Bozhou 亳州Bózhōu

About Bozhou

Bozhou, on the plain of north-western Anhui, was the home town of the Three Kingdoms warlord Cao Cao and of the physician Hua Tuo, and is now one of China's main markets for medicinal herbs. In the old quarter, Huaxilou is a Qing-dynasty guild hall and temple to Guan Yu built by medicine merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi, and old brick tunnels linked with Cao Cao run beneath the streets. Nearby Gujing distils a well-known baijiu, and Mengcheng claims the philosopher Zhuangzi.

What to eat in Bozhou

• Gujing Gongjiu baijiu (古井贡酒)

Listed sites in Bozhou

11 sites in Bozhou are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.

• Ancient Tunnels of Bozhou (Cao Cao's Troop Tunnel) 亳州古地道 4A scenic area · National heritage site
  A network of underground passages beneath the old city of Bozhou, the home town of Cao Cao, begun in the late Eastern Han but surviving mostly from the Song dynasty; the tunnels radiate from the old crossroads of Dayushou and are built partly of earth and timber but mostly of brick.
• Bozhou Museum 亳州博物馆 4A scenic area · on the map
  The city museum of Bozhou, founded in 1959 and now a national second-grade museum, in a Han-style building among trees.
• Gujing Gongjiu Brewing Site and Liquor Culture Park 古井贡酒酿造遗址 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
  The historic core of the Gujing Gongjiu distillery in Gujing town, where a Song-dynasty well, a Ming well and a set of fermentation pits in use since at least 1515, the date on a boundary brick found among them, are protected with the excavated remains of a Ming–Qing brewery.
• Huaxilou (Shanxi–Shaanxi Guild Hall) 花戏楼 4A scenic area · National heritage site
  A guild hall and temple to the war god Guan Yu built in the Qing dynasty by medicine merchants from Shanxi and Shaanxi trading in Bozhou, on Xianning Street in the old northern quarter.
• Linyongcheng Forest Park 林拥城 4A scenic area · on the map
  A forest park on the south-western edge of Bozhou laid out around a reservoir, also known as Yaodu Linhai, the 'forest sea of the medicine capital', after the city's role as a centre of the herbal-medicine trade.
• Mengcheng Museum 蒙城博物馆 4A scenic area · on the map
  The county museum of Mengcheng, home county of the philosopher Zhuangzi, opened in 2014 and now a national third-grade museum.
• Nanjing Lane Qianzhuang (Old Bank) 南京巷钱庄 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
  A Qing-dynasty qianzhuang, a traditional private bank and money-changer, on Nanjing Lane in the old northern quarter of Bozhou, a few minutes' walk from Huaxilou.
• Tianjing Palace 天静宫 4A scenic area · on the map
  A Taoist temple at Zhengdian village on the northern outskirts of Guoyang, on the spot that local tradition, recorded in Yuan- and Ming-dynasty steles, names as the birthplace of Laozi, the founder of Taoism.
• Cao Clan Tombs 曹氏家族墓群 National heritage site · on the map
  The burial ground of Cao Cao's family on the southern side of Bozhou, a scatter of Eastern Han tombs that includes those of his father Cao Song and his grandfather Cao Teng.
• Wanfo Pagoda, Mengcheng 万佛塔 National heritage site · on the map
  A thirteen-storey octagonal brick pagoda built in 1102, in the Northern Song dynasty, for the Xinghua Temple, which has since disappeared.
• Xuege Pagoda 薛阁塔 National heritage site · on the map
  An eight-sided, seven-storey brick pagoda built between 1772 and 1812, in the Qing dynasty, in imitation of a timber tower.

On the map

Open Bozhou on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• Official website
• Wikipedia (Chinese)