Xiangcheng City 项城市

Setting and landscape

The city measures 49.5 kilometres from north to south and just over 35 kilometres from east to west. Shenqiu (沈丘) lies to the east, Shangcai (上蔡) and Shangshui (商水) to the west, Pingyu (平舆) to the south, and Huaiyang (淮阳) across the river to the north; to the southeast it borders Linquan (临泉) in Anhui.

History

For more than 500 years the county seat stood at Moling (秣陵镇), 30 kilometres south of today's city. A Moling County was set up there in the Southern and Northern Dynasties; after it was merged into Xiangcheng, the Xiangcheng county seat moved to Moling in 1428 and stayed until 1953, when it was shifted north to Shuizhai (水寨镇), a river port where the Shaying waterway meets a canal. Locals call Moling the Dragon Town because its east–west street is shaped like a dragon, and Henan named it one of its first famous towns of the Central Plains in 1989.

What to see

The Yuanzhai Old Residences (袁寨古民居), Yuan Shikai's childhood home, stand in Yuanzhai village (袁寨村) in Wangmingkou town (王明口镇), southeast of the city. Yuan Jiasan (袁甲三), founder of the family's fortunes, bought an existing manor in 1857 and spent four years turning it into a fortified compound. According to the Zhoukou city government it covers about 270 mu with 248 rooms and 13 surviving storeyed houses; the roof ridges carry brick carvings of lions, tigers, leopards, horses and monkeys. It became a national key cultural relics protection site in 2013.

In the grounds of Moling's primary school stands the former home of the collector Zhang Boju (张伯驹), born in 1898 in Yanlou village (阎楼村) of Moling. The two-storey brick-and-timber building with a grey-tiled roof, 9.6 metres long with 60-centimetre walls, was once the family's Chinese medicine shop. His collection later included the handwritten Pingfu Tie (平复帖) by Lu Ji (陆机) and the painting Spring Outing (游春图) by Zhan Ziqian (展子虔).

Other national key sites in the city are the ruins of Nandun (南顿故城), with remains from the Xia, Shang and Han, and the Neolithic site of Hougaolaojia (后高老家遗址). Yuan Shikai's so-called travelling palace (袁世凯行宫) on South Street, dated 1917, and Zhang Boju's former home are on the Henan provincial heritage list.

Getting oriented

The Luohe–Fuyang railway has a Xiangcheng Station, and the Nanjing–Luoyang and Daqing–Guangzhou expressways and National Highway 106 cross the city. Huaiyang South Station on the Zhengzhou–Fuyang high-speed railway lies about five kilometres from the urban area.

Highlights

• Yuanzhai Old Residences 袁寨古民居: Fortified family compound begun in 1857 where Yuan Shikai grew up; national key protection site since 2013.
• Former home of Zhang Boju 张伯驹旧居: Two-storey brick-and-timber house in Moling town, once the family's medicine shop; provincial heritage site.
• Nandun ancient city ruins 南顿故城: National key site with Xia, Shang and Han remains.
• Moling town 秣陵镇: Xiangcheng's county seat from 1428 to 1953, 30 km south of the present city.