Huichuan District 汇川区

Setting and landscape

Huichuan borders Honghuagang District (红花岗区) to the south, Bozhou District (播州区) to the east and west, Tongzi County (桐梓县) to the north and Suiyang County (绥阳县) to the northeast, and covers 1,514.3 square kilometres. It sits on the slope where the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau falls towards the Hunan hills and the Sichuan Basin, generally 1,100 to 1,500 metres above sea level. The Dalou range crosses it from southwest to northeast, forming a natural barrier and the divide between Zunyi's northern and southern river systems.

History

After Yang Duan (杨端) took Bozhou (播州) in 876, this area became the core of the hereditary Yang chieftains' domain. That hereditary rule, 29 generations and 724 years long, ended in 1600, when the Ming court put down the rebellion of Yang Yinglong (杨应龙). The State Council approved Huichuan District on 26 December 2003, and five more towns joined it in 2016.

What to see

The Loushan Pass stands in the middle of the Dalou range in Banqiao town (板桥镇), at 1,277 metres, below the 1,788.4-metre main peak of Sunzi Mountain (笋子山). It has long been a strategic route between Sichuan and Guizhou. In early 1935 the Central Red Army fought two battles here, and Mao Zedong wrote his poem "Yi Qin'e: Loushan Pass" (忆秦娥·娄山关) here. The pass is a national key protected site and a 4A scenic area.

Hailongtun, formerly called Longyantun (龙岩屯), crowns Longyan Mountain (龙岩山) on an eastern spur of the Dalou range in Gaoping subdistrict (高坪街道). The History of Ming (明史) described its terrain as impassable even to flying birds and leaping apes. UNESCO inscribed it as a World Cultural Heritage site in July 2015, and it became a 4A scenic area in September 2017.

Food and local products

Dong liquor (董酒) comes from Donggongsi (董公寺), now one of the district's subdistricts. It was called Cheng family cellar liquor (程家窖酒) until professors of Zhejiang University, which had moved to Zunyi during the war against Japan, proposed the name Dong. It is distilled from sorghum with more than 130 herbs in the fermentation starter, and was named a China Famous Liquor at the national tasting contests of 1963, 1979, 1984 and 1989; in 1983 the Ministry of Light Industry classified its process and formula as secret. Loushan braised chicken (娄山黄焖鸡) is spicy, with tender meat, and its broth can then be used to cook vegetables and noodles.

Highlights

• Loushan Pass 娄山关: Pass at 1,277 metres in the Dalou range, fought over by the Red Army in early 1935; national key protected site and 4A scenic area.
• Hailongtun 海龙屯: Mountain fortress on Longyan Mountain in the Dalou range, inscribed by UNESCO in July 2015.
• Dong liquor 董酒: Sorghum liquor from Donggongsi made with more than 130 herbs in the starter.