Shuhe Ancient Town 蜀河古镇

About Shuhe Ancient Town

The town's recorded history reaches back to the Western Jin: a county gazetteer cited by the Shaanxi Daily feature records that Xingjin County was established here in 280 CE, the first year of the Taikang era. Its surviving fabric is dense — the same page describes a layout of three horizontal and nine vertical streets and 102 surviving historic sites and old residences, among them five provincially protected cultural-relic units and nine city- and county-level protected points. Conservation work began in 2007, and by the end of 2023 the town had been through five rounds of repair. Among its honours the page lists national civilised village/town, Chinese historic cultural town and key national town titles; the Ankang publicity department's page adds a national 4A-grade tourist scenic area listing and a provincial tourism leisure district among others.

The Shaanxi Daily lists the town's monuments by category: Ming and Qing buildings such as the Huangzhou Guild Hall, Yangsi Temple and Sanyi Temple; old lanes such as Bajia Lane, Qianyi Lane, Yong'an Lane and Shenjialou; and relics that include a likin office, a telegraph office, a pawnshop, a money house and the Wang mansion. The Ankang page records that the Huangzhou Guild Hall's carved eave brackets and the weathered steles at Yangsi Temple survive, and that stone inscriptions there record more than seven hundred years of hydrological change.

The Ankang page documents a festival calendar: Han-tune erhuang opera, Daoqing shadow puppetry and Xunyang folk songs on the old stage, dragon and lion dances and decorated-boat parades through the lanes, and the 'burning lion' performed around the Lantern Festival, which the page singles out as the most striking. It also records that the 'burning lion', a provincial-level intangible heritage, has been turned into plush toys, cushions and key rings, and that prints are made from discarded stone slabs. No cited page states which of the town's halls are open to visitors or on what terms.

What to look for

• The Huangzhou Guild Hall, Yangsi Temple and Sanyi Temple, named by the Shaanxi Daily among the town's Ming and Qing buildings
• Stone inscriptions recording more than seven hundred years of hydrological change, and the weathered steles at Yangsi Temple
• The old lanes the Shaanxi Daily lists, among them Bajia Lane, Qianyi Lane, Yong'an Lane and Shenjialou
• The festival repertoire on the old stage — Han-tune erhuang, Daoqing shadow puppetry and Xunyang folk songs — and the 'burning lion' performed around the Lantern Festival
• The Chengnan Academy, which opened with areas for Xunyang woodblock printmaking, a provincial-level intangible heritage, and for movable-type printing

Location & getting there

Getting to Shuhe Ancient Town

Identify the main visitor approach and any separately managed houses, museums or performances. Ask before entering residential spaces or photographing residents.

• Search for 蜀河古镇 with 安康市 and 旬阳市.