Luannan County 滦南县

History

People lived here from the Neolithic onward. In 740, under the Tang, Macheng County (马城县) was set up in the area. Local tradition says Emperor Taizong of Tang reached the Bohai coast here on an eastern campaign and left behind a love story with Consort Cao, from which Caofeidian (曹妃甸) takes its name. The Jin created a Luan County. Bencheng (倴城), the county town, is one of the four famous towns east of Beijing and is said to be named after the Yuan general Nayan Benzhan (那颜倴盏), who stored grain there. Through the Ming and Qing the area belonged to Luanzhou (滦州). A Luannan county office was set up in 1946 and later merged into Luan County; the county was restored in 1963. The Yang Sanjie lawsuit (杨三姐告状) of the early Republic took place here.

The county government calls Luannan a cradle of the "three flowers of eastern Hebei" performing arts and names three local figures: Cheng Zhaocai, the drum singer Jin Wenran (靳文然) of the Jin school of Laoting drum singing, and Zhang Shengwu (张绳武), known as the "shadow-puppet king". Around 1910 Cheng Zhaocai's troupe built pingju from the duet lianhualao songs of the Luanzhou area, adding music from the northeastern errenzhuan; the name pingju came into use in 1935. His plays include The Flower as Matchmaker and Yang Sanjie's Lawsuit, and Luannan's pingju was entered on the first national intangible heritage list in 2006.

Food and local products

Luannan shrimp oil (滦南虾油) is made by fermenting fresh shrimp with salt: the shrimp are mixed with salt in vats, fermented in the sun, stirred with rakes, and the clear brown oil is drawn off. It is used to season stir-fried, braised and deep-fried dishes. Minzhuang (闵庄), a village settled from Shanxi in the Yongle reign, makes mature vinegar from malt syrup boiled in winter and put in vats in summer, where it ferments naturally for a hundred days. Huangtuo sweet potatoes (黄坨甘薯), grown on sandy soil around Donghuangtuo (东黄坨镇), are spindle-shaped with pale red skin and golden flesh.

Getting oriented

The Tangshan–Jingtang Port Expressway (S64) crosses the county on its way from Tangshan's Kaiping District to Jingtang Port in Laoting County.

Highlights

• Pingju opera 评剧: Founded by Luannan native Cheng Zhaocai around 1910; on the national list since 2006.
• Luannan shrimp oil 滦南虾油: Clear brown seasoning made by sun-fermenting fresh shrimp with salt.
• Minzhuang mature vinegar 闵庄陈醋: Malt-syrup vinegar fermented for a hundred days, brought by Shanxi settlers in the Yongle reign.
• Huangtuo sweet potatoes 黄坨甘薯: Pale-red, golden-fleshed sweet potatoes from the sandy soils around Donghuangtuo.