Shuangfeng County 双峰县

Setting and landscape

Mountains run along the east, south-east and north-east, the west rises towards Zhupo Mountain (猪婆山) and the north is rolling hill country, while the centre opens into broad ridges and basins. The highest point is the Xiannü Hall (仙女殿) on Ziyun Mountain (紫云山) in the east; the lowest is the Jiangkou (江口) valley in the north-east, where the Lian (涟水) and Ce (测水) rivers meet, 754.8 metres lower. Most of the county lies below 300 metres. The climate is mid-subtropical monsoon, averaging 17.0°C a year with 1,200 to 1,350 millimetres of rain; the county government notes frequent cold waves in spring and a marked midsummer drought.

What to see

The Zeng Guofan sites lie around Heye (荷叶). Fuhoutang (富厚堂), Zeng's residence at the foot of Aoyu Hill (鳌鱼山) in Futuo village (富圫村), was begun in 1857 as the Baben Hall (八本堂, 'Hall of the Eight Fundamentals', after his family precepts) and renamed by Zeng Jize (曾纪泽); it became a national key cultural relic protection unit in 2006. The complex faces east with a half-moon pond in front and covers more than 40,000 square metres. Baiyutang (白玉堂), below Gaomei Mountain (高嵋山) in Tianziping village (天子坪村), is where Zeng was born in 1811; it has been a county-level protected site since 2002.

Guangjiatang (光甲堂) in Yangqiu village (杨球村), Jingzi town (井字镇), is a late-Qing brick-and-timber farmhouse where Cai Chang (蔡畅), a leader of the Chinese women's movement, was born on 14 May 1900 and spent her childhood with her brother Cai Hesen (蔡和森). Many of the objects on display are originals, and the house joined the seventh batch of national key protection units in 2013.

Shuifumiao Reservoir

Shuifumiao Reservoir (水府庙水库), also called Xikou Reservoir (溪口水库), dams the middle Lian River at Xingzipu (杏子铺镇), where Shuangfeng, Xiangxiang (湘乡) and Louxing District (娄星区) meet. The dam was completed in 1959, and the lake feeds the Shaoshan irrigation district (韶山灌区). It has more than 100 bays and 34 islands and is listed as a Hunan four-star rural tourism area. For food there, the county government names local aquatic produce, such as perilla fish (紫苏鱼), and wild greens.

Highlights

• Fuhoutang (Former Residence of Zeng Guofan) 富厚堂: Begun in 1857, national key cultural relic protection unit since 2006.
• Baiyutang 白玉堂: Zeng Guofan's birthplace (1811), county-level protected site since 2002.
• Guangjiatang 光甲堂: Late-Qing farmhouse where Cai Chang was born in 1900; national key protection unit since 2013.
• Shuifumiao Reservoir 水府庙水库: Reservoir on the Lian River, dam completed 1959, with 34 islands.