Lianshui County 涟水县

Setting and landscape

The county sits where the subtropical and warm temperate climate zones meet, and it has many rivers and lakes. Its neighbours are Huaiyin (淮阴) to the southwest, Shuyang (沭阳) to the northwest, Guannan (灌南) to the north, Xiangshui (响水) and Binhai (滨海) to the northeast, and Funing (阜宁) and Huai'an District across the old Yellow River to the southeast. In the county town three lakes, Lianyi Lake (涟漪湖), East Lake (东湖) and Yin Lake (茵湖), are joined up in Five Islands Park (五岛公园), which Chinese Wikipedia lists as a provincial reserve for the Chinese egret (黄嘴白鹭).

History

A county called Huaipu (淮浦县) was first set up here in 117 BC. The name Lianshui dates from 585, when the Sui renamed the county; the Tang made it the seat of a Lian prefecture (涟州) from 621. In 1369 the Ming renamed it Andong County (安东县), and in 1914 it went back to Lianshui because another Andong existed in Fengtian (奉天) province.

What to see

Nengren Temple (能仁寺) dates from the early Tang; the Miaotong Pagoda (妙通塔) within its grounds was first built in 1023. The Five Islands Lake (五岛湖) scenic belt is another listed sight, and Gaogou (高沟镇), home of the Jinshiyuan (今世缘) distillery, has a Jinshiyuan theme park.

Food and local products

Lianshui chicken cake (鸡糕) is made from the breast meat of free-range chicken with shrimp, mandarin fish, egg, Chinese yam and sweet-potato or bean starch, and is steamed over a low flame and cooled. It comes out yellow and white, soft and fine, and goes into stir-fries, braised and steamed dishes, soups and hotpot. Chinese Wikipedia gives it more than 200 years of history and says it was rated one of the ten famous dishes of Huaiyin city (now Huai'an) in 1998.

Gaogou pork roll (高沟捆蹄) packs lean meat from the pork hock into dried pig-intestine casing with 18 seasonings, among them cinnamon, clove, star anise and Sichuan pepper. It is cut crosswise into thin slices and served cold with drinks; the colour is a sauce red and the taste salty-sweet. Tradition credits it to Zheng Yunfu (郑云福) and his brothers, smoked-meat cooks in Gaogou, in the Daoguang reign of the Qing.

Highlights

• Miaotong Pagoda 妙通塔: Pagoda in Nengren Temple, first built in 1023.
• Five Islands Park 五岛公园: Three linked lakes in the county town; a provincial reserve for the Chinese egret.
• Lianshui chicken cake 鸡糕: Steamed loaf of chicken breast with shrimp and fish; one of the 'three treasures'.
• Gaogou pork roll 高沟捆蹄: Spiced pork hock in casing, sliced cold; one of the 'three treasures'.