Yinzhou District 银州区

History

Stone knives, axes and pottery found on Longshou Mountain and along the Chai River show people lived here in the Neolithic. In 926 the Liao renamed the town of Fuzhou (富州), known for smelting silver, as Yinzhou, "silver prefecture". The name Tieling came in 1393, when the Ming moved the Tieling garrison to old Yinzhou. The present district took the name Yinzhou in August 1984, when the former Tieling city was renamed after Tieling prefecture had been replaced that June by a city under the province.

What to see

Longshou Mountain runs for more than ten li in a line of peaks that the district government likens to a flying dragon. On its north peak stands Ciqing Temple (慈清寺), a courtyard temple listed as a Liaoning provincial heritage site in 1988. About a hundred metres south is the nine-tiered brick Xiufeng Temple Pagoda (秀峰寺塔), rebuilt in 1591. On the tail of the ridge, the Zhubi Pagoda (驻跸塔) was built by the Ming general Li Chengliang (李成梁) and named after the Kangxi Emperor stopped there in 1671; its restoration in 2000 uncovered copper plates recording Li's repair of the tower. Pavilions on the mountain carry poems by Gao E (高鹗), who wrote the last forty chapters of Dream of the Red Chamber, and by the finger painter Gao Qipei (高其佩), both Tieling men.

In the city, the Tieling White Pagoda (铁岭白塔), formerly the pagoda of Yuantong Temple (圆通寺), is described by the district as the oldest surviving pagoda in northern Liaoning: thirteen solid tiers of brick, whitewashed and hung with bronze mirrors and bells. Yingang Academy (银冈书院) began as the home of Hao Yu (郝浴), exiled to Tieling in the early Qing, and later became a school; Zhou Enlai (周恩来) studied there in 1910 at the age of twelve, and it has been a memorial hall since 1979 and is a provincial heritage site. Behind Longshou Mountain, Taiyang Palace (太阳宫), a Daoist temple founded in 1941, is one of few in China built mainly of stone.

Food

The district names Dingji huoshao (丁记火勺), a baked flatbread, as a Liaoning time-honoured brand, and lists Baiji braised chicken (白记烧鸡) and Yuchengji pastries (于承记糕点) among local gifts.

Highlights

• Longshou Mountain 龙首山: Ridge inside the city with Ciqing Temple, Xiufeng Temple Pagoda and the Zhubi Pagoda.
• Tieling White Pagoda 铁岭白塔: Thirteen-tier brick pagoda, described as the oldest surviving pagoda in northern Liaoning.
• Yingang Academy 银冈书院: Former home of the exile Hao Yu, where Zhou Enlai studied in 1910; memorial hall since 1979.
• Taiyang Palace 太阳宫: Daoist temple of 1941, built mainly of stone, behind Longshou Mountain.