I went to Nanping, Fujian on a business trip this week. Although it only lasted three days, I gained a lot of knowledge. In my spare time from official duties, I wandered around several interesting places, tasted local specialties, and learned about some local customs, which was very relaxing.

Nanping City is a prefecture-level city in Fujian Province. It is located at the northernmost tip of Fujian and borders Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces. It is commonly known as "Northern Fujian". During the revolutionary war years, the Fujian Provincial Party Committee was stationed in northern Fujian several times. It has the typical characteristics of "eight mountains, one water and one farmland" in southern China, forming a landform dominated by hills and mountains. It is known as the "Granary of Fujian" and the "Southern China". It is known as "Linhai" and "China's Bamboo Township". Wuyi Mountain, a well-known world natural and cultural heritage site, is located in Nanping City. This trip mainly passed through Pucheng County and Jianou City (county-level city), so I will briefly introduce these two counties.

Pucheng County is located at the northernmost tip of Fujian Province and is the junction of seven counties in Fujian, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces. The county seat is 218 kilometers (straight-line distance) from Fuzhou, the provincial capital. It takes about 63 minutes to take the high-speed rail from Fuzhou to Wuyi Shandong Station, and then drive 70 minutes to Pucheng County. From Fuzhou, there are only direct buses (about 4-5 hours) and no direct trains, so the transportation is still not convenient enough.

Here there are four distinct seasons, abundant rainfall, sufficient sunshine, and the annual average temperature is 17.4°C. There are an average of 7.4 snowy days per year, with the longest continuous snowfall lasting 7 days, and the deepest snow accumulation reaching 28 cm. For southerners, there are not many opportunities to see snow. The joy brought by a snowfall may be difficult for northerners to understand.

Staying at the Equatorial Hotel, although there is no star rating, the standard room price of more than 300 yuan is almost equipped with the standards of a four-star hotel, so it is recommended.

There is a Mengbi Mountain near the hotel, which is less than 30 meters high. According to legend, the original name of this mountain is Gushan. Xiao Zikai's "Jian'an Ji" of the Southern Dynasty records: "Gushan is in a ring barrier. Its land is flat and covered with ditches and ditches. This mountain is quite isolated, because of its name." Gushan, It was changed to Mengbi Mountain because a story by Jiang Yan, a literary giant from the Southern Dynasties, was related to it. In the second year of Yuanhui (474), Jiang Yan was demoted to the county magistrate of Pucheng (then called Wuxing). He often stayed in the mountains and rivers of the county, and was especially fond of Gushan. According to legend, one night while sleeping in the mountains, I got a tube of colorful flower brushes in my dream. In the future, I would have a lot of literary thoughts and poems, and it became known as the beautiful saying "Dream pens give birth to flowers". The mountain is represented by people, and the name of Gushan was also changed to Mengbi Mountain. Although the mountain is famous, it is a pity that the local government did not make good use of this material. The foot of the mountain has become a parking lot for trucks, and there is a simple temple on the top of the mountain. Not many people usually go up the mountain.

While wandering around the county town, I accidentally saw the "Sanshan Guild Hall". As a Fuzhou native, I felt very familiar with it. It is named because Fuzhou is also known as "Three Mountains", which can be understood as the Fuzhou Municipal Government's Pucheng Office at that time.

Not only that, but I also saw the legendary "Floating Bridge", which made me have a good impression of this old county.

Osmanthus fragrans, commonly known as osmanthus. In Pucheng, osmanthus trees can be seen everywhere. Especially located in Yangliujian Village, Linjiang Town, Pucheng County, there is a Osmanthus king ("osmanthus tree") called "Jiulonggui" by the locals. According to expert determination, it is over 1,100 years old and is known as the "King of Fujian Osmanthus". Because the crown has 9 branches, it is also called "Nine Dragon Osmanthus". Unfortunately, the timing is wrong. It will take another month or two before we can see the wonderful sight of the sweet-scented osmanthus in full bloom.

The locals use osmanthus to make osmanthus and jujube cakes and sweet-scented osmanthus tea as traditional local foods. What attracted me most was a bowl of sweet barley and osmanthus porridge for breakfast. Tsk...but I forgot to take a photo.

Jianou, formerly known as "Jianzhou". The name "Fujian" comes from the first letters of each of Fuzhou and Jianzhou (today's Jianou City). It is the county-level city with the largest land area and the largest population in northern Fujian in Fujian Province. It has a recorded history of more than 3,000 years. It is a provincial-level historical and cultural city with a county history of more than 1,800 years. What's even more impressive is that it has produced 1,154 Jinshi, 6 Number One Scholars, and 10 prime ministers and ministers, making it one of the top ten Jinshi counties.

In the past, our understanding of Jianou was limited to Jianou salted duck and Jianou light cake. During this trip, I realized that Jianou is actually such a culturally rich county. Even Marco Polo visited. In 1292 AD (from the Yuan Dynasty to the 29th year of the Yuan Dynasty), the famous Italian traveler Marco Polo set sail from Quanzhou, Fujian, to return home after staying in China for 17 years. This year, he traveled from Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and Xinzhou, Jiangxi (today's Shangrao City), crossed the Wuyi Mountains, and entered northern Fujian. He rode for six days in the high mountains and ridges, and finally arrived at Jianning Prefecture (today's Jian'ou City) in northern Fujian. At that time, Jianning was the largest city in northern Fujian. The majestic city walls, spectacular bridges, bustling streets, abundant products, and especially the beautiful women all left a beautiful and deep impression on him. A statue of Marco Polo was specially erected locally and a Marco Polo Park was established.

Behind the park is Tongxian Gate, one of the four existing ancient city gates in Jianou. The city wall is 8.5 meters high, the arched door opening is 4 meters high and 23.85 meters deep. The words "Tongxianmen" in regular script are inscribed on the stone plaque above the front doorway, which was inscribed during the renovation in the Renzi year of Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1792).

Jian'ou is also one of the areas with the highest concentration and richest coverage of covered bridges in northern Fujian. There are currently 32 covered bridges in the territory, most of which are wooden arched covered bridges. It still demonstrates its role as a transportation hub. effect.

The most important thing is that Jianou has a wealth of delicious food and snacks. In addition to the traditional specialty products Jianou salted duck and light pancakes, this time I tried a bowl of soy milk powder.

Locals like to eat soy milk powder as a nutritious breakfast. Don’t forget to add Jianou’s unique red wine as a seasoning to make it even more fragrant.

In addition, there are also the "Four Treasures of Jiyang" made from four famous local specialties: Alisma, lotus seeds, water spinach (commonly known as water spinach in various places), and fairy grass. It is said that during the National Day, many guests come from far and wide to taste a set of Jiyang Four Treasures priced at 138 yuan. The water spinach tube here is thicker and tastes crispier. The most distinctive thing is the lotus seeds. After removing the heart from the fresh lotus seeds, place them neatly in a bowl, pour rock sugar water over them, steam them and then pour the whole bowl over on a plate. Sweet, soft and rotten, it melts in your mouth after one bite and is worth tasting.

Jianou’s transportation is very convenient. You can get to Fuzhou in less than an hour by high-speed rail. This is also the intersection of three highways. If you want to get rich, you must first build roads. Jianou has development potential. I heard that the root carving city on Minhou Street in Fuzhou is gradually moving to Jianou, which is also the capital of root carving in China.