Lankao County 兰考县

Setting and landscape

The county has a temperate monsoon climate and trees cover 32.9 per cent of its land; it is known as the home of the paulownia (泡桐), and the county government also calls it a home of Chinese folk musical instruments. On 1 August 1855 the Yellow River burst its north bank at Tongwaxiang (铜瓦厢) in today's Lankao. Until then the lower river had run through Kaifeng and Lankao to the Yellow Sea; after the breach it turned northeast and reached the Bohai along the bed of the Ji River (济水).

History

The area was known in antiquity as Huyou (户牖), and Chinese Wikipedia places Duke Huan of Qi's Kuiqiu covenant (葵丘会盟) here. Today's county was formed by merging the old Lanfeng (兰封) and Kaocheng (考城) counties. The county government names the Han chancellor Chen Ping (陈平), the strategist Zhang Liang (张良) and Zhang Boxing (张伯行), hailed as "the most upright official in the land", among the figures linked to it.

What to see

Jiao Yulu was first buried in Zhengzhou; on 26 February 1965 his remains were moved to the sand dunes on the old Yellow River dyke north of the county town, as he had wished. The white-marble tomb has a seven-metre screen wall to its north carrying Mao Zedong's words "为人民而死，虽死犹荣" ("to die for the people is an honour"), and it became a national key cultural relics protection unit in 2003. The county government names the Jiao Yulu Memorial Park (焦裕禄纪念园) and the Jiao Yulu Cadre Academy as its main centres for studying his example. Other sites include the tomb of Zhang Liang, Marquis of Liu (汉留侯张良墓), and a pavilion at the Yellow River ferry of Dongbatou (东坝头) marking Mao Zedong's inspection of the river.

Getting oriented

Lankao sits at the centre of a triangle formed by Kaifeng, Heze (菏泽) and Shangqiu (商丘), 100 kilometres east of Xinzheng (新郑) International Airport. The Longhai railway (陇海铁路) crosses the county, and the Rizhao–Lankao (日兰) and Zhengzhou–Xuzhou (郑徐) high-speed lines meet here in a T-shaped junction.

Highlights

• Jiao Yulu's tomb 焦裕禄烈士墓: Reburied in 1965 on the dunes of the old Yellow River dyke; national protection unit since 2003.
• Jiao Yulu Memorial Park 焦裕禄纪念园: Named by the county as a main centre for studying Jiao Yulu's example.
• Tongwaxiang 铜瓦厢: Where the Yellow River broke its bank in 1855 and swung north to the Bohai.
• Dongbatou 东坝头: Yellow River ferry with a pavilion marking Mao Zedong's inspection.