Luancheng District 栾城区

History

In the Spring and Autumn period the area was the fief of Luan (栾邑) held by Luan Shu (栾书), commander of the central army of Jin. A county named Luancheng was first set up in AD 87 under the Eastern Han, and the county seat moved to its present site in 1377.

The Su connection goes back to Su Weidao (苏味道), a Tang chancellor and poet from a Luancheng family who was demoted to Meishan (眉山) in Sichuan. The district government traces Su Xun and his sons Su Shi and Su Zhe as his tenth- and eleventh-generation descendants, and notes that Su Shi often signed his work as "Su of Zhao commandery" (赵郡苏氏), Zhao being the commandery that included Luancheng under the Tang. Su Weidao died in Meishan in 705 and was brought back to Luancheng for burial.

What to see

Su Weidao's tomb (苏味道墓) stands in Suqiu village (苏邱村) in Yehe town (冶河镇): a four-metre mound restored in the late 1990s with four well pavilions and a white-stone balustrade. Qingming Bridge (清明桥), between the north and south Zhao villages in Douyu town (窦妪镇), was first built in the Kaiyuan and Tianbao reigns of the Tang and was the crossing Su Weidao's descendants used to reach the family graves; restored in 1999, it has three arches and is 44.2 metres long. The Su Dongpo Ancestral Home Memorial Hall (苏东坡祖籍纪念馆) in the Culture Park has been open since 2001, with displays on the family's origins, Su Weidao and the Three Su, and famous Su descendants.

Other old sites include Luanwutai (栾武台), a mound built around 587 BC in front of Luan Shu's tomb 1.5 kilometres northwest of the town, and the Hall of Great Achievement (文庙大成殿) of the Confucian temple, a single-storey timber hall rebuilt in 1643 on a temple founded in 1299. At the Shahulin site (杀狐林遗址) in Yehe town, according to the district government, the Liao emperor Yelü Deguang (耶律德光) died, and a stone carving of the Orchid Pavilion Preface (兰亭集序) left by his followers was later found in the Northern Song.

The Xigong Great Candle Fair (西宫大蜡会), a provincial intangible heritage item, is a temple fair held in Xigong village (西宫村) on the 13th to 15th days of the tenth lunar month. Its distinctive "great candle" (大蜡) ritual has, the district says, been passed down since the late Yuan and early Ming.

Highlights

• Su Weidao's Tomb 苏味道墓: Tomb of the Tang chancellor whom the district identifies as the ancestor of the Three Su, in Suqiu village.
• Qingming Bridge 清明桥: Three-arched bridge first built in the Tang, the crossing Su Weidao's descendants used to visit the family graves; restored in 1999.
• Su Dongpo Ancestral Home Memorial Hall 苏东坡祖籍纪念馆: Museum on the Su family's Luancheng roots in the Culture Park, open since 2001.
• Xigong Great Candle Fair 西宫大蜡会: Provincial intangible heritage temple fair held on the 13th to 15th of the tenth lunar month.