Gucheng County 故城县

History

In 598, under the Sui, Zhangnan County (漳南县) was set up on land that is now Gucheng. The county under its present name dates from the Yuan, governed from the old town of Gucheng (故城镇), and it stayed there under Hejian prefecture (河间府) through the Ming and Qing. After victory over Japan in 1945 the seat moved to Zhengjiakou, today's Zhengkou, and in 1964 the land west of the Grand Canal that had belonged to Wucheng County (武城县) in Shandong was handed to Gucheng.

What to see

The Grand Canal runs for about 75.1 kilometres through the county, entering at Xindi village (辛堤村) and leaving for Dezhou (德州) past Xidisan village (西第三村). At Zhengkou it makes the "First Bend of the Canal" (运河第一湾), a turn of almost 180 degrees and about 2.5 kilometres long that gave boats a sheltered mooring and helped Zhengkou grow into a trading town. The county has built a Grand Canal National Cultural Park and a historic canal street around the bend.

Just west of the Zhengkou canal bridge, six numbered water-deflecting dams, the Zhengkou Tiaoshuiba (郑口挑水坝), jut from the left bank like giant bridge piers; successive governments built them at weak points of that dike, which took the full force of the current at the bend in flood years.

In Raoyangdian town (饶阳店镇), in the west of the county 10 kilometres from the seat, stands the Qinglin Temple Pagoda (庆林寺塔), a seven-storey octagonal pagoda from the Northern Song, listed as a national protected site in 2006. The county also counts Dongzi "Xue" village (董子学村), where the scholar Dong Zhongshu (董仲舒) once taught, and the Ganling Academy (甘陵书院) among its cultural sights.

Food and local products

Longfeng noodles (龙凤挂面) are a Gucheng speciality. The Qi family of Gucheng town started making them in the Ming. They are made by hand into long, very thin strands, white with a faint green tinge and hollow at the core, that hold together in cooking and leave the broth clear. They were sent to court as tribute, and the Qing palace called them "dragon-whisker, phoenix-tail tribute noodles" (龙须凤尾贡面).

Highlights

• First Bend of the Canal 运河第一湾: A nearly 180-degree, 2.5-kilometre bend of the Grand Canal at Zhengkou that once served as a sheltered mooring.
• Zhengkou Tiaoshuiba 郑口挑水坝: Six numbered water-deflecting dams on the canal's left bank west of the Zhengkou canal bridge.
• Qinglin Temple Pagoda 庆林寺塔: Seven-storey octagonal Northern Song pagoda in Raoyangdian town, a national protected site since 2006.
• Longfeng noodles 龙凤挂面: Hand-made hollow-core noodles first made by the Qi family of Gucheng town in the Ming, once sent as tribute.