Wuqiang County 武强县

History

Wuqiang already existed as a county in 286, when it was one of four counties of the newly created Wuyi Commandery (武邑郡). In 621, under the Tang, it was one of nine counties of Jizhou (冀州). In 1913 it was placed under the Baoding circuit (保定道) of Zhili (直隶), and in 1949 it was among the founding counties of the Hengshui special district.

What to see

Wuqiang woodblock New Year prints (武强木版年画) were on the first national intangible heritage list in 2006. China's intangible-heritage centre dates them to the end of the Song and start of the Yuan, with a peak under the Ming and Qing; only some forty workshops were still working in the Republican years. In the early 1940s print artisans and artists of the Jin-Cha-Ji border region (晋察冀边区) founded the Central Hebei New Year Print Research Society (冀中年画研究社), and after 1949 forty workshops were merged into the Wuqiang Print Factory (武强画厂). The prints are overprinted by hand from carved woodblocks and come in dozens of forms, including door pictures, kitchen-god prints, couplets, window pictures and calendar prints. In 1993 the Ministry of Culture named Wuqiang a home of Chinese woodblock New Year prints.

The Wuqiang New Year Print Museum (武强年画博物馆), founded in 1985, is the craft's protection unit; Economic Daily describes it as the country's first museum devoted to New Year prints.

Zhouwo village (周窝村) in Zhouwo town (周窝镇) has been making Western instruments for more than 30 years. China News Service describes a village of 259 households whose main street holds a saxophone commune, guitar workshops, an instrument museum, cafés, small bars and music-themed guesthouses. The county developed it as a music town together with the China Guitar Association (中国吉他协会) in the village that is home to the Jinyin Instrument Group (金音乐器集团), and it has hosted a village art festival, a Wheat Field music festival (麦田音乐节) and a China guitar culture festival.

Setting and landscape

The county has a temperate continental monsoon climate with four distinct seasons, about 185 frost-free days, roughly 554 millimetres of rain a year and a mean temperature of 12.8°C. National Highway 307 passes through it.

Highlights

• Wuqiang woodblock New Year prints 武强木版年画: Hand-printed from carved blocks since the late Song or early Yuan; on the first national intangible heritage list (2006).
• Wuqiang New Year Print Museum 武强年画博物馆: Founded in 1985; described by Economic Daily as China's first museum devoted to New Year prints.
• Zhouwo music town 周窝村: Village with more than 30 years of Western instrument making, now lined with instrument workshops, a museum and music-themed guesthouses.