Rongcheng 荣成市

Setting and landscape

The land is the eastern end of the Jiaodong hill country: hills make up about half the area, mountains a third and plain the rest, and most ranges run east to west. The sea moderates the climate, so winters are rarely severe and summers not extremely hot, and spring warms slowly along the coast. Granite is Rongcheng's leading mineral resource, with varieties such as Shidao Red (石岛红), and its shallow seas and tidal flats hold flounder, prawns, abalone, sea cucumber, sea urchin, scallops, oysters, kelp and wakame.

History

In 201 BC the Western Han created Buye County (不夜县), whose ruins lie south of Buye village in Buliu town (埠柳镇), about 30 kilometres west of Chengshantou. In 1380 the Ming set up the Chengshan and Jinghai garrisons against pirates. When Chengshan garrison became a county in 1735, the Yongzheng Emperor chose the name Rongcheng, recalling that the First Emperor had shot a great fish at Rongcheng Mountain. Rongcheng became a county-level city in December 1988. In the Tang period the Silla commander Jang Bogo (张保皋) founded the Chishan Fahua Temple (赤山法华院) at the foot of Mount Chishan (赤山) in the north of Shidao town (石岛镇), and the Japanese monk Ennin (圆仁) studied there.

What to see

Chengshantou is surrounded by sea on three sides and was approved by the State Council as a national scenic area in 1988. In ancient times it was held to be the dwelling of the sun god. The First Emperor of Qin came here twice between 219 and 210 BC; in 219 BC he had Li Si (李斯) write words calling it the end of the sky and the eastern gate of Qin, and had them carved on a stone. His former travelling palace became the Shihuang Temple (始皇庙), which also has a shrine to Deng Shichang (邓世昌). Hailü Island (海驴岛), a 0.07-square-kilometre islet in the sea north of the cape, has sea stacks and sea caves and many gulls. Japanese troops landed at Chengshantou in 1895 before taking Weihaiwei.

At Yuankuang village (院夼村), fishermen hold a sea sacrifice on the Guyu solar term in spring, when fish and shrimp migrate into the waters south of the village; the festival is on the national intangible heritage list (2008) as part of the fishermen's sea-going and thanksgiving festivals (渔民开洋、谢洋节).

Highlights

• Chengshantou 成山头: Easternmost point of the Shandong Peninsula, a national scenic area since 1988.
• Shihuang Temple 始皇庙: Former travelling palace of the First Emperor of Qin at Chengshantou.
• Hailü Island 海驴岛: Islet of 0.07 square kilometres off Chengshantou with sea stacks and many gulls.
• Chishan Fahua Temple 赤山法华院: Founded in the Tang by the Silla commander Jang Bogo at the foot of Mount Chishan.
• Yuankuang sea sacrifice 渔民开洋、谢洋节: Fishermen's festival on the Guyu solar term, on the national intangible heritage list since 2008.