Wancheng District 宛城区

Setting and landscape

The district meets Fangcheng (方城) to the north, Sheqi (社旗) and Tanghe (唐河) to the east, Xinye (新野) to the south and Wolong District (卧龙区) to the west. The land is flat and fertile, set in the transition from subtropical to warm-temperate climate, with a mean annual temperature of 14.9°C and about 806 mm of rain a year.

History

In the Spring and Autumn period the state of Chu conquered Shen (申) and founded the town of Wan here. Under the Qin and Han, the district government notes, Wan was the country's largest iron-smelting centre and one of its six great cities. The district claims the physician Zhang Zhongjing (张仲景), the Eastern Han founder Emperor Guangwu, Liu Xiu (刘秀), and the Three Kingdoms general Huang Zhong (黄忠) as natives. The Han-era city site of Wan, together with its ironworks, was put on Henan's first provincial list of protected sites in 1963.

What to see

The Yisheng Shrine (医圣祠), on Yishengci Road in the city centre, is a shrine garden built to honour Zhang Zhongjing as the "sage of medicine"; his tomb and shrine are a national key cultural relic and the shrine is a national 4A scenic area. Its Han-style gate carries a name board written by Guo Moruo (郭沫若) in December 1959 and is fronted by a pair of que towers, and a single stone screen 3.5 metres high inside is carved with Zhang's biography. The present shrine was built after the Cultural Revolution, during which the old statue and tomb pavilion were destroyed.

The Nanyang Prefect's Yamen (南阳府衙), at 100 Minzhu Street, housed the prefects of Nanyang under the Yuan, Ming and Qing. More than 150 rooms survive on a site 240 by 150 metres, and it became a national key cultural relic in June 2001. The Wafangzhuang ironworking site (瓦房庄冶铁遗址), covering 180,000 square metres, has yielded 17 furnace bases along with moulds and iron tools; it was listed nationally in 2006. Provincial-level sites in the district include the Nanyang Prefecture Confucian Temple (南阳府文庙) and the Tianfei Temple (天妃庙).

Highlights

• Yisheng Shrine 医圣祠: Shrine garden and tomb of the Eastern Han physician Zhang Zhongjing; national key cultural relic and 4A scenic area.
• Nanyang Prefect's Yamen 南阳府衙: Seat of Nanyang's prefects under the Yuan, Ming and Qing, with more than 150 rooms; national key cultural relic since 2001.
• Wafangzhuang ironworking site 瓦房庄冶铁遗址: Han-era iron-smelting site with 17 furnace bases; national key cultural relic since 2006.