Yongzhou

Southern Hunan city linked to Tang writer Liu Zongyuan and the classical 'Eight Records of Yongzhou.'

Yongzhou occupies the southern end of Hunan where the Xiang River begins its northward run, a city with origins around 201 BC that most travellers skip on their way to Fenghuang or Guangxi. That is a pity, because Yongzhou has one of Chinese literature's most celebrated connections: Tang dynasty writer Liu Zongyuan was exiled here from 805 to 815 AD and spent ten years exploring the landscape while producing the "Eight Records of Yongzhou," a series of nature essays that became foundational texts of classical Chinese prose. The Liuzi Temple, dedicated to his memory in Lingling District, is an elegant complex with a ¥25 admission charge that attracts scholars and the occasional literary pilgrim.

More compelling to most visitors is the Nüshu connection. Jiangyong County, administered under Yongzhou, is the only place on earth where Nüshu developed — a syllabic script invented by women, used exclusively by women, passed from mother to daughter and between sworn sisters, and kept deliberately opaque to men. The script was created to give voice to things that couldn't be said in the official language: hardship, longing, the interior life of rural women in a society that denied them formal literacy. It flourished during the Qing dynasty, went underground during the Japanese occupation, and declined through the 20th century; the last fully proficient speaker, Yang Huanyi, died in 2004. The Nüshu Cultural Village opened in Jiangyong in 2002, and cultural transmitters now work to preserve the tradition.

The food of Yongzhou prefecture is notably distinct even within Hunan's highly varied culinary landscape. Dongan Chicken — poached chicken finished with aged vinegar, dried chilli, and ginger, a dish that has been traced to a Tang dynasty origin story — is the local specialty and worth seeking out. Drinking Snails, a street food said to be 2,000 years old, are snails braised with herbs and eaten by suction; snake wine, infused with actual snakes, is sold as a tonic throughout the region.

Yongzhou is about an hour from Changsha by high-speed train. The city itself is pleasant and unrushed; the main urban sights are the Liuzi Temple and the free Yongzhou Museum, and Jiangyong makes a worthwhile day trip for travellers interested in the Nüshu story.

Guide

Day Trips

The main day trip from Yongzhou is Jiangyong County, about 90 kilometres to the southwest, where the Nüshu Cultural Village preserves the only script ever invented exclusively by and for women. Local buses run to Jiangyong town, from where taxis reach the village. With a hired car the round trip takes four to five hours including time at the site.

Guide

Eating Out

Yongzhou's most celebrated dish is Dongan Chicken — poached chicken finished with aged rice vinegar, dried chilli, and fresh ginger, a combination that creates an unusually clean, sharp flavour quite different from the deep-fermented heat of most Hunanese cooking. The dish appears on menus throughout the province but is most consistently well-made in its home city. Drinking snails, braised with aromatic herbs and eaten by suction directly from the shell, are a popular street food throughout the prefecture; look for street stalls in the evening market areas of Lingling district. Snake wine — rice spirit infused with whole snakes — is sold as a health tonic and makes an unusual souvenir.

Guide

Things to Do

Yongzhou's highlights divide between the city's literary heritage — centred on the Liuzi Temple and the landscapes that inspired the Tang essayist Liu Zongyuan — and the extraordinary cultural artifact of Nüshu script preserved in Jiangyong County, an hour's drive away. The city itself is unhurried and accessible; most of the main sites can be visited in a day.