Atlas of China
Hengshui 衡水Héngshuǐ
Lake birds, painted snuff bottles and a fiery local baijiu
About Hengshui
Hengshui is a flat farming city, and its main sight is Hengshui Lake, a national nature reserve of reeds, open water and wetland birds. Old pagodas such as the Song-style Jingzhou Pagoda rise in the surrounding counties, and Wuqiang County is known for its woodblock New Year pictures, shown in the Wuqiang New Year Picture Museum. The city is also home to Laobaigan baijiu and to snuff bottles painted on the inside.
What to eat in Hengshui
- Laobaigan baijiu (衡水老白干)
Listed sites in Hengshui
12 sites in Hengshui are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.
- Hengshui Lake 衡水湖 5A scenic area
A freshwater lake and wetland reserve on the south side of Hengshui, with about 75 sq km of water plus marsh, mudflats, meadow and woodland; it is described as the second-largest freshwater lake on the North China Plain after Baiyangdian. - Dongzi Xue Village, Gucheng 董子学村 4A scenic area · on the map
A cultural-tourism village at Dongxue village, Fangzhuang town, where local tradition says the Western Han Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu taught behind a lowered curtain, giving the village its old name Xiawei. - Hengshui Laobaigan Distillery 衡水老白干景区 4A scenic area · on the map
A visitor area built around the working plant of Hengshui Laobaigan, a baijiu (Chinese grain spirit) maker whose traditional brewing method is a national intangible heritage item. - Taicheng First Rural Party Branch Memorial 台城红色旅游景区 4A scenic area · on the map
A memorial museum in Taicheng village, Anping County, devoted to the Taicheng special branch of the Chinese Communist Party, which party history and state media present as the first rural branch, founded in August 1923 by Gong Zhongtao under Li Dazhao's guidance. - Wuqiang New Year Picture Museum 武强年画博物馆 4A scenic area
A museum in Wuqiang, long known for woodblock New Year pictures (nianhua), which describes itself as the first museum in China devoted to the craft and was approved in 1985. - Zhouwo Music Town 周窝音乐小镇 4A scenic area · on the map
A village-based visitor area at Zhouwo in Wuqiang County, a place that began making Western wind and string instruments more than 30 years ago and has turned village homes into music-themed shops, workshops, cafés and guesthouses since 2012. - Anji Bridge, Hengshui 衡水安济桥 National heritage site · on the map
A seven-arch stone bridge over the Fuyang River in Hengshui's old town, 116 m long, with 58 posts along each side topped by carved stone lions, some of them restored. - Baoyun Pagoda 宝云塔 National heritage site
A nine-storey octagonal brick pagoda about 35 m tall, standing in the grounds of Baoyun Temple at Jiucheng village on the south-western edge of Hengshui. - Jingzhou Pagoda 景州塔 National heritage site
A thirteen-storey octagonal pagoda of brick and stone, 63.85 m tall, rising above the town of Jingxian. - Jizhou Ancient City Ruins 冀州古城遗址 National heritage site · on the map
The surviving walls and moat of old Jizhou, a city that dates back to 201 BC, when it was founded under the name Xindu, on the south-western shore of Hengshui Lake. - Qinglin Temple Pagoda 庆林寺塔 National heritage site · on the map
A tall octagonal brick pagoda in pavilion style, built in the early Northern Song and about 35 m high, in Raoyangdian town in western Gucheng County. - Yingyi Granary, Shenzhou 深州盈亿义仓 National heritage site · on the map
A courtyard-style Qing granary in the middle of Shenzhou, dating from 1898, with an administrative courtyard to the east and a storage courtyard to the west; its 51 rooms could hold about 1,500 tonnes of grain.
On the map
Open Hengshui on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.
Open Hengshui on the map