Dongtai 东台市

Setting and landscape

The land is flat. National Highway 204, which follows the old Fangong Embankment (范公堤), runs north to south and splits the city in two. West of the embankment lies the eastern rim of the saucer-shaped Lixiahe (里下河) lowland, while to the east is a coastal plain of tidal flats built from Yangtze sediment carried back by the sea and from silt laid down after the Yellow River took over the course of the Huai. Tiaozini lies east of Qianggang (弶港镇).

History

The name Dongtai first appears in 937, when the Southern Tang moved the Hailing salt directorate (海陵监) to Dongtai saltworks. Dongtai County was split from Taizhou in 1767 and named after that saltworks, and it became a county-level city in December 1987. Dongtai is one of the places whose claim to the Dong Yong legend (董永传说), the tale of the filial son Dong Yong and the Seventh Fairy, entered the first national intangible-heritage list in 2006; the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network notes that a Southern Song geography already recorded a hamlet here as Dong Yong's home.

What to see

The Xixi Tianxianyuan scenic area (西溪天仙缘景区) is a 4A site on the old salt-transport canal west of the city centre. It holds the Haichunxuan Pagoda (海春轩塔), dated by the Yancheng tourism bureau to the Zhenguan reign of the Tang and a national protected monument, and the Taishan Huguo Temple (泰山护国禅寺), built in the Jiading reign of the Southern Song.

Tiaozini, named for its strip-shaped tidal creeks, became part of the World Heritage site Migratory Bird Sanctuaries along the Coast of Yellow Sea-Bohai Gulf of China (Phase I) in July 2019; the spoon-billed sandpiper is its best-known bird. The Yellow Sea Forest Park (黄海森林公园), a national forest park of 68,000 mu, has avenues of dawn redwood, ginkgo, poplar and bamboo. Anfeng Old Town (安丰古镇) is another 4A site.

Food and local products

Dongtai fish-soup noodles (东台鱼汤面) are served in a milky, rich broth, and locals say a bowl beats the God of Longevity. Dongtai hair embroidery (东台发绣), national intangible heritage since 2021, stitches pictures with girls' hair at least 30 centimetres long using Suzhou embroidery techniques.

Highlights

• Tiaozini 条子泥: Wetland inscribed as part of a World Heritage site in 2019; known for the spoon-billed sandpiper.
• Haichunxuan Pagoda 海春轩塔: Tang-period pagoda in the Xixi Tianxianyuan area; national protected monument.
• Yellow Sea Forest Park 黄海森林公园: National forest park of 68,000 mu with dawn redwood, ginkgo, poplar and bamboo avenues.
• Dongtai fish-soup noodles 东台鱼汤面: Noodles in a milky, rich fish broth.
• Dongtai hair embroidery 东台发绣: Embroidery in human hair; national intangible heritage (2021).