Tongcheng County 通城县

Setting and landscape

Tongcheng borders Xiushui (修水县) in Jiangxi to the southeast, Pingjiang (平江县) in Hunan to the south, Yueyang County (岳阳县) and Linxiang (临湘市) in Hunan to the west and northwest, and Chongyang to the north. The county town is Juanshui (隽水镇), 200 kilometres from Wuhan. Huanglong Mountain is the source of the Xiu River (修江), the Miluo River (汨罗江) and the Lushui (陆水). Its main peak, Zhijiaolou (只角楼), rises to 1,528.3 metres.

History

The county's name refers to the Juan River (隽水), which flows north into the Yangtze, leading towards Wuchang. A Xiajuan County (下隽县) was founded here in 201 BC, and in the Three Kingdoms period the area was a fief of Zhou Yu (周瑜). Tongcheng County was carved out of three southern townships of Chongyang in 1072. The Yaojialin (尧家林) site at Chenduan village (陈段村) in Maishi (麦市镇), dated to about 4,500–5,000 years ago and close to the Longshan culture, has been a Hubei provincial key protected site since 2002. Between 1928 and 1931 the Huangpao Mountain (黄袍山) Communist Party branch, a Red Guard unit and a county soviet were formed there.

What to see

On Huanglong Mountain, Tianyue Pass (天岳关) commands the north–south route; west of it is a cemetery built in August 1939 by the Nationalist 92nd Division for soldiers killed fighting Japan since the Battle of Taierzhuang. Huanglong Temple (黄龙寺), on the mountain's eastern foot, was founded in 895 by the Chan master Chaohui (超慧); under the Song the monk Huinan (慧南) founded the Huanglong school of Chan here. The temple burned in 1928 and was bombed by Japanese aircraft in 1939; parts have been rebuilt since the 1990s.

The Yaogu Mountain Ancient Yao Village (药姑山古瑶村) at Neichong (内冲) in Daping township (大坪乡) became a national AAAA scenic area in 2022; its shale slabs were used by early Yao settlers for dry-stone building. Huangpao Mountain in the southeast of the county has a 1,165-metre main peak and is a provincial nature reserve, with the Tongcheng Autumn Harvest Uprising memorial in Ditian village (荻田村) at its foot.

Food and local products

Tea-scented Liangtouwu pork (茶香两头乌) is local Liangtouwu pork cooked with Pu'er tea and then fried until crisp. Tiemaipi (铁麦皮) is the peeled outer skin of old kumai lettuce (苦麦菜) stalks, blanched and soaked to reduce bitterness, then stir-fried with pork belly, chilli and garlic. Jian paper (牮纸), a handmade bamboo paper burned as joss paper and made in 72 steps in Tianyue village (天岳村) below Huanglong Mountain, is on the Hubei provincial intangible heritage list.

Highlights

• Huanglong Mountain 黄龙山: Three-province watershed, source of the Xiu, Miluo and Lushui rivers; main peak 1,528.3 metres.
• Huanglong Temple 黄龙寺: Founded in 895; home of the Huanglong school of Chan founded by Huinan.
• Yaogu Mountain Ancient Yao Village 药姑山古瑶村: National AAAA scenic area since 2022 with Yao dry-stone building.
• Yaojialin site 尧家林古文化遗址: Neolithic site of about 4,500–5,000 years ago, provincial key protected site since 2002.
• Jian paper 牮纸: Handmade bamboo paper of Tianyue village, provincial intangible heritage.