Xinyang 信阳市

Setting and landscape

The prefecture lies on the northern side of the junction of the Dabie (大别山) and Tongbai (桐柏山) mountains, and the city government calls it 'the Jiangnan of the north' (北国江南). It grows rice as well as wheat, with tea-oil camellia, chestnuts and ginkgo. Nanwan Lake (南湾湖), 5 kilometres southwest of the city, is a national forest park whose 75 square kilometres of water hold 61 islands.

History

The city government says 13 of the 100 commonest Han surnames, among them Huang (黄), Lai (赖) and Luo (罗), originated here or have one branch rooted here. A set of Warring States bronze bells excavated in Xinyang, which it calls the People's Republic's first complete set, played 'The East Is Red' (东方红) that rang out from China's first satellite. During the Agrarian Revolution the prefecture held the capital of the Hubei–Henan–Anhui Soviet Area (鄂豫皖苏区), by the city's count the country's second-largest revolutionary base, and 69 founding generals of the People's Republic came from here.

What to see

Jigong Mountain (鸡公山), 38 kilometres south of the city on the Henan–Hubei border, was historically grouped with Lushan (庐山), Beidaihe (北戴河) and Moganshan (莫干山) among China's four great summer retreats. After American missionaries explored it in 1903 and the Beijing–Hankou railway (平汉铁路) opened, foreign clergy and merchants and Chinese officials built over 300 villas; 212 survive, and the mountain joined the first list of national key scenic areas in 1982. Lingshan (灵山) in Luoshan County (罗山县) keeps Lingshan Temple (灵山寺), founded in 474. In Xin County (新县), General Xu Shiyou (许世友) was born and, by special permission, buried in the earth in 1985.

Food and local products

The city government lists Xinyang Maojian (信阳毛尖) among China's ten famous teas. Its making, on the national intangible heritage list since 2014, starts with picking before Qingming (清明); the leaves are fired in a hot pan, then flung toward the rim of a second pan until they roll into tight, straight strands. Ancient tea leaves from a tomb in Gushi (固始) date Xinyang's tea picking back 2,300 years, according to the heritage listing. Nanwan fish head (清炖南湾鱼头) is bighead carp from the lake, stewed clear, and Wenhui Bao (文汇报) singles out Gushi goose (固始鹅块), stewed plain in water, and fish cured in bamboo tubes (筒鲜鱼).

Getting oriented

The Beijing–Guangzhou (京广), Beijing–Kowloon (京九) and Nanjing–Xi'an (宁西) railways and the Beijing–Guangzhou high-speed line cross the prefecture, and Minggang Airport (明港机场) serves it. Zhengzhou (郑州), Wuhan (武汉) and Hefei (合肥) lie within 300 kilometres.

Highlights

• Jigong Mountain 鸡公山: Summer retreat 38 km south of the city, where 212 of the villas built in the early twentieth century survive; a national key scenic area since 1982.
• Nanwan Lake 南湾湖: National forest park 5 km southwest of the city, with 61 islands in 75 square kilometres of water.
• Lingshan Temple 灵山寺: Temple in Luoshan County's Lingshan scenic area, founded in 474.
• Xinyang Maojian 信阳毛尖: Green tea whose making technique has been on the national intangible heritage list since 2014.