Luoping County 罗平县

Setting and landscape

Mountains make up 78 percent of the county and flat basins the rest. The highest point is Mount Baila (白腊山), on the boundary between Luoxiong (罗雄) and Jiulong (九龙), and the Nanpan River (南盘江) runs through the south. The county town sits at 1,480 metres, 240 kilometres from Kunming (昆明) and 113 kilometres from central Qujing, and the county government gives the mean annual temperature as 15.1°C.

History

The county government traces the area to the Louwo (漏卧) state of the Western Han, under Zangke Commandery (牂牁郡). In 1276 the Yuan set up Luoxiong Prefecture (罗雄州) under Qujing, renamed Luoping Prefecture (罗平州) in 1587. The name Luoping County dates from 1913. Merged into Shizong (师宗) in 1958, the county was re-established in 1961. Han, Yi, Miao, Buyi (布依), Hui, Shui and Zhuang people live here, and the county government calls Buyi culture "the last civilisation of the twentieth century".

What to see

The rapeseed fields bloom together in February and March, and the county has held a rapeseed flower festival since 1999. In 2002 Shanghai Guinness named Luoping's 300,000 mu of rapeseed the world's largest natural garden.

The Jiulong Waterfalls (九龙瀑布群), 22 kilometres northeast of the county town beside Dule village (堵勒村), form a four-kilometre chain that the local Buyi call Dadieshui (大叠水, "the great cascade"). The largest tier, Shenlong Falls (神龙瀑), is 56 metres high and 112 metres wide. The site became a provincial scenic area in 1993 and a national 4A scenic area in 2004. In 2005 Chinese National Geography (中国国家地理) chose it as China's most beautiful waterfall and the Jinji peak cluster (金鸡峰丛) as China's most beautiful peak forest.

The Luoping biota (罗平生物群) is a Middle Triassic marine fossil assemblage whose first fossil was found in 2007 by the Chengdu centre of the China Geological Survey; its geopark was confirmed as a national geopark in 2016. The Lubuge hydropower station (鲁布革水电站) is listed as a national industrial-tourism demonstration site.

Food and local products

Local dishes include Fule crispy pork (富乐酥肉), Fule dried beef (富乐牛干巴) and Fule jelly (富乐凉粉). In the flowering season, cooks serve cold-dressed rapeseed shoots (凉拌油菜芽) and stir-fried fresh rapeseed flowers (清炒鲜油菜花). The county is a national base for quality bee products, and its small yellow ginger (小黄姜) is on the China-EU geographical indication negotiation list.

Highlights

• Jiulong Waterfalls 九龙瀑布群: A 4 km chain of falls; Shenlong Falls is 56 m high and 112 m wide; national 4A scenic area since 2004.
• Luoping rapeseed fields 罗平油菜花田: Bloom together in February and March; a rapeseed festival has run since 1999.
• Jinji peak cluster 金鸡峰丛: Named China's most beautiful peak forest by Chinese National Geography in 2005.
• Luoping biota 罗平生物群: Middle Triassic marine fossils, first found in 2007; national geopark since 2016.