Yaozhou District 耀州区

History

A county called Duyu (祋祤县) was set up here in 155 BC under the Western Han. The area was later Niyang (泥阳县), Yizhou (宜州) and, from 586, Huayuan County (华原县). In 904 the Fengxiang military governor Li Maozhen (李茂贞) turned the county into Yaozhou, the origin of the present name. After the 1911 revolution the prefecture became Yao County (耀县) in 1913, and on 18 June 2002 Yao County was replaced by Yaozhou District of Tongchuan. The Tang physician Sun Simiao (孙思邈) is remembered each year with a ten-day temple fair from the second day of the second lunar month.

What to see

Yaowang Mountain (药王山), east of the town, was called Qingyu Mountain (磬玉山) under the Tang and Wutai Mountain under the Song. In 1572 Sun Simiao's medical writings were carved onto five steles placed on the mountain, and it took the name "Mountain of the King of Medicine". Its stone carvings, a national protected site since the first list of 1961, include 45 cliff statues, over a hundred Buddhist steles, more than fifty statues and stone pagodas, and over 150 inscribed tablets. A Shaanxi provincial government report describes it as a national publicity and education base for traditional Chinese medicine culture.

The district's other national protected sites are the Ming Confucian temple of Yao County (耀县文庙), the Song pagodas of Shende Temple (神德寺塔) and Yanchang Temple (延昌寺塔), the Qin–Han Duyu palace site (祋祤宫遗址), and the former Zhaojin revolutionary base of the Shaanxi–Gansu border region (陕甘边照金革命根据地旧址), dated 1932. The Great Xiangshan Temple (大香山寺) is also among its historic sights, and the provincial list adds the tomb of Liu Gongquan (柳公权墓) and Sun Simiao's home village (孙思邈故里).

Food and local products

Local dishes include Yaozhou salty soup noodles (咸汤面), wowo noodles (窝窝面) and "snowflake sugar" (雪花糖), also called zhazi sugar. Apples and cherries are grown here. Yaozhou ware, the celadon of the Yaozhou kilns (耀州窑), began in the Tang at Huangbao (黄堡镇) as the Huangbao kiln and took the Yaozhou name in the Song, when Huangbao was placed under Yaozhou; its firing technique is on the national intangible heritage list.

Getting oriented

The Xianyang–Tongchuan railway (咸铜铁路) and the Meijiaping–Qilicun railway (梅七铁路) serve the district, with National Highway 210 and the Xi'an–Tongchuan road. Rivers crossing it include the Qishui (漆水河), Jushui (沮水河) and Zhaoshi (赵氏河).

Highlights

• Yaowang Mountain stone carvings 药王山石刻: Cliff statues, Buddhist steles and Sun Simiao's medical texts in stone; national protected site since 1961.
• Shende Temple Pagoda 神德寺塔: Song-dynasty pagoda on the national protected list.
• Zhaojin revolutionary base 陕甘边照金革命根据地旧址: Former Shaanxi–Gansu border base, dated 1932; national protected site.
• Yaozhou salty soup noodles 耀州咸汤面: Named among the district's local dishes.