Yanzhou District 兖州区

Setting and landscape

The district lies on the sloping plain below the southwest flank of the Mount Tai and Yimeng uplands; plain makes up 99.7 per cent of its land, which tilts from northeast to southwest between 60 and 38 metres above sea level. Silt from the Wen River (汶河) built the west and silt from the Si River the east. The one hill is Ziyang Hill (嵫阳山), 15 kilometres west of the town, a limestone knoll whose eastern peak has been quarried into a hollow.

History

The name goes back to Yanzhou, one of the Nine Provinces into which the legendary Yu divided the land in the 'Tribute of Yu' (禹贡); its character was anciently written in a form that originally named a river. The town was known in earlier times as Xiaqiu (瑕丘) and Ziyang (嵫阳). It became Yanzhou County in 1961, a county-level city in 1992 and a district of Jining in 2013.

What to see

Xinglong Pagoda (兴隆塔), in the northeast of the old town, takes its name from a temple founded in 602 under the Sui. The octagonal brick-and-timber tower rises 13 storeys to 54 metres: seven broad lower storeys with galleries, then six abruptly narrower ones, like a pagoda standing on a pagoda. Excavation of its crypt in 2008 recovered a relic described as the crown bone of the Buddha, a silver-gilt reliquary coffin and a gold relic bottle. The pagoda stands in the grounds of the Yanzhou Museum (兖州博物馆) on Wenhua East Road, founded in 1984, which shows pottery excavated at Wangyin (王因) and other local sites. In Yandian (颜店) town, two of the Zheng family's three manors (郑氏庄园) survive, and the Zheng manor is a provincial heritage site; the one at Houxi (后郗) keeps more than 70 rooms.

Food and local products

Yanzhou juanjian (兖州卷煎) wraps minced pork belly and tenderloin, seasoned with spring onion, ginger, star anise and Sichuan pepper, in soybean skin lifted from gently heated soy milk; the rolls are lightly fried, then simmered in meat broth with pork belly and tofu. The big Yanzhou sesame flatbread (兖州大烧饼) is shaped by hand on a stone, thick at the rim and thin in the middle, and baked over charcoal from pear, pine or jujube wood; it is said to be best eaten with mutton soup.

Getting oriented

The district sits where the Beijing–Shanghai and Xinxiang–Shijiusuo railways cross, 15 kilometres west of Qufu and 31 kilometres northeast of Jining. Jining East Station on the Rizhao–Lankao high-speed line is in Yanzhou.

Highlights

• Xinglong Pagoda 兴隆塔: 13-storey, 54-metre 'pagoda on a pagoda'; its crypt yielded Buddhist relics in 2008.
• Yanzhou Museum 兖州博物馆: Museum founded in 1984, with pottery from local excavations.
• Zheng family manor 郑氏庄园: Provincially protected manor in Yandian town; the Houxi house keeps over 70 rooms.
• Yanzhou juanjian 兖州卷煎: Pork rolled in soybean skin, fried, then simmered in broth.
• Yanzhou sesame flatbread 兖州大烧饼: Large flatbread baked over fruit-wood or pine charcoal, eaten with mutton soup.