Yangpu Ancient Salt Field 洋浦千年古盐田

About Yangpu Ancient Salt Field

The stones, seawater and village setting are the main attraction. Visit respectfully around any working basins: their low edges are part of the production equipment, not stepping stones for photographs. The site works best as a focused stop on a Yangpu coastal drive, with time to look closely at the process.

According to local tradition, the salt field was created by salt workers who migrated from Putian (莆田) in Fujian province, and the site is said to have more than 1,200 years of history. The English-language account places its founding at around 800 AD, during the Northern Song dynasty, when the migrating workers settled at Yangpu and began chiselling troughs into volcanic rock to pioneer a sun-drying method of salt production that is still practised today.

The salt field consists of more than 1,000 stones with flat, evaporation-cut tops and a thin raised rim to hold water, cut into volcanic rock in Yantian village (盐田村) on the Yangpu Peninsula. At high tide the stone surfaces fill with seawater; at low tide the water evaporates, leaving salt that is then collected.

The salt field was listed as a Major Historical and Cultural Site Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位) in 2013 and included in the sixth batch of National Industrial Heritage sites (国家工业遗产) in 2024. Around 30 families still produce salt using this traditional method, a labour-intensive process, and the salt is used in Chinese traditional medicine.

What to look for

• Stone salt basins with raised edges for solar evaporation.
• The relationship between volcanic rock, seawater and village salt production.

Location & getting there

Getting to Yangpu Ancient Salt Field

Navigate to Yantian village’s ancient salt field on the Yangpu Peninsula. Arrange road transport from Yangpu or Danzhou rather than expecting a short walk from Nada.