Fuyu 扶余市

Setting and landscape

Most of Fuyu is terrace land standing 20 to 80 metres above the riverbeds, cut down by the surrounding rivers. The ground is higher in the east and south and slopes towards the northwest. The highest point, Nanying Mountain (南鹰山) at 261.8 metres, takes its name from its eagle-head shape; the lowest, at 116.3 metres, is the corner in the northeast where the Lalin River runs into the Songhua. Below the terrace edge the Lalin valley is flat and dotted with ponds and marshes, sand ridges run along its banks, and its channel through Fuyu winds and often shifts.

History

The Fuyu city government traces the area to the kingdom of Buyeo (夫余国), set up by the Yemaek (濊貊) people in the early Western Han and described as the first local regime of northeast China; Fuyu was part of its lands. Under the Qing the Bodune (伯都讷) deputy military governor was posted here from 1692. In 1906 the area became Xincheng prefecture (新城府), which was made a county in 1913 and, because other provinces had counties of the same name, was renamed Fuyu in April 1914 after ancient Buyeo. It became a district of the new city of Songyuan in 1992, was made a county again in 1995 with its seat moved to Sanchahe, and became a county-level city in 2013.

What to see

The Dajin Deshengtuo Stele (大金得胜陀颂碑) was set up by the fifth Jin emperor, Shizong (金世宗), to record how his grandfather Wanyan Aguda (完颜阿骨打) gathered his people here and swore to rise against the Liao. The 3.2-metre stone has four coiled dragons on its head and a tortoise base, with 815 Chinese characters on the front and more than 1,500 characters in the Jurchen large script on the back.

The Dajin Victory Pavilion (大金得胜亭) is a three-storey octagon 25.92 metres high; its 12-metre marble base stands for the 120 years of the Jin and its nine steps for the nine Jin emperors. A Liao-Jin history hall next to it shows tools, pots and armour of the period, wetland wildlife specimens and old local ploughs and costumes.

Food and local products

Fuyu grows Silihong peanuts (四粒红花生, "four red kernels"), a national geographical-indication product; the city government says 80 percent of all Silihong peanuts come from Fuyu. The kernels are bright red, even in size and glossy.

Highlights

• Dajin Deshengtuo Stele 大金得胜陀颂碑: Jin dynasty stele recording Wanyan Aguda's oath against the Liao, with Chinese and Jurchen inscriptions.
• Dajin Victory Pavilion 大金得胜亭: Three-storey octagonal pavilion, 25.92 m high, beside a Liao-Jin history hall.
• Nanying Mountain 南鹰山: Highest point in Fuyu, 261.8 m, named for its eagle-head shape.
• Silihong peanuts 四粒红花生: National geographical-indication peanut with bright red kernels.