Wenshui County 文水县

Setting and landscape

Qi (祁县) and Pingyao (平遥) counties lie across the Fen River (汾河) to the east, and the Fen, the Wenyu River (文峪河) and the Ciyao River (磁窑河) all run through the county; the county takes its name from the Wenyu. Cang'erhui (苍儿会) has 360 square kilometres of secondary forest. Wenshui is 76 kilometres from Taiyuan (太原), and the Taiyuan–Zhongwei–Yinchuan railway runs north to south through the county.

History

In 376 BC the State of Zhao took the area and named it Daling (大陵), and it first became a county under Qin in 221 BC. The name Wenshui dates from the Sui, in 590. When Wu Zetian declared herself emperor in 690 she renamed her home county Wuxing (武兴); the old name returned in 705. The present county town was founded in 1101 after floods destroyed the old one. Its walls were laid out as a phoenix, with the north gate as the head, east and west gates as wings and the south gate as the tail, which is why the town is also called Fengcheng (凤城), 'phoenix city'. Wenshui is also the home of the heroine Liu Hulan (刘胡兰).

What to see

The Wu Zetian Memorial Hall (武则天纪念馆) is at Nanxu village (南徐村), about 70 kilometres south of Taiyuan on National Highway 307. It contains Zetian Temple (则天庙), described by the county culture and tourism bureau as the only temple in China dedicated to an empress; its main hall was first built under the Tang and rebuilt in 1145, and it became a national protected site in 1996. A pair of Tang stone lions found east of the village in 2011, 4.47 metres high, are thought to have guarded the tomb of Wu Zetian's father, Wu Shiyue (武士彟).

Fan'an Temple Pagoda (梵安寺塔), or Shangxian Pagoda, stands in Shangxian village (上贤村) 8 kilometres south-west of the county town. The octagonal seven-storey pagoda is 40 metres high and hollow inside, with a flat top and no finial, and was made a national protected site in 2013.

Crafts and music

Wenshui guazi (文水鈲子), national intangible heritage since 2006, is percussion music on small and large cymbals and a large drum that began in Yuecun village (岳村) as music for rain-praying rites. Wenshui gourd craft (文水葫芦制作技艺), listed in 2021, decorates locally grown gourds by engraving, pokerwork, painting and openwork; besides iron styluses, Wenshui makers also burn designs with copper and silver ones.

Highlights

• Wu Zetian Memorial Hall and Zetian Temple 武则天纪念馆: Temple to the empress at her family's village, with a main hall rebuilt in 1145.
• Fan'an Temple Pagoda 梵安寺塔: Octagonal seven-storey pagoda 40 metres high; national protected site since 2013.
• Wenshui guazi 文水鈲子: Cymbal and drum music from rain-praying rites; national intangible heritage since 2006.
• Wenshui gourd craft 文水葫芦制作技艺: Gourds decorated with iron, copper and silver styluses; national intangible heritage since 2021.