Dantu District 丹徒区

Setting and landscape

The land is high in the southwest and low in the northeast: outliers of Mount Mao (茅山) in the south, the Ningzhen hills in the middle and river flats along the Yangtze in the north. The highest point is the main peak of Changshan (长山), at 349.7 metres. The Yangtze runs for 68.8 kilometres along the district's northern edge, and the Grand Canal crosses it for 11.8 kilometres. The Yangtze stretch here yields the prized tapertail anchovy (刀鱼) and pufferfish (河豚), and is home to the rare Chinese sucker (胭脂鱼) and finless porpoise (江豚).

History

The district government traces the area back more than 3,000 years to Yi (宜), a fief granted by King Kang of Zhou (周康王). It was Zhufang (朱方) under the state of Wu and Guyang (谷阳) under Chu, became a county in 221 BC and took the name Dantu in 210 BC. The county was renamed Zhenjiang County in 1928, restored as Dantu in 1949, and became a district of Zhenjiang in April 2002; that September the government moved to the new Dantu town at Guyang (谷阳镇).

What to see

The China Zhenjiang Vinegar Culture Museum (中国镇江醋文化博物馆) in the new town and the Mi Fu Calligraphy Park (中国米芾书法公园) on the Shili Changshan ridge (十里长山) are both listed as national 4A scenic areas. Guyang Lake (谷阳湖) has a water park themed on Qixing Island (七星岛). Huaiyin village (槐荫村) is held to be where the legend of Dong Yong and the Seventh Fairy (董永和七仙女) takes place, and has a Huaiyin temple (槐荫庙) and statues of the pair. Baoyan town (宝堰镇) keeps an old street and a memorial hall to the New Fourth Army's (新四军) four-county resistance association, on the site of the former Yihe wine shop (怡和酒行).

Food and local products

Chinese Wikipedia lists Dantu foods including Baoyan rice wine (宝堰米酒), Baoyan mutton terrine (羊糕) and mutton noodles, Gaozi "jumping" noodles (高资跳面), and Gaoqiao's (高桥) "three Yangtze delicacies" (江三鲜) of tapertail anchovy, pufferfish and crab. Stone carving at Gaozi (高资镇) dates back to the Tang dynasty and flourished under the Ming.

Highlights

• China Zhenjiang Vinegar Culture Museum 中国镇江醋文化博物馆: National 4A scenic area in the Dantu new town.
• Mi Fu Calligraphy Park 中国米芾书法公园: National 4A scenic area on the Shili Changshan ridge.
• Huaiyin Village 槐荫村: Setting of the Dong Yong and Seventh Fairy legend, with a Huaiyin temple.
• Baoyan Old Street 宝堰镇古街: Old street with a memorial hall to the New Fourth Army's four-county resistance association, on the site of a former wine shop.