Xinhua County 新化县

Setting and landscape

The county is a basin of hills: the main ridge of the Xuefeng range rises in the west and north, low mountains and deep hills run along the east, and Tianlong Mountain (天龙山) and Tongfeng Mountain (桐凤山) close off the south. The middle of the county is the valley of the Zi and its tributaries, with river, stream-valley and karst plains mostly below 300 metres. Rainfall averages about 1,456 millimetres a year.

History

Xinhua County was created in 1072 under Emperor Shenzong of the Song and placed under Shaozhou (邵州), later Baoqing Prefecture (宝庆府). On 12 August 1949 the Nationalist county head Wu Guangzong (伍光宗) came over to the Communists and the People's Liberation Army's 147th Division entered the town; it withdrew on 18 August, and the town was taken again on 5 October.

Chinese Wikipedia traces about three-quarters of the county's people to Jiangxi migrants, mainly from Taihe (泰和) and Anfu (安福), and notes that most people working in copy shops across China come from Xinhua. Xinhua mountain songs (新化山歌) entered the national intangible heritage list in 2008. Singers use a high-pitched and a level style; around Fengjiashan (奉家山) an extra-high falsetto form, the "wuwa" song (呜哇山歌), is sung only by top singers, and the widespread "liuliu" songs take their name from a filler word inserted mid-line.

What to see

The Ziquejie terraces cover more than 80,000 mu in Shuiche (水车镇) and Fengjia (奉家镇) towns in the west of the county and have been farmed for over two thousand years. They are a national scenic area, a national 4A scenic area and a Hunan provincial protected heritage site.

Meishan Longgong, a national 4A scenic area on the Zi River, is a large cave group that combines caves, gorges, peak forest, cliffs, sinkholes and underground rivers; the cave is divided into six sections. The county government also lists Daxiongshan National Forest Park (大熊山国家森林公园), where local legend places Chiyou (蚩尤), the former headquarters of the Red Second Army (红二军司令部旧址), Luo Shengjiao Square (罗盛教广场), the Qujiang source area (渠江源景区) and rafting on the Youxi River (油溪河).

Getting oriented

Xinhua borders Lianyuan (涟源) and Lengshuijiang (冷水江) to the east, Xinshao (新邵) and Longhui (隆回) to the south, Xupu (溆浦) to the west and Anhua (安化) to the north. Xinhua South Station is on the Shanghai–Kunming high-speed railway and Xinhua Station on the older Shanghai–Kunming line; the Loudi–Xinhua and Changsha–Zhijiang expressways cross the county.

Highlights

• Ziquejie terraces 紫鹊界梯田: More than 80,000 mu of terraced fields in Shuiche and Fengjia towns, farmed for over two thousand years.
• Meishan Longgong 梅山龙宫: National 4A karst cave group on the Zi River, divided into six sections.
• Xinhua mountain songs 新化山歌: National intangible heritage since 2008, including the falsetto wuwa songs of Fengjiashan.
• Daxiongshan National Forest Park 大熊山国家森林公园: Mountain forest park linked in local legend to Chiyou.