Lantian County 蓝田县

Setting and landscape

The land tilts from southeast to northwest, between the Qinling to the south and Mount Li (骊山) to the north. The higher southeast belongs to the Qinling spurs, while the centre and west alternate between river flats and tablelands (原). The highest point reaches 2,449 metres; the county town stands at 469 metres.

What to see

The Lantian Man Site (蓝田猿人遗址) on Gongwangling (公王岭) in Jiujianfang (九间房镇) is where a human skull dated to 1.15 million years ago was found; the latest dating puts it at 1.63 million. The site opened to visitors in 1982, the year it became a national protected site, and it is a core area of the Qinling Zhongnanshan UNESCO Global Geopark.

Shuilu Temple (水陆庵), 10 kilometres east of the county town in Puhua (普化镇), stands on an island in the Lan River (蓝水). It began as the Water-and-Land Hall of Wuzhen Temple (悟真寺) in the Sui dynasty, and its clay wall sculptures were remade between 1563 and 1567. More than 3,700 clay wall figures survive, mixing scenes from the Buddha's life and the 500 arhats crossing the sea with Confucian and Taoist themes; the county points out a bearded, male Guanyin among them. It is a national protected site.

Wangshun Mountain National Forest Park (王顺山国家森林公园) at Lanqiao (蓝桥镇) is known for its granite peaks, pines, odd-shaped rocks, azaleas and cliff inscriptions; its summit, Yuhuangding (玉皇顶), rises to 2,239 metres. Bailuyuan Film City (白鹿原影视城), opened in 2016, is built around White Deer Plain (白鹿原), the prize-winning novel by Chen Zhongshi (陈忠实), and its screen adaptation. The county also keeps the tomb of the writer Cai Wenji (蔡文姬) and the Wangchuan (辋川) estate once lived in by the Tang poet and painter Wang Wei (王维).

Food and local products

Lantian jade (蓝田玉), mined at Wangchuan, is one of China's four famous jades and has been a protected geographical indication since 2004; tradition says the First Emperor's seal was cut from it. The county's culture, tourism and sports bureau lists ten well-known local snacks, among them buckwheat-and-wheat hele noodles (荞面饸饹), thin and yellow; hollow hand-pulled noodles from Louzhu village (楼祝村); spring-onion flatbread; crystal cakes scented with rose and candied orange; and dried tofu from Bayuan (灞源).

Highlights

• Lantian Man Site 蓝田猿人遗址: Find-spot of a human skull dated to 1.15 million years ago (latest dating 1.63 million); national protected site since 1982.
• Shuilu Temple 水陆庵: More than 3,700 clay wall sculptures, remade in 1563–1567, on a river island.
• Wangshun Mountain 王顺山: Granite peaks rising to 2,239 metres at Yuhuangding; a national forest park.
• Lantian jade 蓝田玉: One of China's four famous jades, mined at Wangchuan; geographical indication since 2004.
• Lantian buckwheat noodles 蓝田荞面饸饹: Thin, yellow buckwheat-and-wheat hele noodles, one of the county's ten listed snacks.