Jingle County 静乐县

Setting and landscape

The county divides into earth-and-rock mountains, loess hills and river valleys, at altitudes from 1,140 to 2,421 metres, with an average annual temperature of 7.3 °C and about 447.6 millimetres of rain. The Fen River crosses it for 40 kilometres and, with the Dongnian (东碾河) and Ming (鸣河) rivers, heads its eight main rivers; Yellow River water diverted into the Fen flows on to Taiyuan (太原).

History

The Western Han set up Fenyang County (汾阳县) here, and in 608 the Sui renamed it Jingle. In 1369 it came under Taiyuan prefecture, and in 1724 the Qing moved it to Xinzhou. Jingle is the home town of Gao Junyu (高君宇), an early Communist Party member who founded the party and youth league organisations in Shanxi.

In 1940 the Eighth Route Army attacked the Japanese post at Kangjiahui (康家会), the first victory of the Hundred Regiments Offensive (百团大战); the battle site is now a provincial protected site. South of the county town on the bank of the Fen stands the Four-Eight Martyrs Memorial (四·八烈士纪念碑), inscribed by Mao Zedong. It honours Wang Ruofei (王若飞), Qin Bangxian (秦邦宪), Deng Fa (邓发), Ye Ting (叶挺) and Huang Qisheng (黄齐生), who died in a plane crash at Mount Heicha (黑茶山) in Xing County (兴县) on 8 April 1946.

What to see

Two national key cultural relics protection sites, both listed in 2019, are the Ming-dynasty Jingle Confucian Temple (静乐文庙) on Gulou East Street in the county town and the Tang-dynasty Jingju Temple grottoes (静居寺石窟), cut below a cliff south of Fengrun village (丰润村), 7 kilometres south of town. The Zhaowang City site (赵王城遗址), dating from the Warring States and Han periods, is a provincial protected site.

Food and local crafts

Jingle was named China's home of quinoa (中国藜麦之乡) in 2013, and in 2022 its quinoa fields covered about a sixth of the national total. The Xinzhou agriculture bureau suggests cooking Jingle quinoa as porridge with millet, pumpkin or jujubes, or steaming it with rice. Minor grains are the county's traditional crops.

Jingle papercut (静乐剪纸) joined the national intangible heritage list in 2014. Cuts are mostly single-colour red, with faces carved in intaglio and the rest in relief; the craft is best known for "wall flowers" pasted around the kang bed or the stove, showing opera stories and legends. Women have passed the craft down since the mid-Qing.

Highlights

• Jingju Temple grottoes 静居寺石窟: Tang-dynasty cave temple 7 km south of the county town; national key site since 2019.
• Jingle Confucian Temple 静乐文庙: Ming-dynasty temple in the county town; national key site since 2019.
• Four-Eight Martyrs Memorial 四·八烈士纪念碑: Memorial on the Fen River bank to the victims of the 8 April 1946 plane crash, inscribed by Mao Zedong.
• Jingle quinoa 静乐藜麦: The county was named China's home of quinoa in 2013.
• Jingle papercut 静乐剪纸: Red papercut known for wall and stove decorations; national intangible heritage since 2014.