Funing County 阜宁县

Setting and landscape

Funing sits where three farming regions meet: the Lixiahe, the coast and the Xuhuai (徐淮) area. The land is flat and crossed by waterways, with about 300,000 mu of lake and marsh water surface, including the Majiadang (马家荡) and Baishuitang (白水塘) marshes and the abandoned Yellow River course (黄河故道). The Tongyu Canal (通榆运河), the Northern Jiangsu Main Irrigation Canal (苏北灌溉总渠) and the Huai River Seaward Channel (淮河入海水道) also run through the county. Along the old Yellow River corridor the county has laid out woodland and orchards in the north and lake-and-marsh aquaculture in the south.

History

The county has late Neolithic and Liangzhu culture sites, including the Dongyuan (东园) Neolithic site. A walled town was built at Miaowan (庙湾) in 1595, and Funing County was created in 1731 under Huai'an Prefecture (淮安府), its name taken from a phrase wishing for flourishing trade and a peaceful locality. From July 1941 to December 1942 the headquarters of the New Fourth Army (新四军) was stationed in Funing. Funing is known as a home of Huai opera (淮剧).

What to see

Jinsha Lake (金沙湖), a resort in Fucheng (阜城), the subdistrict that holds the county government, is a 4A scenic area and provincial tourist resort, and the lake was the focus of a ten-year ecological restoration project. It hosted a national kite invitational in 2025, and the 2026 Jinsha Lake Cup contest was set to open on its sand beach on 4 April, with a night-time display of illuminated kites. The Yancheng government names Jinsha Lake and Majiadang as the county's core scenic areas, and Mugou Old Village (穆沟古村) and Tingchigang (停翅港) as villages developing rural tourism.

Food and local products

Funing cake (阜宁大糕) is made from glutinous rice, white sugar, refined fat and candied fruit into thin, soft white slices that can be rolled up and laid flat again. Legend says the Qianlong Emperor tasted it and named it jade-belt cake (玉带糕), and families keep it to offer guests at Spring Festival. Other local products include Majiadang crabs, Qiqiao dried tofu (戚桥茶干) and Yilin soy sauce (益林酱油).

Highlights

• Jinsha Lake 金沙湖: 4A scenic area and provincial tourist resort; venue of the 2025 national kite invitational and the 2026 Jinsha Lake Cup.
• Majiadang 马家荡: Marsh named as one of the county's core scenic areas and a source of crabs.
• Funing cake 阜宁大糕: Thin rolled slices of glutinous-rice cake served at Spring Festival.