Fuliang County 浮梁县

Setting and landscape

Qimen (祁门县) and Dongzhi (东至县) in Anhui lie to the north, Wuyuan (婺源县) to the east, Poyang (鄱阳县) to the west, and Leping (乐平市) and the city of Jingdezhen to the south. The highest peak, Dazhang Mountain (大嶂山), stands on the Wuyuan border. In the Yaoli (瑶里) area, at the northeastern end of Jingdezhen's territory, Wuhua Mountain (五华山) rises to 1,618 metres and is the source of the East River of the Chang River (昌江). The local Fuliang speech belongs to the Hui (徽语) group of Chinese dialects.

History

The Tang set up Xinping County (新平县) here in 621 and Xinchang County (新昌县) in 716. In 742 it was renamed Fuliang, "floating beams", because the streams often flooded and people cut timber to build bridges. Bai Juyi (白居易) mentions it in his poem "Pipa Xing" (琵琶行), where a merchant has gone to Fuliang to buy tea. After a flood in 816 the county seat moved to the site now called the old town, and it stayed there for more than 1,100 years. The county was merged into Jingdezhen in 1960 and restored on 11 October 1988.

What to see

The Fuliang Old Yamen (浮梁古县衙), eight kilometres from Jingdezhen, is described by the city government as the only fairly complete Qing county yamen south of the Yangtze; the present buildings date from the Daoguang reign. In the same scenic area the Red Pagoda (红塔), first built in 961 and repaired in 1575, is called by the city government the earliest and most complete large pagoda preserved in Jiangxi. Wikipedia lists both as national protected sites.

Yaoli, whose old name meant "kiln village", had pottery workshops by the mid-Tang. Hundreds of Ming and Qing Hui-style buildings line both banks of the Yao River (瑶河), and a Ming-Qing commercial street more than a kilometre long follows the old Huizhou road; Chen Yi (陈毅) worked here and led the reorganisation of the New Fourth Army. Gaoling village supplied porcelain clay to Jingdezhen, and in the early 18th century its name spread abroad and became the international term kaolin. At the Dongbu old street (东埠古街), where kaolin was loaded in the Ming and Qing, wheelbarrows have worn grooves into the stone slabs.

Highlights

• Fuliang Old Yamen 浮梁古县衙: Qing county yamen from the Daoguang reign, described by the city government as the only fairly complete one south of the Yangtze.
• Red Pagoda 红塔: Pagoda first built in 961 and repaired in 1575, in the old yamen scenic area.
• Yaoli Ancient Town 瑶里古镇: Former kiln village with Ming and Qing Hui-style buildings along the Yao River.
• Gaoling 高岭: Village that supplied porcelain clay and gave kaolin its international name.
• Dongbu old street 东埠古街: Ming-Qing loading point for kaolin, with wheelbarrow grooves in its stone paving.