Baofeng County 宝丰县

Setting and landscape

The land falls from west to east: hills rise on both the eastern and western sides, and the middle of the county mixes plain and low hills. The highest point, 740 metres, is an unnamed peak on the border with Lushan (鲁山). Rivers drain to the Huai (淮河) through the Beiru (北汝河) and Sha systems.

History

Under the Shang and Zhou the area was the domain of the marquises of Ying (应), and the Qin made it Fucheng County (父城县). In 1120, when iron smelting, porcelain making and brewing were all thriving here, the Northern Song court gave it the name Baofeng, "treasure and plenty". During the Chinese civil war Baofeng was the seat of the leading bodies of the Communist Party's Central Plains Bureau (中原局) and the Central Plains Military Region (中原军区); their former headquarters became a Henan provincial protected site in 2016.

What to see

Xiangshan Temple (香山寺), south of Naodian town (闹店镇) between the Big and Small Longshan hills (大小龙山), is honoured as the ancestral seat of the Guanyin cult in Chinese Buddhism. Its nine-storey octagonal brick pagoda, 33 metres high, was rebuilt in 1068, and a stele of 1100 written out by the calligrapher Cai Jing (蔡京) records Guanyin's legend; both have been national key cultural relics since 2013.

The Qingliangsi Ru Official Kiln Site (清凉寺汝官窑遗址) at Qingliangsi village in Daying town (大营镇) is where Ru ware, ranked first of the five great kilns of the Song, was made; it is a national key cultural relic, and Ru firing is national intangible heritage. On the 13th day of the first lunar month, folk storytellers and ballad singers from across China bring drums and fiddles to Majie (马街) for the Majie Storytelling Fair (马街书会), a national intangible heritage item that the World Record Association certified in 2013 as the largest folk-performance gathering in the world.

Food and local products

Baofeng liquor (宝丰酒) is made by a traditional method listed as national intangible heritage, and Shangjiuwu town (商酒务), where Yi Di (仪狄), the legendary first brewer of the Xia era, is said to have first made wine, received a plaque in 2016 naming it his home. Yinghe vinegar (应河醋) has a tourism park with an old-method vinegar workshop and a vinegar museum. Magic is the county's other trade: Baofeng was named China's hometown of magic in 2006, and more than 1,400 performing troupes are based here.

Highlights

• Xiangshan Temple 香山寺: Ancestral seat of the Guanyin cult; 33-metre brick pagoda rebuilt in 1068; national key cultural relic since 2013.
• Qingliangsi Ru Official Kiln Site 清凉寺汝官窑遗址: Kiln site of Ru ware, first of the five great Song kilns; national key cultural relic.
• Majie Storytelling Fair 马街书会: Gathering of folk storytellers on the 13th day of the first lunar month; national intangible heritage.
• Baofeng liquor 宝丰酒: Its traditional brewing method is national intangible heritage.