Yuanhui District 源汇区

History

Under the Southern Song the landing at the mouth of the Li was given the name Shangkou town (上口镇); under the Yuan it became a trading town, and by the Yongle reign of the Ming it was a landing for both river boats and road traffic. In 1852 the settlement was named Yuanhui Zhai (源汇寨), after the meeting of the rivers. When Luohe was made a city directly under the province in 1986, the area of the old county-level city became Yuanhui District, at first Luohe's only urban district; since the 2004 reorganisation it has been one of three.

On 20 September 1945 Liu Zhi (刘峙), commander of the Fifth War Zone, accepted the surrender of the Japanese 12th Army at the Shanxi Guild Hall (山西会馆) in Luohe, which now stands inside Luohe No. 2 Middle School (漯河二中).

What to see

The Surrender Pavilion (受降亭) was first put up in December 1945 in a garden by Luohe railway station, and was destroyed in fighting in 1947. A copy built from old documents and pictures was completed on 1 May 2014 in the Heshangjie old-town scenic area (河上街古镇景区) of Kaiyuan Forest Park (开源森林公园). It holds four steles: the main one carries the pavilion's name in the hand of Dai Jitao (戴季陶), and others bear texts by Ju Zheng (居正) and Yu Youren (于右任). Thirty-two steps lead up to it, and it stands 19.45 metres from the ground to the top, echoing the year 1945.

In the west of the district, the Louwan old-town scenic area (漯湾古镇景区) combines food displays with cultural and leisure attractions. Kongzhongguo town (空冢郭镇) takes its name from the family tombs of Fugai (夫概), brother of King Helü of Wu in the Spring and Autumn period. Dachen village (大陈村) in Daliu town (大刘镇) was the home of Chen Ji (陈玑), a teacher of the Ming statesman Zhang Juzheng (张居正); the Chen family tombs and a stele with entwined dragons, granted by the Jiajing Emperor, survive there. Wenshi Township (问十乡) is linked with the story in the Analects of Confucius's disciple Zilu asking the way to a river crossing.

Setting and landscape

Yuanhui has a warm, humid monsoon climate on the southern edge of the warm-temperate zone, with cold, dry winters and hot, wet summers. July averages 27.5°C and January 0.5°C, and yearly rainfall averages 786 millimetres. Green space covers more than 40 per cent of the urban area, which includes a forest park of about a thousand mu.

Highlights

• Surrender Pavilion 受降亭: Memorial to the Japanese surrender at Luohe in 1945; the 1945 pavilion was destroyed in 1947 and rebuilt in 2014 at Heshangjie.
• Shanxi Guild Hall 山西会馆: Guild hall where the Japanese 12th Army surrendered on 20 September 1945; now inside Luohe No. 2 Middle School.
• Chen family tombs and Jiajing stele 陈氏家族墓: Tombs of the family of Chen Ji, teacher of Zhang Juzheng, with an entwined-dragon stele granted by the Jiajing Emperor.
• Louwan old-town scenic area 漯湾古镇景区: Food-culture complex in the west of the district combining food displays, cultural experiences and leisure.