Linqing 临清市

History

A county was first set up here in the Western Han under the name Qingyuan (清渊). In 330 the Later Zhao renamed it Linqing, "beside the Qing River", because it lay on that river. Under the Ming and Qing it was Linqing Department (临清州), a famously prosperous city on the Grand Canal, and the Qianlong Emperor praised it as the richest place in the Qi region. In March 1965 some of its villages were transferred to Xingtai (邢台) in Hebei to form Linxi County (临西县). Natives include the Ming writer Xie Zhen (谢榛), the anti-Japanese general Zhang Zizhong (张自忠) and the scholar Ji Xianlin (季羡林). Linqing is also where Wu Xun (武训) founded schools, the birthplace of Shandong kuaishu (山东快书) storytelling, and an important setting of the novel Jin Ping Mei (金瓶梅).

What to see

The city keeps its old Zhongzhou quarter (中洲古城) and 12 nationally protected monuments. The Linqing Canal Customs House (临清运河钞关) was one of the eight customs posts of imperial China and is described as the only typical surviving canal tax office; it and the Linqing section of the Huitong Canal (会通河) are on the World Heritage list. The Sheli Pagoda (舍利宝塔), a Ming octagonal tower of nine storeys and 61 metres on the east bank of the canal north of town, has a timber column running up through its interior. The mosque on the east bank of the Wei Canal (卫运河) is counted among China's ten great mosques. Longshan (龙山) is an artificial mound built from earth dug for the Huitong Canal in 1417 and from later dredging. Other listed sites include Aotouji (鳌头矶).

Setting and landscape

The city lies on the alluvial plain of the lower Yellow River, falling gently from southwest to northeast at 29 to 38 metres above sea level. Its main rivers are the Zhangwei (漳卫河), the Grand Canal, the old canal and the Majia (马颊河). Linqing has long grown cotton and is known as a cotton district.

Food and local products

Local dishes named by the city include shixiang noodles (什香面), Jimei pickles (济美酱菜) and tuoban tofu (托板豆腐), and Linqing styles itself a home of Peking opera, martial arts and pickled vegetables.

Getting oriented

Linqing Station is on the Beijing–Kowloon railway, and Linqing East Station on the Beijing–Hong Kong high-speed line.

Highlights

• Linqing Canal Customs House 临清运河钞关: One of imperial China's eight customs posts; part of the Grand Canal World Heritage listing.
• Sheli Pagoda 舍利宝塔: Ming nine-storey octagonal pagoda, 61 m, on the canal's east bank.
• Linqing mosque 临清清真寺: On the east bank of the Wei Canal; counted among China's ten great mosques.
• Longshan 龙山: Artificial mound built from Huitong Canal spoil in 1417 and later dredging.
• Jimei pickles 济美酱菜: Pickled vegetables named among Linqing's best-known foods.