Guangshan County 光山县

History

The Song geography Taiping Huanyu Ji (太平寰宇记) explains the name: the place overlooks the long Huai and often shines with light. Under the Zhou the area was the fief of Xian (弦国); it later belonged to Chu, and a Guangcheng commandery (光城郡) was set up here in the Southern and Northern dynasties.

The Song statesman and historian Sima Guang (司马光) was born here, and the county government names it as the setting of the story of the boy Sima Guang breaking a water jar to save a friend. The county government lists Guangshan as an old revolutionary base county of the Dabie Mountains, the place where the Red 25th Army decided to set out on its Long March, and the main base of Liu Bocheng (刘伯承) and Deng Xiaoping (邓小平) during their advance into the Dabie Mountains.

What to see

Sima Guang's Former Residence (司马光故居) stands midway along Zhengdajie (正大街) in the county town. The courtyard house was first built in 1019. Inside are the well said to have washed the newborn, a statue group of the jar story and an exhibition on his life and his history Zizhi Tongjian (资治通鉴). At the gate stand two Yuan stone lions about 2 metres tall; the male lion carries an inscription by the anti-Japanese general Ji Hongchang (吉鸿昌).

Jingju Temple (净居寺) in the Dasu Mountain National Forest Park (大苏山国家森林公园) at Yanhe (晏河乡) is the birthplace of Tiantai Buddhism: the monk Huisi (慧思) taught here from 554, and his pupil Zhiyi (智顗) spent seven years here before founding the school on Mount Tiantai. Most surviving buildings are Ming and Qing, and more than 30 steles carry poems and inscriptions by writers such as Su Shi (苏轼) and Huang Tingjian (黄庭坚). It has been a Henan protected site since 1985.

Deng Yingchao's Ancestral Home (邓颖超祖居) in Baiyun Lane (白云巷) off Sima Guang Middle Road is a Qing compound of three courtyards facing south, a national protected site and AAA scenic area. It displays the household accounts of Zhou Enlai (周恩来) and Deng Yingchao, and two crabapple trees brought from Zhongnanhai in 2015.

Food and local products

Guangshan youtiao noodles (油条挂面), historically called Guangzhou tribute noodles (光州贡面), are made by hand from fine flour, vegetable oil, water and salt through more than ten steps, including kneading, fermenting, coiling, pulling and drying in the sun. The finished strands are as thin as thread and hollow like a tube, cut to about 20 centimetres, and cook as soon as they go into the pot.

Highlights

• Sima Guang's Former Residence 司马光故居: Birthplace of the Song historian, first built in 1019, with the well and the jar-story statues.
• Jingju Temple 净居寺: Where Huisi and Zhiyi laid the foundations of Tiantai Buddhism; Henan protected site since 1985.
• Deng Yingchao's Ancestral Home 邓颖超祖居: Qing courtyard compound, national protected site and AAA scenic area.
• Guangshan youtiao noodles 油条挂面: Hand-pulled, hollow, thread-thin noodles once sent as tribute.