Suixian 随县

Setting and landscape

Most of the county is low mountains and hills between 200 and 800 m, with some higher ground and alluvial plain. The highest point in the north is Taibai Peak (太白顶) in the Tongbai range at 1,140 m; in the south-west, Baozhu Peak (宝珠峰) in the Dahong range reaches 1,055 m. The middle of the county is a long, narrow plain, the Suizhou–Zaoyang Corridor (随枣走廊), long a north–south route. Its rivers drain to both the Yangtze and the Huai, and the largest is the Fuhuan River (府澴河). The Huai itself rises on Taibai Peak, in Wanhe town (万和镇), on the border with Tongbai County in Henan.

History

The county takes its name from Sui (随), a state enfeoffed under the Western Zhou; the area passed to Chu in the Warring States period, and under the Qin a Sui County was set up in Nanyang commandery. A Suizhou prefecture was first created in 535 under the Western Wei, and the county returned in 1912.

The modern boundaries are recent. In 1979 the county town became the county-level city of Suizhou, and in 1983 the rest of the county was merged into it. In 2009 the State Council approved a new Suixian, carved out of towns of Zengdu District (曾都区), which remains the seat of Suizhou.

What to see

The Yandi Hometown scenic area (炎帝故里风景名胜区) lies in Lishan town (厉山镇), 18 km from Suizhou's urban area, and is a national 4A tourist attraction. It holds Shennong Cave (神农洞), said to be where Yandi Shennong was born, Shennong Temple (神农庙), first built under King Zhuang of Chu, and a stele marking the site put up in the Ming Wanli reign. The legend of Yandi Shennong and the Suizhou Shennong sacrificial ceremony (随州神农祭典) are both on the national intangible heritage list.

Hongshan town (洪山镇) holds the Dahongshan Reservoir, also called Pipazui (琵琶咀), built between 1965 and 1967, and the Dahongshan Pipa Lake scenic area (大洪山琵琶湖风景区). Boat trips take in volcanic landforms and the cliffs of clastic sedimentary rock at Rentou River (人头河); the county government records large eruptions in the Dahong Mountains area in the late Cambrian, about 500 million years ago.

Food and local products

The shiitake mushroom (香菇) is the county's flagship farm export, and Suixian is known in China as a home of shiitake and of rice bran oil (稻米油).

Highlights

• Yandi Hometown scenic area 炎帝故里风景名胜区: National 4A area in Lishan town with Shennong Cave, Shennong Temple and a Ming Wanli stele.
• Dahongshan Pipa Lake 大洪山琵琶湖: Lake scenic area in Hongshan town where boat trips take in volcanic landforms and sedimentary cliffs.
• Taibai Peak 太白顶: Highest point of the Tongbai Mountains in the county at 1,140 m and the source of the Huai River.
• Shiitake mushroom 香菇: Flagship of the county's farm exports; the county is known as a home of shiitake.