Queshan County 确山县

Setting and landscape

The Queshan county government describes land split evenly between mountains, hills and plain: ranges crowd the west, the east is open plain, and basins and low hills lie between. The county sits in the transition from the subtropical to the warm temperate zone, with a mean annual temperature of 15.1°C and 971 millimetres of rain.

History

The Han created Langling County (朗陵县) in 203 BC, with its seat at Rendian (任店) on the north bank of the Zhentou River (溱头河). In 583 the Sui moved the seat to the foot of Panlong Mountain (盘龙山) and called it Langshan. In 1012 the Northern Song renamed it Queshan to avoid a taboo name, after a hill south of the town where, records say, a spring ran into a hole with a sound like rice being pounded. The anti-Japanese commander Yang Jingyu (杨靖宇) was born in the county.

What to see

The Zhugou Revolutionary Memorial Hall (竹沟革命纪念馆), on Yan'an Street in Zhugou town 30 kilometres west of the county seat, occupies the former seat of the Communist Party's Central Plains Bureau, a base once called "Little Yan'an". Founded in 1956 with a name board written by Zhou Enlai, it became a national key cultural relics protection site in 1988 and shows more than 400 exhibits in six sections.

Boshan Lake (薄山湖) is the Boshan Reservoir in Rendian, named for the hill at the foot of which its dam stands. Completed in 1954 and strengthened in 1981–83, it covers 22 square kilometres; the reservoir area is a national forest park and national water-conservancy scenic area, and CCTV filmed scenes of Journey to the West there. The county government also lists Laoleshan (老乐山) as a national 4A scenic area and the old Beiquan Temple (北泉寺).

Food and local products

Queshan iron flowers (确山铁花), national intangible heritage since 2008, date back to the Northern Song. Performers build a two-tier shed six metres high, cover it with fresh willow branches hung with fireworks, then strike molten iron at over a thousand degrees onto it with sticks, sending sparks more than ten metres into the air. Queshan self-heal (确山夏枯草), a herb grown in five townships including Zhugou, is a national geographical indication product used by herbal-tea makers.

Getting oriented

The county is planned together with the central urban area of Zhumadian and contains Minggang Airport (明港机场). The Beijing–Guangzhou high-speed railway and conventional railway, National Highway 107 and the Beijing–Hong Kong–Macau expressway cross it.

Highlights

• Zhugou Revolutionary Memorial Hall 竹沟革命纪念馆: Former seat of the Communist Party's Central Plains Bureau in Zhugou town; national key protection site since 1988.
• Boshan Lake 薄山湖: 22 sq km reservoir completed in 1954; national forest park and water-conservancy scenic area.
• Queshan iron flowers 确山铁花: Molten-iron firework display dating from the Northern Song; national intangible heritage since 2008.
• Queshan self-heal 确山夏枯草: Herbal-tea ingredient with national geographical indication status.