Located in the hilly area of eastern Zhejiang, Tiantai, Siming Mountain and Huiji Mountain are continuous in the territory, and the terrain is stepped down from southeast to northwest. The southeastern part of the county is mountainous, the central and western part is hilly platform, and the northwest part is valley basin. The landform of the county is known as "eight mountains, half water and half fields".

Climate,

Subtropical monsoon climate. Located in the transitional zone between the central subtropical zone and the northern subtropical zone, the conditions are mild and humid, and the four seasons are distinct. Rain and heat are synchronized in early spring and summer, but sunny and hot in midsummer, complementary light and temperature in autumn and winter, and more disastrous weather. At the same time, it has typical mountain climate characteristics, and there are obvious differences between horizontal and vertical directions.

Rivers,

Xinchang county has three major water systems, with the county watershed area of 1.209 square kilometers, 73 tributaries, 455.6 kilometers long, and the river network density of 0.38 kilometers/square kilometers. It is a typical mountain river with many tributaries, large drop and rich hydraulic resources. The main rivers are Chengtan River, Xinchang River and Huangzejiang River.

Customs and habits,

According to Xinchang custom, age is generally counted as nominal age. Since the age of 50, children and grandchildren have offered sacrifices to gods and ancestors on their birthdays and held birthday drinks. Birthday is called "Zhengshou", and the birthday banquet is hosted by children and grandchildren, called "Peach Blossom". For wine vessels, peach is a birthday peach, and the name of "peach" probably means celebrating birthday. The day before the official birthday is called "warm birthday", which is organized by the married daughter. You can celebrate your birthday in advance within one year, but you can't celebrate your birthday after your birthday. Near birthdays, children and grandchildren usually invite relatives and friends to drink birthday wine. On the day of drinking birthday wine, it is usually a birthday present. In Shengzhou, Xinchang and other places, birthday gifts are often given at the beginning of the first month of the year of birth. Birthday gifts are all marked with the word "longevity", such as birthday candles, birthday noodles, birthday wine, birthday cakes, birthday paintings, birthday screens, birthday cakes, birthday buns, birthday peaches and so on. And the word "shou" is cut from red paper and put on birthday gifts and birthday utensils. Among them, birthday peach is an essential birthday gift, but if it is not in the season of peach production, rice flour can be used as a substitute.

During the birthday celebration, birthday congratulators should not only send birthday gifts, but also wish the congratulated people, saying such auspicious words as "Longevity is better than Nanshan Mountain" and "Happiness is like the East China Sea". In order to create a birthday celebration atmosphere, lanterns and big candles are usually hung from a warm birthday, that is, the day before the birthday. Hang up Shou Xingtu, banners, etc. People who celebrate their birthdays wear auspicious clothes and are bowed by the younger generation or congratulated by relatives and friends. Daughter and son-in-law need to send clothes, shoes and socks and other birthday gifts in addition to the general birthday gifts. In the old society, vulgar and relatively wealthy people had to hire a troupe to play the immortal drama. Xi Shou often sings Pingdiao, Lianhualuo or "next door drama" (this kind of drama is a folk art based on ventriloquism, which has been lost at present). The main content of Xi Shou's plays is mostly festive, and the end of the play ends with a happy ending of praying for good luck.

Xinchang custom birthday celebration is also done one year in advance for special reasons, which is called "making nine heads". In addition, people think that living to 66 years old is a difficulty in life. To get through this, you have to eat 66 pieces of meat to get through smoothly. Therefore, on her sixty-sixth birthday, her daughter or niece offered sixty-six pieces of meat to the birthday girl. If you are a vegetarian for a long life, you will use the same amount of dried tofu instead.

With the development of society, the progress of the times and the evolution of the world, the ancient custom of celebrating the celebration has changed greatly in form and content, although it exists. People generally no longer worship gods and ancestors, thus eliminating the complicated etiquette of celebrating birthdays. Usually, Kaya Hioki wine is used for birthday celebration, and noodles, steamed bread and cakes are distributed. Feeding people with noodles is called "longevity noodles", which means prolonging life. According to the different hobbies of longevity, the younger generation gives gifts that are beneficial to physical and mental health, and birthday celebrations give updated content.

Places of interest,

Xinchang county is known as the "eye of the southeast" because of its beautiful natural scenery and numerous cultural and historical sites. There are three provincial-level scenic spots in the territory, namely, the Great Buddha Temple, the Jiuchuan Stone Peak and the Wozhou Lake-Tianmu Mountain (which has been awarded a national-level scenic spot). The Great Buddha Temple, a national key open temple, is an ancient temple in the Southern Dynasties. Maitreya Buddha, the largest Buddha in the south of the Yangtze River, and 1075 small stone Buddha are famous at home and abroad. In recent years, the development efforts have been intensified, and the special landscapes such as Prajna Valley, Snake Carving Village, Foxin Square, Wood Fossil Forest, Open-air Maitreya, Luohan Cave, Baiyun Lake, Sleeping Buddha, New Entrance and Chenghuang Temple have been built one after another. The peaks and valleys, waterfalls, springs, streams and bitan that pass through the rock 19 peak show beautiful natural scenery and landscape charm. The lakes and mountains of Wozhou and Tianmu are the places that literati of past dynasties yearn for. From the Buddhist culture in the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties to the poetry and song culture in the Tang Dynasty, Xinchang bears two cultural peaks.