Yangcheng County 阳城县

Setting and landscape

Mountains cover 55% of the county and heavy hills the rest. The ground falls from south-west to north-east, high in the north and south and lower in the middle, and all of its rivers belong to the Yellow River system. In the south, Mount Xicheng (析城山) reaches 1,888.3 m and has a broad, flat top of about 20 square kilometres called Shengwangping (圣王坪). The southern forests also hold the Manghe (蟒河) national forest park.

History

Yangcheng's old name is Huoze (濩泽), and the county government dates the county to the Western Han, more than 2,000 years ago. Under the Kangxi and Yongzheng emperors of the Qing it was ranked with Hancheng (韩城) in Shaanxi and Tongcheng (桐城) in Anhui as one of three noted cities of learning. During the revolutionary wars it was the seat of the Eighth Route Army's Taiyue (太岳) Military District headquarters. Chinese Wikipedia notes that the former Christian Inn of the Eight Happinesses (八福客栈), outside the county town's east gate, became known in the West through the film The Inn of the Sixth Happiness.

What to see

Chinese Wikipedia counts nine national key cultural relics protection units in the county. One of them is Huangcheng Xiangfu (皇城相府), the mansion built by Chen Tingjing (陈廷敬), a Grand Secretary under the Kangxi Emperor, in Huangcheng village of Beiliu town (北留镇) and listed as his former residence. A national 5A scenic area of 16 courtyards and 640 rooms, its inner town was begun in 1632 and its outer town finished in 1703. Guoyu village (郭峪村) lies across a river from Huangcheng. Walled in 1635, it keeps the seven-storey Yu Tower (豫楼), 33.3 m high.

Haihui Temple (海会寺), in Gouxi village of Runcheng town (润城镇), was founded in the Sui. Emperor Zhaozong of Tang named it Longquan Chan Monastery (龙泉禅院) and Emperor Taizong of Song granted the present name. Its thirteen-storey glazed pagoda was paid for by Li Sixiao (李思孝), a merchant of the town, in the Ming Jiajing and Longqing reigns, and the county government says it was long a place of study and lectures.

Food and local products

Manghe is one of the original homes of the Asiatic cornel (山茱萸), a red medicinal fruit. The county government traces its cultivation in Yangcheng to 1280 and says the local fruit is known as "Yangcheng red" (阳城红). With the Chinese yew, macaques and the giant salamander, the cornel is counted among the four treasures of Manghe (蟒河四宝).

Highlights

• Huangcheng Xiangfu 皇城相府: Mansion of the Kangxi-era Grand Secretary Chen Tingjing in Beiliu town; national 5A scenic area with 16 courtyards.
• Guoyu village 郭峪村: Village walled in 1635, with the seven-storey, 33.3 m Yu Tower; the old buildings are a national protected site.
• Haihui Temple 海会寺: Sui-era temple in Runcheng town named by Tang and Song emperors, with a thirteen-storey glazed Ming pagoda.
• Mount Xicheng 析城山: Southern mountain of 1,888.3 m with a flat top of about 20 square kilometres called Shengwangping.
• Manghe cornel 山茱萸: Medicinal red fruit grown in Yangcheng since at least 1280 by the county's account, known as Yangcheng red.