Yanshi District 偃师区

Setting and landscape

Mount Mang (邙山) rises to the north and Mount Song (嵩山) to the south. The Yi and Luo flow through the middle of the basin and join at Yanshi's urban area before running on to the Yellow River, and the Sui-Tang Grand Canal, now the Luo, crosses the district from Luoyang eastward. The district has laid out a wetland park at the Yi-Luo confluence (伊洛汇合口湿地公园). Its natural parks include the Shouyang Mountain Forest Park (首阳山森林公园), the Hutou Mountain Ecological Park (虎头山生态公园) and the Shuanglong Mountain provincial forest park (双龙山省级森林公园).

History

The district government traces the name to the 11th century BC, when King Wu of Zhou (周武王), on his eastern campaign against King Zhou (纣) of the Shang, built a town here to "rest his troops" (息偃戎师). It counts seven dynasties with capitals here: the Xia, Shang, Eastern Zhou, Eastern Han, Cao Wei, Western Jin and Northern Wei. Remains in the district include the Erlitou (二里头) Xia capital, the Yanshi Shang city (偃师商城遗址), the old Han-Wei city of Luoyang (汉魏洛阳故城) and the Tang imperial tomb Gongling (唐恭陵).

Xuanzang (玄奘), the Tang Buddhist master, was born in 600 in Chenhe village (陈河村), Goushi town (缑氏镇). His former home was rebuilt in the 1990s as a rectangular compound of front and rear courtyards; the scholar Ji Xianlin (季羡林) wrote its gate plaque, and an old well by the screen wall dates from the Northern Qi (北齐).

What to see

The Erlitou site covers about 3 square kilometres across four villages of Zhaizhen town (翟镇镇), along the north bank of the ancient course of the Luo. Its main remains, dated to roughly 3,800 to 3,500 years ago, are identified as a capital of the Xia dynasty, and it became a national key protected site in 1988. The Erlitou Xia Capital Site Museum (二里头夏都遗址博物馆) opened on 19 October 2019; its five permanent galleries show bronzes, pottery, jade and turquoise from excavations since 1959. The Erlitou archaeological park was placed on the fourth national list of archaeological site parks in December 2022. The Yanshi Museum (偃师博物馆) holds 29,290 objects.

Food and local products

Yanshi yintiao (偃师银条, "silver strips") and Yanshi grapes (偃师葡萄) are national geographical-indication products. Goushi town is known for grapes and Dakou town (大口镇) for gongcai (贡菜, "tribute vegetable"). Yanshi manufactures three-wheeled motorcycles and cloth shoes, and is called "China's capital of cloth shoes" (中国布鞋之都).

Highlights

• Erlitou Xia Capital Site Museum 二里头夏都遗址博物馆: Opened in 2019 in Zhaizhen town; shows finds from the Erlitou site, identified as a Xia dynasty capital.
• Xuanzang's former home 玄奘故居: Former home of the Tang monk Xuanzang in Chenhe village, Goushi town, restored and rebuilt in the 1990s.
• Yi-Luo confluence wetland park 伊洛汇合口湿地公园: Wetland park where the Yi and Luo rivers meet.
• Yanshi yintiao 偃师银条: National geographical-indication product.