Zunyi

Zunyi is a prefecture-level city in Guizhou Province in southwestern China. The two main district of the city, known as Huichuan and Honghuagang, have a population of around 800,000 people, and the whole region, including 14 county-level administration area as a whole, has a population of approximately 7 million. Zunyi is located in North Guizhou province, situated at the side of the Xiangjiang River - a branch of Wujiang River. The altitude of the city is approximately 900 meters.

History
Zunyi is known for being the location where Mao Zedong was first elected to the leadership of the Communist Party of China during the Long March. After this famous "Zunyi meeting", Mao Zedong and other two leaders formed a group to control the procedure of the Long March. Chinese tourists come to take photographs in the meeting hall where this historic election took place (at the Zunyi Conference). This historical meeting hall once belonged to a local warlord and after being occupied by the Red Army served as the temporary headquarters.

Culture of Food

-Liu Er Ma Mi Pi
This snacking dish made with thick flat rice noodles is eaten by locals frequently as a light meal or to tide off hunger. The red oil sauce makes liberal use of Sichuan pepper giving it a distinctive numbing quality on the tongue. It also leaves a peculiar tickle in the back of the throat making it worth a try. Aside from the red oil sauce, it contains a few scraps of meat and preserved vegetables.

-Yang Rou Fen
Unlike its Guiyang cousin, this rice noodle dish dish is made using strips of mutton. Owing to the tastes of locals, yangroufen only comes available in a spicy broth. Addition of extra chilis during the cooking process is optional and you will be asked whether you want it or not. Yangroufen is rich and filling and often eaten for breakfast in Zunyi. Many shops remain open 24 hours making it a popular midnight snack as well. Pickled cabbage and radishes are available in the large glass urns in every shop - just help yourself. This dish is representative of Zunyi people who have a love affair with mutton.

NOTE: Mutton in China - the character (yang) means both sheep and goat in Chinese. As a result, yangrou is usually translated as mutton. Most often in Guizhou at least, mutton refers to the meat of the shanyang which is a shaggy mountain goat raised for its hair and meat in the hills of the province.

-Dou Hua Mian
Interestingly named, douhuamian literally means "Bean Flower Noodles." It consists of Douhua which is a type of semi-firm tofu served in a semi-clear soup, long flat wheat noodles and a separate bowl containing preserved meat, spices, oil, soy, vinegre and fresh mint leaves. To eat as the locals do, place the bowl with the noodles and tofu behind the smaller dipping bowl. Pull out some douhua or noodles, dip them liberally in the sauce and then consume. At the end of the meal, finish off the solids in the dip and drink the soup from the douhua.

It is said that the local mountain water accounts for the quality of these locally-brewed beverages, although pollution currently threatens the water of the Chishui River, from which Maotai is made. 

Around Zunyi
Jin Ding Shan: About 20 minutes northwest of Zunyi, Jindingshan is a pleasant pilgrimage site for Zunyi residents. One can visit the mountain and return the same day although the majority of visitor spend the night in the village below the summit. Pilgrims rise early to try and catch the sunrise from the summit. There is basic accommodation available (dorm style rooms yearound or tents in the summer) for ¥10-15 per person. In the summer the village hosts local entrepreneurs selling various street fare. The scenery on the mountain is lovely and the temples themselves are interesting if a bit run-down. In recent year donations from the faithful have restored some of the temples. To get to Jindingshan simply recruit a minivan at the local bus station about 100 meters north of Gaoqiao. Taxis, minivans, buses and even locals on their way to market can be recruited for the ride back to town. View from Jindingshan View from Jindingshan

Zunyi Tourist Attractions

-Cishui Scenic Resort
Cishui scenic resort is mainly featured in five sorts of natural landscapes, waterfall group, immense forests of bamboo, group of horse chestnut red clouds landform and virgin forests and the historic culture of the Long March. Its well-known beauty spots include Shizhang Cavern waterfall, Hushi Immense Forests of Bamboo, Jingsha vale Horse Chestnut, Shidong Vale Waterfall Group, and Ever-bright Moonlight Lake etc. This area is praised by foreign and domestic experts both as "City of Numerous Waterfalls", "Fatherland of Bamboo" and "First-rate Red Clouds".

-Kingdom of Horse Chestnuts
As-preciously sole survived plants, horse chestnuts are attributed to the giant trees which were coexistent with dinosaur during Jurassic Period two hundred million years ago. On the verge of extinction, they are rare and could be found only in few places for its unfortunately suitable latitude. Cishuijingsha is the only natural resort in this province approved by tile State Council for the protection of horse chestnuts. With graceful peaks and ridges, old trees reaching to the skies, fright water falling down and red cliffs. It is an ideal place for ecological travel and scientific survey.

-The Zunyi Conference Site
Located on Hongqi Road in the old section of Zunyi, this is a two-storey wood and brick building of combined Chinese and Western architectural styles. In January 1935, the Red Army arrived in Zunyi on their historic Long March and held a conference of great significance there. Listed as a major cultural relic site under state protection, the building now houses the Zunyi Conference Memorial Museum. The slogans written at the time have been preserved.