Zigui County 秭归县

Setting and landscape

The county borders Yiling District (夷陵区) to the east, Changyang Tujia Autonomous County (长阳土家族自治县) to the south, Badong County (巴东县) to the west and Xingshan County (兴山县) to the north. It measures 66.1 kilometres from east to west and 60.6 kilometres from north to south.

History

In the Shang period this was the land of the state of Gui (归国), and in the early Western Zhou it was the first fief of the Chu ruler Xiong Yi (熊绎). Zigui County was set up in AD 2, its name drawn from the old states of Gui and Kui (夔子国). Guizhou (归州) was set up here in 619, and the name Zigui County was restored in 1912.

What to see

The Qu Yuan Hometown Cultural Tourism Area (屈原故里文化旅游区), the county's one 5A scenic area, sits in the new county town 600 metres in a straight line from the Three Gorges Dam. Twenty-four historic structures from the gorge, led by the Qu Yuan Shrine (屈原祠) and the Jiangdu Temple (江渎庙), were moved here, and in 2006 the group was listed as a national key cultural relics protection site. The shrine was first built in the Tang east of the old Guizhou town, moved to Guizhou in 1976 for the Gezhouba project, and now faces the dam from a ridge of Fenghuang Hill. The protected area also has a Three Gorges old-house quarter with the Xintan houses (新滩古民居) and stone carvings and bridges from the gorge.

The 4A Wudieshui Grand Canyon (五叠水大峡谷景区) at Maoping spreads along the Daxi river system among bamboo and waterfalls, and the Jiuwanxi (九畹溪) rafting run is 13.2 kilometres long, with a fast upper stretch and calm water below. Lianziya (链子崖), between the Military Book and Sword Gorge (兵书宝剑峡) and the Ox Liver and Horse Lung Gorge (牛肝马肺峡), is part of the Yangtze Three Gorges National Geopark and shows the Lianziya rockfall control works and the Xintan landslide site.

Food and local products

Citrus has grown here for at least 2,300 years, going by Qu Yuan's poem "Ode to the Orange" (橘颂), and in 1995 Zigui was named the "hometown of Chinese navel oranges". Late-ripening Lane Late oranges, introduced in the 1990s, ripen in March and April of the year after flowering. Jiuwan silk tea (九畹丝绵茶) from Jiuwanxi town was tribute to the Qing court under Qianlong and is known for a high aroma, sweet taste and many infusions.

Highlights

• Qu Yuan Hometown Cultural Tourism Area 屈原故里文化旅游区: 5A area 600 metres from the Three Gorges Dam, with 24 relocated gorge monuments listed nationally in 2006.
• Qu Yuan Shrine 屈原祠: Tang-founded shrine moved twice for dam projects; now faces the Three Gorges Dam.
• Wudieshui Grand Canyon 五叠水大峡谷景区: 4A canyon at Maoping along the Daxi river system.
• Lianziya 链子崖: Geopark site in the Xiling Gorge with rockfall control works and the Xintan landslide.
• Zigui navel oranges 秭归脐橙: Zigui was named the hometown of Chinese navel oranges in 1995.
• Jiuwan silk tea 九畹丝绵茶: Tea from Jiuwanxi, tribute to the court under Qianlong.