Anyuan County 安远县

Setting and landscape

The county lies on an extension of the Nanling (南岭) ranges, a country of low and middle mountains and hills; mountain land makes up about 83 percent of its area. The Lian River (濂江), a tributary of the Gong (贡水), flows through it. The county lies on the upper Gan River in the Yangtze system and, at Sanbai Mountain, at the source of the Dongjiang in the Pearl River system. The seat is Xinshan town (欣山镇).

History

Anyuan was first set up in 544 under the Liang dynasty, carved from Yudu (雩都) and named after the Anyuan River, today's Lian River. It was merged back into Yudu under the Sui and re-established in 788 under the Tang. During the Land Revolution it was part of the Central Revolutionary Base Area, belonging from August 1933 to the Soviet province of Yue-Gan (粤赣省). Chinese Wikipedia names Anyuan as the birthplace of tea-picking opera (采茶戏).

What to see

Sanbai Mountain is the collective name for the peaks on Anyuan's southeastern border. It is a national scenic area, a national forest park and a national 5A scenic area with five touring zones, including Fuaotang (福鳌塘), a lake in an ancient volcanic crater at 850 m, and Dongfeng Lake (东风湖), a reservoir built in 1965 that visitors tour by boat. The Dongjiang First Waterfall (东江第一瀑) drops nearly 100 m. The Siyuan Cauldron (思源宝鼎), cast in 2007 on the model of a Western Zhou bronze, was paid for by donors from Jiangxi, Guangdong and Hong Kong. In the county town, Wuwei Temple Pagoda (无为寺塔) was built in 1097: a brick-and-timber tower of nine storeys outside and 17 floors inside, repaired in 1981 to 1984 and now 61.29 m tall. Other sights named by the county include Lianhua Cliff (莲花岩), Longquan Lake (龙泉湖) and Yongzhen Bridge (永镇桥).

Food and local products

Rice is the main crop. In the forested townships beekeeping has a long history, and shiitake, wood-ear fungus and dried bamboo shoots are traditional products. Chinese Wikipedia describes Anyuan as China's first demonstration county for pollution-free navel oranges, with a navel-orange orchard park at Dulidong (独立岽).

Highlights

• Sanbai Mountain 三百山: Source of the Dongjiang; national 5A scenic area with a crater lake and the Dongjiang First Waterfall.
• Wuwei Temple Pagoda 无为寺塔: Nine-storey brick-and-timber pagoda of 1097 in the county town, 61.29 m tall after repair.
• Fuaotang 福鳌塘: Lake in an ancient volcanic crater at 850 m on Sanbai Mountain.
• Anyuan navel oranges 安远脐橙: The county was China's first demonstration county for pollution-free navel oranges.