Qingfeng County 清丰县

Setting and landscape

The ground falls very gently from 53.5 metres above sea level in the southwest to 44.2 metres in the northeast. The county drains to the Hai River basin: the Majia River (马颊河) runs 25.9 kilometres through it, and the Zhulong River (潴龙河) winds 68.4 kilometres through nine townships before joining the Majia on the Nanle (南乐) border. June to August bring 63% of the year's rain.

History

In the Western Zhou the area was the town of Dunqiu (顿丘), and Emperor Gaozu of Han made it Dunqiu County. In AD 177 Cao Cao (曹操) served here as magistrate of Dunqiu. The present name dates from AD 772, when the Tang renamed the county after Zhang Qingfeng (张清丰), a filial son of the Sui dynasty whose memorial gate stood in the county. From 1374 it belonged to Daming Prefecture (大名府) under the Ming and Qing, and it has been part of Puyang since the city was created in September 1983. Qingfeng Liuzi opera (柳子戏) has been on the national intangible cultural heritage list since 2008.

What to see

The Danguai Revolutionary Site (单拐革命旧址) in Danguai village, Shuangmiao (双庙), housed the Northern Bureau of the Communist Party Central Committee (中共中央北方局) and the headquarters of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region (冀鲁豫军区) from September 1944 to autumn 1946. It was listed in 2006, as part of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Border Region Revolutionary Base Site, among the sixth batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level. The memorial now has four exhibition halls and a group of 43 former residences.

In the county town, the former narrow-gauge station (清丰县小火车站旧址), built in 1970, was the terminus of the Qingfeng-Puyang narrow-gauge railway until 1985. The Chinese Filial Piety Culture Park (中华孝道文化园) has a statue of Zhang Qingfeng and a museum of filial piety. Yi Park (易园) honours the Han scholar of the Book of Changes Jing Fang (京房) with a planted Eight Trigrams maze.

Food and local products

Qingfeng shaobing (清丰烧饼), a flatbread with a browned crisp crust and soft inside, is linked by local tradition to Zhang Qingfeng baking the first batch for his mother. Qibao'an five-spice donkey meat (七保安五香驴肉) comes from Qibao'an village in Xianzhuang (仙庄镇), and Shuangmiao liangfen (双庙凉粉) is a translucent yellow-green jelly eaten cold-dressed or pan-fried. Nie family wheat-straw collage (聂氏麦杆画) has been on the national heritage list since 2014.

Highlights

• Danguai Revolutionary Site 单拐革命旧址: Seat of the Communist Party's Northern Bureau and the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region command from September 1944 to autumn 1946; national key protected site since 2006.
• Former Qingfeng narrow-gauge station 清丰县小火车站旧址: Built in 1970 as the terminus of the Qingfeng-Puyang narrow-gauge line, which stopped running in 1985.
• Yi Park 易园: Park honouring the Han scholar of the Book of Changes Jing Fang, with a planted Eight Trigrams maze.
• Qingfeng Liuzi opera 清丰柳子戏: On the national intangible cultural heritage list since 2008.
• Qingfeng shaobing 清丰烧饼: Flatbread with a browned crisp crust and soft inside, tied by local tradition to Zhang Qingfeng.