Visiting the ancient city of Langzhong
We spent the weekend of September 13 and 14 in Langzhong, a smaller city that lies north of Nanchong, further up the Jailing River Valley about an hour and half by bus. Most of the city is of modern construction, like Nanchong. However, the traditional heart of Langzhong preserves houses and streets of the eras of the Ming (1368-1643) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It is considered one of the four best-preserved old cities in all of China and draws many Chinese tourists, as well as foreign visitors. Given all the construction, demolition, and rebuilding that marks the contemporary Chinese urban skyline, a preserved ancient city is a remarkable thing.
Unfortunately, it rained (hard) most of the day Saturday. Despite the rain, we walked around in the old city and saw a number of historic places, including two old city watch towers, the imperial examination rooms, a temple memorializing a local military hero named Zhang Fei, and more. The imperial examination hall was the center of the civil service exam system that regulated admission to the imperial bureaucracy and stressed students’ knowledge of the Confucian classics. When Langzhong was briefly the capital of Sichuan Province, an imperial examination hall was constructed here and it has survived the years and been restored. Students sat for nine days in small cubicles, isolated from one another to discourage cheating, and worked to complete detailed essay tests that demonstrated their mastery of language, ethics, and handwriting. Other parts of the hall included the rooms where exams were scored and where candidates were interviewed and, if they scored well enough, sent on to be instructed for their new public positions.
The Zhang Fei temple recognizes a local hero whose name and image is now widely associated with its use as a commercial logo for a kind of spicy beef! Legend says that Zhang Fei had darker skin tone, and Zhang Fei Beef is known for its deep coloration.
Saturday night Rachel and a group of SST women went to enjoy some of Langzhong’s noted vinegar foot baths and foot massages.
Sunday the rain let up. After a big breakfast at our hotel, we had a bit of free time to wander the old city again, and then left by bus for the mountain across the Jialing River. On our way out of town we stopped at the Baba Temple, one of the oldest mosques in the region. Langzhong’s Hui Muslim community is old-standing, although the current mosque was built in the 1600s (and added to in the 1700s). The cemetery on the grounds is quite old and the architecture mixed distinctive styles with Qing-era characteristics. Chinese characters and Arabic script appear on external walls and tombs.
Most of the afternoon we spent walking the trails of Jinping Mountain, where the view was remarkably clear as we looked across the river and down onto Langzhong.
