Taoyuan County 桃源县

Setting and landscape

The county government puts the land at about 40 percent hills, 36 percent mountains and 22 percent plain. The climate is humid subtropical monsoon, in the transition from the central to the northern subtropics, with four clear seasons and a marked wet and dry season. The county seat, Zhangjiang Subdistrict (漳江街道), sits on the north bank of the Yuan.

History

The area belonged to Chu in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and from AD 50 was divided between Yuannan (沅南县) and Linyuan (临沅县) counties. In 963, under the first Song emperor, it was split off from Wuling County (武陵县) and named Taoyuan after the Peach Blossom Spring within it. Early in the Hongwu reign of the Ming, Uyghur and Hui settlers made their home here; the county has two Uyghur-Hui ethnic townships, Fengshu (枫树) and Qinglin (青林). The Republican-era pioneer Song Jiaoren (宋教仁) and the historian Jian Bozan (翦伯赞) both came from Taoyuan. The late-Shang bronze vessel Min Fanglei (皿方罍), called the "king of fanglei", was unearthed in the county.

What to see

The Taohuayuan scenic area (桃花源) is a national key scenic area and national forest park. Temples and Daoist halls were built here from the Tang dynasty on; they burned at the end of the Yuan, were rebuilt in 1455, burned again in the late Ming, and the shrine to Tao Yuanming was rebuilt in 1892 with pavilions named after his writings. Daoists count it among the 36 grotto-heavens. "Evening glow over the fishing village" (渔村夕照), one of the Eight Views of Xiaoxiang (潇湘八景), is set below its Shuifu Pavilion (水府阁).

Taoyuan Nuo opera (傩戏) is called a "living fossil of drama", and Sanyanggang town (三阳港镇) is known as its home. Wuling opera (武陵戏) is a popular local opera form.

Food and local products

Taoyuan leicha (桃源擂茶), a pounded tea, appears on intangible-heritage lists alongside plank dragon lanterns (板龙灯), three-stick drumming (三棒鼓) and woodcarving. Taoyuan black tea, the Dazhong chicken (大种鸡) and local black pigs are national geographical-indication products, and Taoyuan embroidery is known as "the soul of Xiang embroidery".

Getting oriented

Taoyuan borders Yuanling (沅陵) in Huaihua (怀化), Cili (慈利) and Yongding (永定) in Zhangjiajie (张家界) to the west, Linli (临澧), Wuling (武陵) and Dingcheng (鼎城) to the east, Shimen (石门) to the north and Anhua (安化) in Yiyang (益阳) to the south. The Qianjiang-Zhangjiajie-Changde railway (黔张常铁路) runs 85.7 kilometres through the county, with stations at the county town and Niucheche (牛车河); the Changde-Zhangjiajie and Changde-Jishou expressways and National Highway 319 also cross it.

Highlights

• Taohuayuan scenic area 桃花源: Peach Blossom Spring, a national key scenic area and national forest park with a shrine to Tao Yuanming rebuilt in 1892.
• Taoyuan Nuo opera 桃源傩戏: Local Nuo drama, called a living fossil of drama; Sanyanggang town is known as its home.
• Taoyuan leicha 桃源擂茶: Pounded tea on the intangible-heritage lists.
• Min Fanglei 皿方罍: Late-Shang bronze vessel unearthed in the county, called the king of fanglei.