Shilou County 石楼县

Setting and landscape

Huangyun Mountain (黄云山) and Shilou Mountain (石楼山) mark the eastern border with Jiaokou (交口). On the west, the Yellow River runs mostly north to south through the gorge between Shanxi and Shaanxi, but about 6 kilometres below the Xinguan Yellow River Bridge (辛关黄河大桥) it swings east into a round, gourd-shaped loop at Zhangjiapo village (张家坡村). The water travels 8,000 metres around the loop, while the neck of land inside it is only 700 metres wide at its narrowest; the hill inside rises 196 metres above the water and is covered in jujube trees. Known as the Yellow River Wonder Bend (黄河奇湾) and viewed from Majiapan (马家畔), the loop was certified by the humanities research centre of the Shanxi Academy of Social Sciences as 'the first bend of the Yellow River under heaven'.

History

Under the Han the area was Tujun County (土军县); the Northern Wei set up Lingxi County (岭西县) in 448 and renamed it Tujing (吐京) in 497, and the Sui gave it the name Shilou in 598. The county government describes Shilou as one of the country's three largest find areas for Shang-dynasty bronzes, with more than 300 pieces. The best known, a dragon-shaped gong (龙形觥) wine vessel, is a prized piece of the Shanxi Museum and is linked by legend to Jiang Ziya (姜子牙).

On 21 February 1936 Mao Zedong and the Red Army landed at the Dongxinguan ferry (东辛关渡口) on the Eastern Expedition, and at Liucun (留村) Mao wrote the poem 'Snow' to the tune Qinyuanchun (沁园春·雪). The Red Army Eastern Expedition Memorial Hall (红军东征纪念馆), in Guxiang village (故乡村) east of the county town, is a national patriotic-education base.

What to see

Xingdongyuan Dongyue Temple (兴东垣东岳庙), in Longjiao township (龙交乡), became a national key protected site in 2001. It dates from no later than the Jin dynasty; along its axis stand a screen wall, gate, opera stage and main hall, and the three-bay main hall with a hip-and-gable roof is an original Jin structure with Ming murals inside. The Houtu Shengmu Temple (后土圣母庙) is also nationally protected. At Yongyou village (永由村) an ancient locust tree has been judged by Shanxi's old-tree experts the 'first locust of Sanjin (三晋)', and primeval forest covers Shilou Mountain in the east of the county.

Highlights

• Yellow River Wonder Bend 黄河奇湾: Gourd-shaped loop of the Yellow River at Zhangjiapo; 8,000 metres of water around a neck 700 metres wide.
• Red Army Eastern Expedition Memorial Hall 红军东征纪念馆: Marks the Red Army's 1936 crossing at Dongxinguan; a national patriotic-education base.
• Xingdongyuan Dongyue Temple 兴东垣东岳庙: Jin-dynasty main hall with Ming murals; national protected site since 2001.
• Yongyou ancient locust 永由古槐: Judged the 'first locust of Sanjin' by Shanxi's old-tree experts.