Xiaonan District 孝南区

Setting and landscape

The land is higher in the north-east and falls toward the south-west. Low ridges around Yangdian (杨店镇) in the east stand at about 50 metres, and plains below 30 metres cover about two thirds of the district. Rivers are dense; the Huan (澴河) and Fu (府河) rivers cross it, and the lowest point is Baishui Lake (白水湖) in the south at 17.5 metres.

History

The Yejiamiao (叶家庙) walled site, a Neolithic town of the Qujialing culture about 5,500 years old, is called by the district government the root of the city of Xiaogan. In AD 454 the Liu Song set up Xiaochang County here, renamed Xiaogan in 924 to avoid the name of the Later Tang emperor's grandfather. The district also keeps the legend of the filial son Dong Yong (董永), who sold himself to pay for his father's burial and married a fairy who came down to earth. In 1993 the county-level city of Xiaogan was split in two, its southern half becoming Xiaonan District.

What to see

The Wenchang Pavilion (文昌阁) is paired locally with Wuhan's Yellow Crane Tower (黄鹤楼) as "the tower in the south, the pavilion in the north". Magistrate Peng Tongkui (彭同魁) first built it in 1600; it was destroyed when Li Zicheng's (李自成) rebels took the town in 1643, and later rebuilt several times. The five-storey Qing pavilion of 1876, roofed with red, yellow and green glazed tiles, was pulled down in 1977 because of termites. The present pavilion, a fourth rebuilding modelled on it, stands on the old Huan River bank, 39.39 metres high.

The Chenghuangtan wharf site (城隍潭码头遗址), about 180 metres long, came to light on 24 March 2020 during works on the old course of the Huan River. It was built no earlier than the Wanli reign of the Ming and used until the late 1950s. The Xiaogan culture and tourism bureau describes it as the largest and best-preserved old inland-river wharf surviving in the Yangtze basin. It became a provincial protected site in 2021 and opened to the public on 10 June 2024.

Food and local products

The district's intangible-heritage items include Xiaogan carved paper-cutting (孝感雕花剪纸), which the district describes as a representative item of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity; artisans cut red paper with blade and scissors into zodiac animals and round floral patterns. Xiaogan rice wine (孝感米酒), brewed by traditional methods, is mild and sweet.

Highlights

• Wenchang Pavilion 文昌阁: First built in 1600; the present 39.39-metre pavilion on the old Huan River, modelled on the Qing building, is its fourth rebuilding.
• Chenghuangtan wharf site 城隍潭码头遗址: 180-metre river wharf found in 2020, provincial protected site since 2021.
• Yejiamiao site 叶家庙: Qujialing-culture walled settlement about 5,500 years old.
• Xiaogan rice wine 孝感米酒: Traditionally brewed, mild and sweet; an intangible-heritage item of the district.