Wan'an County 万安县

Setting and landscape

The Wan'an Hydropower Station, whose first unit began generating in November 1990, has a dam 1,104 metres long and 68 metres high; building it created Wan'an Lake, an artificial lake about 45 kilometres long within the county and about 2 kilometres wide. The lake is a national forest park 1 kilometre south of the county town, and the park's highest point, Jiashazhang (加沙嶂), is 804.3 metres. The county government reports naturally selenium-rich soils across the county.

History

The Southern Tang set up Wan'an town in 943, and it became a county in 1071. The Eighteen Rapids (十八滩) on this stretch of the Gan were once a notorious hazard, and poets including Su Shi, Xin Qiji and Wen Tianxiang wrote about them; in 1176 Xin Qiji wrote a poem at the Zaokou cliff (造口壁), now in the reservoir. The Wan'an Uprising (万安暴动), led by Zeng Tianyu (曾天宇), produced Jiangxi's first county-level soviet. Kang Keqing (康克清), born in Luotang (罗塘) in 1911, joined the uprising, went up to the Jinggang Mountains in 1928 and married Zhu De in 1929.

What to see

The county town keeps over 1,000 metres of wall on the Gan River, a provincial protected site. Earth walls went up from 1078; in 1512 magistrate Sang Qiao (桑翘) rebuilt them in brick and stone with six gates, three of them facing the river. The bricks, fired in different localities, bear the names of foremen and kiln households and the words 'seventh year of Zhengde'. The Furong Gate (芙蓉门) was blocked in 1664 and reopened in 1670.

Guanyin Pavilion (观音阁) stands in the lake 15 kilometres from the town; it was first built in the Jin dynasty as Yili Hermitage (一粒庵). The Kang Keqing exhibition hall at the north end of Wuyun Road (五云路) shows over 280 photographs and 120 objects of Kang Keqing and Zhu De.

Food and local products

Wan'an fish head (万安鱼头), one of the ten signature dishes of Jiangxi cuisine, is made from the heads of live bighead carp from the reservoir cooked with local beer; the county culture and tourism bureau tells how Empress Dowager Longyu (隆裕太后), fleeing south in 1127, named it. Other local foods include Yaotou tofu (窑头豆腐), Baijia rice spirit (百嘉米烧酒), Baoshan fermented tofu (宝山豆腐乳), Luotang dried radish (罗塘萝卜干) and Shunfeng huangyuan rice cakes (顺峰黄元米果).

Highlights

• Wan'an old city wall 万安古城墙: Over 1,000 metres of wall on the Gan River, rebuilt in brick from 1512; provincial protected site.
• Wan'an Lake 万安湖: Reservoir of the Wan'an Hydropower Station and a national forest park.
• Zaokou cliff 造口壁: Rock face in the reservoir where Xin Qiji wrote a poem in 1176.
• Kang Keqing exhibition hall 康克清展厅: Over 280 photographs and 120 objects of Kang Keqing and Zhu De.
• Wan'an fish head 万安鱼头: Bighead carp head from the reservoir cooked with local beer; one of the ten signature Jiangxi dishes.