Get to know Jinyun County
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- Administrative area
- County · 县
- Part of
- Lishui
- Chinese name
- 缙云县
- Local areas
- County guide
Area & population
- Area in the source
- 1,494.24 km²
- Population · 2022
- 405,000
Source: cited geographic source, as of the dates shown.
Setting and landscape
The ground rises toward the southeast and falls toward the northwest, and most of the county is hills and low mountains. The national heritage list sums up the land with the local saying "nine parts mountain, half water, half field" (九山半水半分田). All the county's rivers are mountain streams. The three main ones, the Haoxi (好溪), Xinjian (新建溪) and Yong'an (永安溪), drain into three different river systems: the Ou (瓯江), the Qiantang (钱塘江) and the Ling (灵江). The Haoxi is the largest; it rises on Dapan Mountain (大盘山) in neighbouring Pan'an County (磐安县) and runs 66.11 kilometres through Jinyun from northeast to southwest.
History
The Longdong site (陇东遗址) at Huzhen (壶镇), dated to about 9,000 years ago, is the oldest prehistoric settlement yet found in Lishui. A Jinyun County was first created under the Tang in 621, abolished in 625 and set up again in 696; from 779 it belonged to Chuzhou (处州). The name comes from the ancient Mount Jinyun (缙云山), and "Jinyun" was also a title of the Yellow Emperor. A Jinyun Hall (缙云堂) was built on the mountain in the Eastern Jin, and in the Tianbao years of the Tang the emperor Xuanzong renamed it the Yellow Emperor Shrine (黄帝祠宇). The Jinyun rites to the Yellow Emperor, held at Qingming in spring and the Double Ninth festival in autumn, were added to the national intangible-heritage list in 2011.
What to see
Xiandu is both a national key scenic area and a 5A scenic area. Local legend places the Yellow Emperor's elixir-making and ascent to heaven at its Dinghu Peak (鼎湖峰). Two sites are protected at national level: the Xiandu cliff inscriptions (仙都摩崖题记) and the Heyang old dwellings (河阳古民居). Provincially listed sites include the Xiandu stone-beam bridge (仙都石梁桥), Muyi Bridge (慕义桥) and the Daxitan kiln sites (大溪滩窑址群).
Food and local products
Jinyun shaobing (缙云烧饼), a baked bun, has been on the national intangible-heritage list since 2021. It is filled with pork and Jinyun dried greens, a local mustard green steamed and sun-dried three times, and baked for three to five minutes over charcoal inside a wooden barrel lined with a clay pot made from clay from around Huzhen. Vendors traditionally follow village performances of Wu opera (婺剧), the form most often heard in the county.
Highlights
- Xiandu scenic area 仙都: National key scenic area and 5A scenic area; local legend links Dinghu Peak with the Yellow Emperor.
- Heyang old dwellings 河阳古民居: Old dwellings protected as a national key cultural relic site.
- Xiandu cliff inscriptions 仙都摩崖题记: Rock inscriptions protected at national level.
- Jinyun shaobing 缙云烧饼: Pork and dried-mustard bun baked in a clay-lined barrel; national intangible heritage, 2021.
Sources for this guide
传统面食制作技艺（缙云烧饼制作技艺） · China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (Chinese National Academy of Arts)
黄帝祭典（缙云轩辕祭典） · China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (Chinese National Academy of Arts)
缙云县 - 维基百科 · Wikipedia (Chinese) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Original English written from the listed sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer. Updated 2026-09-25.
Explore Jinyun County
Core places to explore, with English and Chinese names.
Places to explore around Jinyun County
Jinyun Xiandu Scenic Area · 缙云仙都景区Jinyun Xiandu Scenic Area缙云仙都景区
Xiandu in Jinyun is known for Dinghu Peak, a tall isolated rock column rising beside the valley landscape.
Read the place guide →
Dinghu Peak rising above the Shiliang Bridge and its reflection, in the Xiandu scenic area, Jinyun County. · 缙云县仙都风景区鼎湖峰及石梁桥倒影。 Source-recorded photograph date: 2017-09-10 06:47:19.Xiandu Scenic Area仙都
Scenic area in Jinyun, Zhejiang, around the 170-metre Dinghu Peak rock pillar, with a Yellow Emperor temple, inscribed caves and an old academy.
Read the place guide →
Heyang Ancient Residences (河阳古民居), Jinyun County. Photograph: "Jinyun Heyang 2017.09.09 16-48-58".Heyang Ancient Residences河阳古民居
Heyang in Jinyun is a lived-in village of Ming-Qing clan compounds, where branching lanes, ancestral halls and flowing water organise the settlement.
Read the place guide →Plan your visit
Getting there
Jinyun County is about 25 km in a straight line from central Lishui. Search for 缙云县 in a map app to find stations and your accommodation.
Where to stay →Build your route
Jinyun Xiandu Scenic Area and Xiandu Scenic Area are both listed here. The linked place guides have entrance and visit details.
Continue with Lishui →More in Lishui
Sources & geographic information
Administrative names and parent areas: Official geographic directory · Reference date 2026-09-06.
Some facts checked against 缙云县 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: Jinyun Xiandu Scenic Area · Source photographer · License not provided. EXIF orientation normalized; resized without changing aspect ratio; converted to WebP. No subject edits.
Photo: Xiandu Scenic Area · Zhangzhugang · CC BY-SA 4.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
Photo: Heyang Ancient Residences · Zhangzhugang · CC BY-SA 4.0. Full frame retained; EXIF orientation normalized, proportionally resized to at most 800 pixels and converted to WebP. No generated pixels or subject changes. Cards may crop the display.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Pins mark approximate centres, not entrances or boundaries.