Huguan County 壶关县

Setting and landscape

The name means "pot pass": two hills, Baigu Mountain (百谷山, now called Laoding Mountain 老顶山) to the north of the county town and Shuanglong Mountain (双龙山) to the south, leave a gap between them whose outline suggests a pot, with its mouth serving as the pass. The land rises from west to east over Ordovician limestone, and the county government calls it a typical dry, rocky mountain area, with an average elevation of 1,252 metres and mountains covering 74.5 per cent of its area. January averages -6.5°C and July 22.1°C.

History

Huguan County was first set up in 206 BC under the Shangdang commandery (上党郡), taking its name from a pass within its borders. It was merged into Shangdang county in 607 and re-established in 621. Potting is old here: painted Neolithic sherds have been dug up at Qingliu village (清流村) west of the county town, and in the Wanli reign of the Ming almost every household in Qingliu fired ceramics.

What to see

The Baquan Gorge takes its name, "eight springs", from three spring groups that each have eight outlets. The gorge runs north to south for 11 kilometres, between peaks above 1,700 metres and a floor at about 600 metres, and a single cliff face exposes, in sequence, Proterozoic red sandstone and Cambrian and Ordovician limestone and shale. English Wikipedia lists the Huguan Taihang Grand Canyon among China's AAAAA tourist attractions.

Two temples are national protected sites. Zhenze Erxian Palace (真泽二仙宫), outside Shenjiao village (神郊村) in Shuzhang town (树掌镇), honours two sisters of the Le family (乐氏二女) revered for filial devotion; founded in the Tang and moved to its present site in 1574, it has five courtyards, and its Yuan-dynasty main hall keeps about 76 square metres of murals. Sanzong Temple (三嵕庙) in Nanyanghu village (南阳护村) dates from 1175, and its main hall is an original Jin structure.

Food and local products

The county government calls Huguan mutton soup (壶关羊汤) the best known in the Changzhi area and ranks it with Shanxi's other two mutton-soup styles. It is a whole-sheep soup: meat, offal, fried mutton balls and mutton-and-radish dumplings are served in a stock boiled from the whole sheep until milky white. Huguan also makes glazed pottery vats (壶关陶缸), prized for storing and fermenting vinegar, wine and sauces.

Highlights

• Baquan Gorge 八泉峡: An 11-kilometre gorge of the Taihang Grand Canyon named for three groups of eight springs.
• Zhenze Erxian Palace 真泽二仙宫: Temple to the two Le sisters with a Yuan main hall and murals; national protected site since 2006.
• Sanzong Temple at Nanyanghu 南阳护三嵕庙: Built in 1175; its main hall is an original Jin structure; national protected site since 2001.
• Huguan mutton soup 壶关羊汤: Whole-sheep soup with meat, offal, mutton balls and dumplings in a milky bone stock.
• Huguan pottery vats 壶关陶缸: Glazed storage and fermenting vats with a potting tradition at Qingliu village.