Laoting County 乐亭县

Setting and landscape

The county's land forms an inverted triangular fan, 49 kilometres across and 52 from north to south, with Luannan County (滦南县) and Caofeidian District (曹妃甸区) to the west and a 124.9-kilometre coastline. The most visited of its three offshore islands, Puti Island (菩提岛), formerly Shijiutuo (石臼坨), sits at the mouth of the Daqing River (大清河), 3 kilometres long and about 0.8 kilometres wide, with 229 plant and 408 bird species recorded.

History

People lived here by the late Neolithic. The Northern Wei set up Le'an Ting (乐安亭), and Laoting County was created in 1123, under the Jin dynasty. The county credits its "Laotai" merchant band (老呔商帮) with a century of trading success in the late Qing and early Republic.

The county is the birthplace of Laoting drum singing (乐亭大鼓), Laoting shadow play and pingju opera (评剧). The drum song grew from local songs about 200 years ago; in 1850 the storyteller Wen Rong (温荣) ground the first iron clappers after noticing the ring of a plough blade, and the style got its name after he performed at Prince Gong's residence. Laoting shadow play, locally "Laoting ying", uses donkey-hide figures and joined the national intangible heritage list in 2014.

What to see

The Li Dazhao Memorial Hall (李大钊纪念馆) was among the first hundred national patriotic-education bases, and his former residence is a national key cultural relic protection site.

On Puti Island the monk Faben (法本) began a large-scale development in 1889; he died in 1917, and his disciple Zhenkong (真空) spent another 17 years completing Chaoyin Temple (潮音寺). Rules issued by the county in 1985 covered Shijiutuo, Yuetuo (月坨) and other coastal islands, and Shijiutuo became a provincial scenic area in 1990.

Food and local products

Liu Mei roast chicken (刘美烧鸡) goes back to a Liu family of braised-meat cooks in Ligezhuang (李各庄), Matouying (马头营镇), in the Guangxu reign; the son later opened a roast-chicken shop on the county town's South Street. Before cooking, the legs are broken with the back of a knife, the feet tucked into the cavity and the right wing threaded through a cut in the neck; the dish is recorded in the county gazetteer. Diaoqiao jar-oven flatbreads (吊桥缸炉烧饼) and Cenke dumplings (岑科饺子) were also famous in that era.

Getting oriented

The county town lies 70 kilometres southeast of Tangshan city and 25 kilometres north of Tangshan Port's Jingtang area. The Tanggang and Qiancao railways cross the county from north to south.

Highlights

• Puti Island 菩提岛: Former Shijiutuo at the Daqing River mouth; Chaoyin Temple was completed there by the monk Faben's disciple.
• Li Dazhao Memorial Hall 李大钊纪念馆: Among the first hundred national patriotic-education bases; the former residence is a national key protected site.
• Laoting drum singing 乐亭大鼓: Drum-and-clapper storytelling that took its name after Wen Rong performed at Prince Gong's residence.
• Laoting shadow play 乐亭皮影戏: Donkey-hide shadow puppetry on the national list since 2014.
• Liu Mei roast chicken 刘美烧鸡: Trussed roast chicken from a family business traced to the Guangxu reign, recorded in the county gazetteer.