed in Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (黔南布依族苗族自治州).

What to see

The Shenhe Bridge (深河桥) war site is on the national list of classic red-tourism scenic areas. The county government sums up its place in the War of Resistance against Japan with the saying that the war "began at Lugou (卢沟) in the north and ended at Shenhe in the south".

Dushan is also the source of southern Guizhou's huadeng (花灯), a lantern song-and-dance theatre, and has been named a national "home of huadeng art". Festivals of the Buyei (布依族), Miao (苗族), Sui (水族) and other peoples, such as Liuyueliu (六月六), Siyueba (四月八) and the Duan festival (端节), bring antiphonal singing, huadeng, bullfighting and horse racing. The Sui keep their own script, the Shui shu (水书).

Food and local products

Local cooking favours sour flavours, summed up as the "three sours of Dushan" (独山三酸): salted sour greens (盐酸), fermented shrimp sour (虾酸) and "stinky sour" (臭酸). The county government quotes the writer Lu Xun (鲁迅) calling the salted sour greens China's best vegetarian dish.

Highlights

• Shenhe Bridge war site 深河桥抗战遗址: Listed as a national classic red-tourism scenic area; linked with the end of the War of Resistance in the saying "began at Lugou, ended at Shenhe".
• Dushan huadeng 独山花灯: Lantern song-and-dance theatre; Dushan is described as the birthplace of southern Guizhou huadeng.
• Three sours of Dushan 独山三酸: Salted sour greens, fermented shrimp sour and stinky sour.