Song County 嵩县

Setting and landscape

The land rises from northeast to southwest, from 245 metres to 2,211.6 metres, and more than 700 peaks top 1,000 metres. The Yi River (伊河) flows to the Yellow River, the Ru (汝河) to the Huai and the Bai (白河) to the Yangtze; the county government calls Song the only county in China that spans all three basins. The county also sits on China's north-south geographical divide: north of Baiyun Mountain and Longchiman (龙池曼) the climate is warm-temperate, south of them subtropical.

History

The county's own history places Yu the Great's flood control at Santu Mountain (三涂山), and gives Sangjiangou (桑涧沟) in today's Zhifang town (纸房镇) as the birthplace of Yi Yin (伊尹), the statesman who served five Shang kings. In the Spring and Autumn period the Luhun Rong (陆浑戎) people moved here from Guazhou near Dunhuang. Qin founded Xincheng County in 221 BC, and in 1369 the Ming reduced Songzhou (嵩州) to a county and gave it the name Song County. The county government also lists the Yangshao culture site at Qiaobei village (桥北村), the ancestral home of the Cheng brothers (二程故里), the Yi Yin shrine (伊尹祠) and Yunyan Temple (云岩寺), and notes that the Red Twenty-Fifth Army passed through the south of the county on the Long March.

What to see

Baiyun Mountain (白云山), in the south on the border with Nanyang (南阳), belongs to the Funiu range and takes its name, "white cloud", from its clouds. It is a national forest park, national nature reserve and 5A scenic area of about 168 square kilometres, with an average altitude of 1,800 metres and summer highs that stay under 26°C. Its sights include Yuhuang Peak (玉皇顶), which the county government names the highest point in the Central Plains, Jijiaojian (鸡角尖), about 2,145 metres high, and the Nine Dragon Waterfall (九龙瀑布), a group of falls about 100 metres high.

The county government lists Luhun Lake (陆浑湖) as a national wetland park and national water-conservancy scenic area. The Luhun Reservoir (陆浑水库), which the government calls a national large-scale water project, was dammed on the Yi River at Luhun village in Tianhu town (田湖镇) between December 1959 and August 1965, mainly for flood control.

Getting oriented

The county lies 60 kilometres from Luoyang city. The Luoyang–Luanchuan expressway and National Highway 344 run through it.

Highlights

• Baiyun Mountain 白云山: Funiu-range national forest park and 5A scenic area on the Luoyang–Nanyang border, with Yuhuang Peak and the Nine Dragon Waterfall.
• Luhun Lake 陆浑湖: Listed by the county government as a national wetland park and national water-conservancy scenic area.
• Yi Yin Shrine 伊尹祠: Honours the Shang statesman Yi Yin, whom county tradition says was born in Zhifang town.