Anping County 安平县

History

In the Warring States period the area belonged first to the state of Zhongshan (中山国) and then to Zhao; Anping County itself was first created under the Qin. Under the Western Jin it was the capital of the Boling (博陵) princely state, and in the Ming and Qing it came under Zhending (真定).

In April 1923 Gong Zhongtao (弓仲韬), a teacher in Beijing who had joined the Communist Party through Li Dazhao (李大钊), was sent back to his home village of Taicheng to spread Marxism and recruit members. In August 1923 he founded the Taicheng Special Branch (台城特别支部), which the Hebei Commission for Discipline Inspection describes as the party's first rural branch. On 15 August 1924 he went on to form the Anping county committee, the first county committee of the party in Hebei. The story was filmed as Taicheng 1923 (台城1923), which finished shooting in March 2011.

What to see

The memorial hall to the first rural party branch (全国第一个农村党支部纪念馆) stands in Taicheng; its new building opened on 21 October 2010, and it has since been enlarged and listed as a Hebei patriotic-education base.

The Lujiazhuang mural tomb (逯家庄壁画墓), an Eastern Han tomb at Lujiazhuang, was listed by Hebei in 1982 and became a national protected site in 2001. Three more sites are on the provincial list: the Eastern Han Xizhaizi tomb (西寨子古墓), the site of the Yuan-dynasty Shenggu Temple (圣姑庙遗址) in the county town, and the Han tomb group at Donghuangcheng (东黄城墓群).

Food and local products

Wire-mesh making in Anping goes back to the Ming dynasty, and the county has been named China's home of wire mesh; a common saying runs "for the world's wire mesh look to China, for China's look to Anping". Guardrail mesh, perforated mesh and crimped mesh are among its main products.

Highlights

• First rural party branch memorial hall 全国第一个农村党支部纪念馆: In Taicheng, where Gong Zhongtao founded the Taicheng Special Branch in August 1923; new building opened in 2010.
• Lujiazhuang mural tomb 逯家庄壁画墓: Eastern Han tomb; national protected site since 2001.
• Shenggu Temple site 圣姑庙遗址: Yuan-dynasty temple site in the county town; provincial protected site.
• Anping wire mesh 安平丝网: A trade dating from the Ming; the county is named China's home of wire mesh.