Pengze County 彭泽县

Setting and landscape

The land falls from southeast to northwest: mountains in the southeast, hills in the middle, and river islands and lakeside plain along the Yangtze in the northwest. Susong (宿松) and Wangjiang (望江) in Anhui face it across the river, Poyang (鄱阳) and Duchang (都昌) lie to the south and Hukou (湖口县) to the west.

History

The county dates from 201 BC. Its name comes from the Pengli marsh (彭蠡泽), today's Poyang Lake, which lay to the west. Before the Tang the seat was at Xiaohuang Hill (小凰山), now in Hukou; it moved to present-day Huangling (黄岭乡) in 622 and, after Hukou was split off in 938, to its current site at Longcheng town (龙城镇). The statesman Di Renjie (狄仁杰) served as magistrate from 692 to 696, and the poet Tao Yuanming (陶渊明) also held the post.

At Madang (马垱), on the south bank of the Yangtze, Nationalist troops of the 53rd Division fought Japanese forces for a day and a night on 24 June 1938; according to the county government they sank four warships before the fort fell on 26 June.

What to see

The Longgong Cave scenic area (龙宫洞), rated 4A, groups three karst caves. Longgong Cave runs 1,600 metres and stays at 18°C all year; Yuhu Cave (玉壶洞) has a 500-metre dry passage and a 700-metre water passage toured by boat; narrow Yuxian Cave (玉仙洞) climbs to the hilltop past colonies of bats. At Xianzhen Rock (仙真岩) is Longxian Temple (龙仙寺), which the county government dates to 227.

In Huangling village the Di Gong cultural park (狄公文化园) commemorates Di Renjie with a shrine, the Dasheng Pagoda (大圣塔) and the Zongqiu mound (纵囚墩), linked to his release of prisoners. In town, the 39-metre, five-storey Di Gong Tower (狄公楼) stands by the Yangtze, and the Wuliu Academy (五柳书院) has been rebuilt on its old site in memory of Tao Yuanming.

Customs

The Pengze bench dragon (彭泽板龙) is built from long planks like farmhouse benches, one section per household. Each village or clan has its own dragon, paraded every three to five years from the second to the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, sometimes with over 300 sections. White dragons stand for cotton, yellow ones for rapeseed flowers and red ones for festive cheer.

Highlights

• Longgong Cave 龙宫洞: 4A karst cave area with a 1,600-metre main cave, a boat passage in Yuhu Cave and Longxian Temple.
• Di Gong Cultural Park 狄公文化园: Memorial to Di Renjie, magistrate of Pengze from 692 to 696, in Huangling village.
• Madang battle site 马垱守卫战遗址: Yangtze fort defended against Japanese forces in June 1938.
• Pengze bench dragon 彭泽板龙: New Year plank dragon in white, yellow and red, the colours of cotton, rapeseed and festivity.