Badong County 巴东县

Setting and landscape

The Badong stretch of the Wu Gorge runs for 22 kilometres as a long, deep gorge. At Lianzi Stream (链子溪) on Damian Mountain (大面山) the Yangtze turns through 90 degrees, a bend the Badong culture and tourism bureau calls the "first bend of the Yangtze"; the bend wraps around Leigong Mountain (雷公山) on the north bank. Both the Yangtze and the Qing River (清江) carry water transport in the county. The climate is subtropical monsoon.

What to see

Shennong Stream rises on the southern slopes of Shennongjia (神农架) and flows 60 kilometres before joining the Yangtze on the north bank opposite the county town. It passes through four gorges, Longchang (龙昌峡), Yingwu (鹦鹉峡), Mianzhu (绵竹峡) and Shennong (神农峡), with hanging coffins of the ancient Ba people (巴人悬棺), Elephant Trunk Hill (象鼻山) and hot springs along the way, and the dove tree (珙桐) grows in its valleys. The valley keeps the culture of the boat trackers (纤夫), pea-pod wooden boats (豌豆角木舟), Badong tang opera (巴东堂戏) and sayeerhe (撒叶儿嗬). It is a national scenic area and a national 5A tourist attraction.

The Wuxiakou scenic area (巫峡口) takes in the mouth of the Wu Gorge, Damian Mountain and Lianzi Stream; its gorge scenery was printed on the 1980 five-yuan banknote of the fourth renminbi series. The Lianzi Stream scenic area is rated 4A.

Food and local products

Badong maltose candy (巴东饴糖), whose making is on the county intangible heritage list, is a Spring Festival sweet. In Shihanshan village (石喊山村) of Yanduhe town (沿渡河镇), villagers start making sweet-potato syrup in September and store it in earthenware jars; the boil takes more than 20 hours, with malt stirred in and the pot cooked down again and again. In winter they stir popped maize, sesame or amaranth seed into the syrup, and the sesame and amaranth candies are pressed in moulds so they can be cut into blocks.

History and getting oriented

Badong County was set up in 598, the 18th year of the Sui dynasty's Kaihuang era. It came under Exi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture (鄂西土家族苗族自治州) in 1983 and under Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture in 1993. National highways 209, 318 and 348 and the Shanghai–Chengdu and Shanghai–Chongqing expressways cross the county, as do the Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu passenger rail corridor and the Zhengzhou–Chongqing high-speed railway.

Highlights

• Shennong Stream 神农溪: A 60-kilometre tributary through four gorges, with Ba hanging coffins and boat trackers; national 5A tourist attraction.
• Wuxiakou scenic area 巫峡口: Mouth of the Wu Gorge and the 90-degree bend at Lianzi Stream; its scenery appeared on the 1980 five-yuan note.
• Badong maltose candy 巴东饴糖: Malt-boiled sweet-potato syrup with popped maize, sesame or amaranth seed; county intangible heritage.