Xinzhou District 新洲区

Setting and landscape

Xinzhou borders Tuanfeng County to the east and Huangpi District to the west, faces Huarong District of Ezhou and Wuhan's Qingshan District across the Yangtze to the south, and meets Hong'an and Macheng to the north. The district seat, Zhucheng (邾城), is 55 kilometres from the Wuhan city government. The northeast is low hills, outliers of the Dabie range, with the district's highest point on Jiangjun Mountain (将军山); the middle mixes ridges and plain, and the southwest is river and lake plain, with rivers winding along the ridges down to the Yangtze.

History

The area belonged to the state of Zheng under the Zhou and to Chu in the Warring States period, and over the centuries went under many names, including Xiling, Qi'an, Huangzhou and Huanggang. In the Republican era it was the western part of Huanggang County, known as Gangxi (岗西). It was split off in 1951 as Xinzhou County, named after Xinzhou town, moved from Huanggang prefecture to Wuhan in 1983, and became a district in 1998, when the county town was renamed Zhucheng. Since 2022 parts of Yangluo (阳逻) and Cangbu (仓埠) have been run by the Changjiang New Area (长江新区).

What to see

Wenjin Academy (问津书院), known locally as the Confucius Temple, stands by the Kongzi River (孔子河) at Jiujie (旧街). Its name comes from the Analects story in which Confucius sends his disciple Zilu to ask the way to a ford. It is a Hubei provincial heritage site and was restored in 2012.

Daoguan River Scenic Area (道观河风景区) combines 72 peaks with a large lake, and holds Bao'en Chan Temple (报恩禅寺), Tongchan Lake (通禅湖) and the Wanfo Pagoda (万佛宝塔). Jiangjun Mountain in Xugu (徐古), part of the Dabie range and once a guerrilla base, is now a national forest park.

Zhangdu Lake (涨渡湖), a lake wetland connected to the Yangtze, has a flooded forest of pond cypress planted from March 1974; egrets and herons breed there from March to September. Fengwa Ancient Village (凤娃古寨) at Fenghuang (凤凰镇), rated a national AAAA scenic area in 2020, gathers more than 20 Ming and Qing buildings and a folk-life museum.

Highlights

• Wenjin Academy 问津书院: Confucian academy named after the Analects story of Zilu asking the way to the ford; a Hubei provincial heritage site.
• Daoguan River Scenic Area 道观河风景区: 72 peaks around a large lake, with Bao'en Chan Temple and Wanfo Pagoda.
• Zhangdu Lake wetland 涨渡湖: Flooded pond-cypress forest planted from 1974, where egrets breed from March to September.
• Jiangjun Mountain 将军山: Highest point of the district and a national forest park in the Dabie range.