Xinye County 新野县

Setting and landscape

The county covers 1,062 square kilometres, about 52 kilometres north to south and 22 kilometres east to west, and is flat farmland on deep river-laid soils. Eight rivers, among them the Bai (白河), Tang (唐河) and Tuan (湍河), pass through. The county government classes the climate as northern subtropical monsoon, with an average temperature of 15.1°C and about 784 millimetres of rain a year; wheat and cotton are the two main crops.

History

The county was set up and named Xinye at the start of the Western Han, with its seat on the site of today's town. Liu Bei was stationed here from 201, and when Cao Cao (曹操) took Xinye in 208 he fled to Jiangxia (江夏). Under the Tang the county was reduced to a town in 758, and the Yuan restored it in 1265. Deng Yu (邓禹), first of the twenty-eight generals honoured by the Eastern Han court, came from Sanquanbei village (三泉陂); a stele raised in 1856 marks his birthplace, and the county government rebuilt its pavilion in 1980.

What to see

In 1992 Xinye was named one of the stops on Henan's Three Kingdoms tourist route. The Council Terrace (议事台), inside the old south gate, is where tradition says Liu Bei planned with Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮), Guan Yu (关羽) and Zhang Fei (张飞); the terrace is 80 metres long and 5 metres high, and the two-storey octagonal tower on top is a later rebuild. Han Mulberry City (汉桑城) is a brick enclosure with battlements, only a few zhang round, built around a mulberry tree said to have been planted by Guan Yu; the county government calls it the smallest city in the world.

Food and local products

Zhang Fei board noodles (张飞板面) take their name from a local story in which the general slammed dough on a bluestone slab before it was pulled into strips and boiled. Today the dough is still rolled into strips and slapped on a board, and the bowl comes with red chilli oil, green vegetables and tender meat. Three Kingdoms saozi (三国臊子), credited locally to Zhuge Liang as army rations, is grape-sized cubes of beef and mutton fried with crushed dried chillies, Sichuan pepper, star anise, galangal, cinnamon, cardamom and tsaoko until date-red. It keeps for over a year without refrigeration and is stir-fried with vegetables or spooned over noodles.

Highlights

• Council Terrace 议事台: Terrace 80 metres long where Liu Bei is said to have planned with Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei; the tower on it is a rebuild.
• Han Mulberry City 汉桑城: Walled brick enclosure around a mulberry said to be planted by Guan Yu.
• Deng Yu's birthplace stele 汉高密侯邓元公故里: Stele of 1856 at Sanquanbei marking the home village of the Eastern Han general Deng Yu.
• Zhang Fei board noodles 张飞板面: Noodles made from dough slapped on a board, served with chilli oil, greens and meat.
• Three Kingdoms saozi 三国臊子: Beef and mutton cubes fried with chilli and spices; keeps over a year unrefrigerated.