14 Days in Nanyang

The temple to Zhuge Liang (181-234), whose records on this hill reach back to the Wei-Jin era, then the Han Pictorial Stone Museum, opened in 1935 and holding over 2,500 carved stones.

1. nanyang wuhou shrine
2. nanyang hanhua museum

The tomb-shrine of Zhang Zhongjing (c. 150-219), whose Treatise on Cold Damage took shape around 210, and the prefecture yamen with Yuan-era origins among the old-town lanes.

1. nanyang yisheng temple
2. nanyang prefecture yamen

Nanyang has grown roses for generations and hosted the World Rose Congress in 2019; the Dushan hill north of town is the namesake of dushan jade, one of China's four classic jade stones; the Baihe closes the day.

1. nanyang rose garden
2. nanyang du mountain
3. nanyang baihe riverfront

An honest county day about 70 km west — a yamen first built in 1304, covering over 40,000 square metres with some 280 rooms; overnight in Neixiang.

1. nanyang neixiang county yamen

A day in the forest reserve that joined UNESCO's Man and Biosphere network in 2001 — boardwalks, streams and mixed forest on the southern slope of the Funiu range.

1. nanyang baotianman

West into Xixia's Taiping township, where the ridge tops out near 2,210 m at Jijiaojian, the high point of the Funiu range — a ski field in winter, a cool boardwalk climb in summer.

1. nanyang laojieling

The relics park at Danshui, where thousands of dinosaur-egg fossils came to light in the early 1990s, sits conveniently on the road home.

1. nanyang dinosaur relics park

An hour north to Shifosi in Zhenping County, the jade-carving town of several large markets where blocks of dushan, nephrite and stones from farther afield change hands.

1. nanyang zhenping jade market

About 50 km northeast, the old market town grew rich on the tea road; its Shan-Shaan guild hall was begun in 1756 and took over a century to finish.

1. nanyang shedian ancient town

Two and a half hours east to the far county, where the Huai river begins below Taibai Summit at about 1,140 m — a reservoir, memorial halls and forest paths.

1. nanyang tongbai mountain

An honestly labelled cross-province day — about 40 minutes south by rail to Xiangyang for its walls of some 7 km and the old Longzhong fields 13 km beyond the city; overnight in Xiangyang.

1. nanyang xiangyang day

Back through the southwest to Taocha in Xichuan County, where the middle route of the south-north water project opened in 2014 — the canal head looks over the Danjiang reservoir; two hours return to Nanyang.

1. nanyang danjiang canal head

An unhurried day in the city — the yamen quarter once more at leisure, the riverside greenway, and a table of local dishes as the trip winds down.

1. nanyang prefecture yamen
2. nanyang baihe riverfront

A market breakfast and a slow morning on Wolonggang to say goodbye, then the afternoon train or flight home.

1. nanyang wuhou shrine