Junshan District 君山区

What to see

Junshan Island covers only 0.96 square kilometres and rises to 63.5 metres. It was once called Xiangshan (湘山) or Dongtingshan (洞庭山); in the Nine Songs (九歌), Qu Yuan (屈原) called the two consorts buried here Xiangjun (湘君) and Xiang Furen (湘夫人), and the island was later renamed Junshan after them. The island became a national 5A scenic area in 2011.

The Tomb of the Two Consorts (二妃墓) marks the legend of Ehuang (娥皇) and Nüying (女英), wives of the sage-king Shun (舜), who died of grief on hearing of his death; their tears are said to have left the spots on mottled Xiangfei bamboo (湘妃竹). Peng Yulin (彭玉麟) paid for a major repair of the tomb in 1881. Langyin Pavilion (朗吟亭) is named for a line by the immortal Lü Dongbin (吕洞宾), and Liu Yi Well (柳毅井) is the spot where, in the Tang tale of Liu Yi (柳毅传), the scholar Liu Yi enters the Dragon King's palace to deliver a letter.

Elsewhere in the district, Caisang Lake (采桑湖) lies in the experimental zone of the East Dongting Lake national nature reserve. It covers 7.43 square kilometres and is a breeding and resting ground for lesser white-fronted geese, avocets, Siberian cranes and swans. China.com.cn reported that the district stopped unauthorised lotus planting begun there in 2014 and restored the wetland.

Food and local products

The craft of making Junshan Yinzhen was added to the national intangible heritage list in 2021 as a form of yellow tea processing. It is practised on Junshan Island and in Xushi town (许市镇). Pickers take one bud and one leaf, do not pick in rain or frost, and reject buds that are open, purple, hollow, bent, insect-damaged, thin or the wrong size. Processing runs through nine steps, including two rounds of "sealed yellowing" (闷黄). The finished buds are orange-yellow inside under white down, a look nicknamed "gold inlaid with jade" (金镶玉). When brewed, the buds rise and sink three times, and the liquor is apricot-yellow. The tea was made from the Tang onward and was a tribute tea under the Qing.

Getting oriented

The district government sits in Liulinzhou (柳林洲). Huarong County (华容县) lies to the west, Nan County (南县) to the south and Yueyang County to the east. Jianli (监利) in Hubei faces the district across the Yangtze.

Highlights

• Junshan Island 君山岛: Small island in Dongting Lake with the Tomb of the Two Consorts and Liu Yi Well; national 5A scenic area since 2011.
• Junshan Yinzhen 君山银针: Yellow tea whose making is national intangible heritage; the buds rise and sink three times when brewed.
• Caisang Lake 采桑湖: Wetland in the East Dongting Lake reserve used by lesser white-fronted geese and Siberian cranes.