Long County 陇县

Setting and landscape

The county covers 2,277 square kilometres and rises from about 800 metres to 2,466 metres above sea level. The county government counts 49 rivers and streams and a forest cover of 60 percent, and describes Long County as a water source for Baoji and the "tap" of the Guanzhong region.

History

In 885 BC the Zhou court rewarded the Qin leader Feizi (非子) for raising horses between the Qian (汧) and Wei rivers, and he built a Qin town on the Qian. Duke Xiang of Qin moved his capital to Qianyi (汧邑) in 776 BC, and in 350 BC it became Qian County (汧县). The name Longzhou dates from 553, the county seat moved to its present site in 558 to escape floods, and Longzhou became Long County in 1913.

Under Emperor Wu of Han a pass called Dazhen Pass (大震关) was set up here, and the county government describes the Guanshan route as a stage on the Silk Road from the Han and Tang onward.

What to see

The Guanshan Grassland is an upland meadow that the county government identifies as the pasture where Feizi, ancestor of the Qin, grazed horses, remembered as a Han and Tang imperial horse ground.

Longmen Cave is a Shaanxi provincial protected site, and the county government calls it the ancestral court of the Longmen school of Taoism. The Quanzhen master Qiu Chuji (丘处机), later revered as founder of the Longmen school, spent seven years in ascetic practice there after 1174.

Food and crafts

Longzhou horseshoe pastry (陇州马蹄酥), also called mixianr (蜜馅儿, "honey filling"), is a golden, flaky, sweet pastry of flour, fat and sugar named for its hoof shape; its making was placed on the sixth municipal intangible-heritage list in December 2018. Longxian shadow-puppet carving (陇县皮影雕刻) cuts figures from young donkey hide or cowhide, colours them with mineral pigments and styles its figures after opera; it is on Shaanxi's eighth provincial intangible-heritage list. The county also promotes goat milk, walnuts, apples, shiitake mushrooms and honey as its "five treasures".

Highlights

• Guanshan Grassland 关山草原: Upland meadow held to be where Feizi, ancestor of the Qin, grazed horses.
• Longmen Cave 龙门洞: Provincial protected Taoist site where Qiu Chuji practised for seven years.
• Longzhou horseshoe pastry 陇州马蹄酥: Flaky hoof-shaped sweet pastry on the municipal heritage list since 2018.
• Longxian shadow-puppet carving 陇县皮影雕刻: Hide figures coloured with mineral pigments; a Shaanxi provincial heritage item.