Daicheng County 大城县

Setting and landscape

The land lies only 3 to 10 metres above sea level, with many low-lying depressions, and falls gently from southwest to northeast. The climate is warm-temperate, semi-humid and monsoonal. The county seat is Pingshu (平舒镇), one of ten towns. Before 1949 the county was a long, narrow strip following the Ziya River from southwest to northeast, which gave rise to a local saying contrasting 'Daicheng, a single line' with its broad neighbour Jinghai (静海).

History

By the end of the Spring and Autumn period a town stood at present-day Pingshu. The county government cites the Records of the Grand Historian for a town here in 354 BC, a northern border post of the state of Qi where Yan, Zhao and Qi met; Yan later took it and named it Pingshu. A county was set up in the early Western Han. In 936 the area was handed to the Khitan with the Sixteen Prefectures, and in 959 the Later Zhou emperor Shizong recovered it and renamed it Dacheng, pronounced 'Daicheng'. The county was abolished in 1958, its land split along the Ziya River, and restored in 1962.

What to see

The county has four provincial-level protected sites. The Southern Yan Wall (燕南长城), built by King Zhao of Yan after he took Pingshu from Qi in 284 BC, runs about 20 kilometres through the county; a surviving stretch south of Jiaozhuang (缴庄) village stands about 3 metres high, and it was listed in 2001. The Longzhong Tomb (龙冢古墓), an oval mound 5 metres high dating from the Qin–Han period, which local tradition links to a young son of the First Emperor, was listed in 1982. The Qigeta Han Tomb (齐圪挞汉墓), a multi-chambered brick tomb found in 1970, and the Guodi Song tombs (郭底宋墓群) were both listed in 1993. The Ming stone statuary of Sima Ningyuan (司马宁园) at Dongchen (东陈村) is the county's only large group of surviving stone carvings.

Local products

Hongmu furniture (红木家具), classical hardwood pieces joined with mortise and tenon, is the county's signature trade; the Langfang Daily traces the local craft back 600 years to court artisans of the Ming and Qing. Makers produce Ming- and Qing-style chairs, beds, tables and cabinets, and workshops and showrooms line the Jinbao road east of the county town as far as Qing County (青县). China Hongmu City (中国红木城), a 4A-rated tourist area, holds a large hongmu fair every Tuesday.

Highlights

• Southern Yan Wall 燕南长城: Warring States wall built after 284 BC; about 20 km cross the county, provincially protected since 2001.
• Longzhong Tomb 龙冢古墓: Qin–Han burial mound 5 metres high, provincially protected since 1982.
• Qigeta Han Tomb 齐圪挞汉墓: Large multi-chambered Han brick tomb found in 1970, provincially protected since 1993.
• China Hongmu City 中国红木城: 4A-rated hardwood furniture market and exhibition area with a Tuesday fair.