Zichuan District 淄川区

History

A county named Banyang (般阳) was set up here in 155 BC under Emperor Jing of Han, taking its name from its seat's position north of the Ban River (般水). In 598, under the Sui, it became Zichuan County, named after the Zi River (淄水). The county was abolished in 1955 and split into three districts of Zibo; Zichuan District was formed from two of them in 1956 and took in the third, Hongshan (洪山), in 1958.

The old walled town is also known as the Turtle City (龟城). When magistrate Yang Wu (杨武) rebuilt it in 1501 he laid it out as a turtle, with the head at the south-west, the four gates as feet and the streets following the pattern of a shell. The district describes the Northern Dynasties kiln site at Zhaili (寨里窑址) as the earliest celadon production site yet found in northern China, and its ceramic firing and Lu-school inside painting (鲁派内画) are on the national intangible heritage list.

What to see

Pu Songling's Former Residence (蒲松龄故居) is in Pujiazhuang (蒲家庄), Hongshan town (洪山镇), where the writer was born in 1640. The house was destroyed during the war against Japan, first restored in 1954, opened as the Pu Songling Memorial Hall (蒲松龄纪念馆) in 1980 and listed as a national key cultural relics protection site in 2006. The house itself, the family home known as Liaozhai (聊斋), is a gate room, a three-bay main house and two side rooms, and displays objects he used or that relate to him. Other parts of the memorial are the Willow Spring (柳泉), where Pu asked passers-by for stories and which is now dry and marked by a stele in the hand of Shen Yanbing (沈雁冰), and the family graveyard east of the village. The collection includes a seated portrait painted by Zhu Xianglin (朱湘鳞) in 1713, when Pu was 74, and four Shoushan-stone seals found when his grave was dug up during the Cultural Revolution.

The district counts three 4A-rated scenic areas and 16 national traditional villages, and holds the national Ezhuang Ancient Villages Forest Park (峨庄古村落森林公园).

Getting oriented

The district government gives Qingdao port as 210 kilometres to the east and Jinan's international airport as 90 kilometres to the west. In the Ming and Qing dynasties Zichuan was a trading hub for the region and was known as the "commercial city of central Shandong" (鲁中商城).

Highlights

• Pu Songling's Former Residence and Memorial Hall 蒲松龄故居: Birthplace of the Qing novelist in Pujiazhuang; memorial hall since 1980, national key protected site since 2006.
• Willow Spring 柳泉: Spot in a gully east of Pujiazhuang where Pu Songling gathered stories from passers-by; now dry, with a stele by Shen Yanbing.
• Zhaili kiln site 寨里窑址: Northern Dynasties kiln site described by the district as the earliest known celadon source in northern China.
• Lu-school inside painting 鲁派内画: Painting craft on the national intangible heritage list, alongside Zichuan ceramic firing.