Ye County 叶县

Setting and landscape

The land steps down from southwest to northeast: low mountains, then hills, then plain and depressions, with plain and depressions making up just over half the county. Spurs of the Tongbai Mountains (桐柏山) reach in from the southeast and face spurs of the Funiu range at Bao'an (保安镇), forming the passage known as the Nanxiang corridor (南襄夹道). The highest peak, Laoqing Mountain (老青山), rises to 650.2 metres on the border with Fangcheng (方城). The Ru (汝河), Zhan (湛河), Sha (沙河), Hui (灰河), Li (澧河) and Ganjiang (干江河) rivers all drain to the Huai (淮河) through the Shaying (沙颍河) system.

History

Ye belonged to the state of Ying (应) under the Western Zhou. After Chu destroyed Ying it founded the town of Ye (叶邑), and in 576 BC moved the state of Xu (许) here, so that Ye served for a time as Xu's capital. Chu later granted Ye to Shen Zhuliang (沈诸梁), the 'Duke of She', who asked Confucius about government and is the figure in the idiom 'Lord She loves dragons' (叶公好龙); in this title the character is read 'she'. The Battle of Kunyang (昆阳之战) of the Han period was fought within today's county, and in 1136 the county seat moved from the old city to Kunyang. Under the Song, Mei Yaochen (梅尧臣) governed Ye and Huang Tingjian (黄庭坚) served as its sheriff. The county passed from Xuchang prefecture to Pingdingshan in 1983.

What to see

The Ye County Yamen was founded in the Hongwu reign of the early Ming; only its five-bay main hall survived the fighting of the late Ming, and the other buildings are Qing. Its 41 building units hold 153 rooms, and the county government lists it as one of three old county yamens left in China and the only Ming one. It became a national key protected site in 2006, in the same batch as the ruins of the ancient city of Ye (叶邑故城), a Zhou-period site. Provincially protected sites include the Han-dynasty Kunyang city site (昆阳城), remains of the Chu Great Wall (楚长城) with beacon towers, the Ye County Confucian Temple (叶县文庙) and a Ming stone bridge over the Li River at Longquan (龙泉).

Food and local products

Local snacks named by Chinese Wikipedia are rice noodles (米线), huimian stewed noodles in the Ye County style (叶县烩面) and local beef. The county has rich mineral resources underground, among them salt.

Highlights

• Ye County Yamen 叶县县衙: Ming-founded county government compound of 153 rooms; national key protected site since 2006.
• Ancient city of Ye 叶邑故城: Zhou-period city ruins listed as a national key protected site.
• Kunyang city site 昆阳城: Han-dynasty city site, provincially protected; the Battle of Kunyang was fought in today's county.
• Chu Great Wall remains 楚长城: Warring States wall remains with beacon towers, provincially protected.