Hengshui 衡水市

Setting and landscape

The city is named after a river. The 'Tribute of Yu' (禹贡) calls the Zhang River the Heng Zhang (衡漳), which the Han scholar Kong Anguo (孔安国) explained as the Zhang flowing crosswise, and Li Daoyuan's Commentary on the Water Classic (水经注) calls it the Hengshui; a Hengshui County named after the water was first set up in 596. Southwest of the city lies Hengshui Lake (衡水湖), also called Qianqingwa (千顷洼), a national nature reserve whose tourist scenic area entered the national 5A list in 2024.

History

In 201 BC the Western Han seated a commandery at Xindu (信都), the old town of today's Jizhou, and in 221 the seat of Ji Province moved there from Ye. From the early Yuan the area was divided among the prefectures of Ji, Shen (深州) and Jing (景州), which became counties in 1913; Hengshui became a prefecture-level city in 1996. The city counts the Confucian master Dong Zhongshu (董仲舒), the Tang classicist Kong Yingda (孔颖达), the poet Gao Shi (高适) and the writer Sun Li (孙犁) among its people. In Jing County (景县), the Jingzhou Pagoda (景州塔), an eight-sided brick tower of thirteen storeys and 63.85 metres, was rebuilt in Song style in 1079 and became a national key heritage site in 1996.

Food and local products

Wuqiang County (武强县) has made woodblock New Year prints since the late Song or early Yuan; they joined the national intangible-heritage list in 2006, and the county's New Year print museum was established in 1985. Hengshui inner painting (衡水内画), done on the inside walls of snuff bottles, took its local form from the late 1950s under Wang Xisan (王习三), who devised a metal-shaft hooked brush for it, and was listed in 2006. Hengshui Laobaigan (衡水老白干), the typical liquor of the laobaigan aroma style, is on the national list for its traditional distilling (2008).

Getting oriented

The city government sits in Taocheng District (桃城区), 250 kilometres south of Beijing and 119 kilometres east of Shijiazhuang.

Highlights

• Hengshui Lake 衡水湖: National nature reserve southwest of the city; its tourist scenic area entered the national 5A list in 2024.
• Jingzhou Pagoda 景州塔: Thirteen-storey brick pagoda in Jing County, 63.85 metres high, rebuilt in 1079.
• Wuqiang New Year Print Museum 武强年画博物馆: Museum of Wuqiang woodblock New Year prints, established in 1985.
• Hengshui inner painting 衡水内画: Painting inside snuff bottles; national intangible heritage since 2006.