Siping is in Jilin, in Northeast China.
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Jilin · City Guide
Siping, the Clan the Qing Empresses Came From.
Overview
Why Go
The Yehe were one of the Jurchen groups of the late Ming and held their seat here from 1573 until Nurhaci took it in 1619. The Yehe Nara surname later produced the Empress Dowager Cixi and the last Qing empress.
Yitong has sixteen volcanic necks: magma that set inside the vents, left standing as bare rock columns after the softer rock around them eroded away. They rise straight out of flat farmland.
This is a Manchu autonomous county area, so the boiled pork with blood sausage, the sticky bean buns and the pickled cabbage hotpot are what households cook, not what a restaurant stages for visitors.
Lishu County sits on some of a deep black soil in the northeast and is a national reference site for conservation tillage. In autumn the whole prefecture is maize drying in yards and on roofs.
The two-person song and comedy form that the northeast is known for is performed here in small county theatres rather than on television, bawdier and faster than the versions that travel.
See
Two walled sites, east and west, from the Yehe seat of 1573 to 1619, with earth ramparts, rebuilt gates and a reconstruction of the compound. Forest and a reservoir around them. Half a day.
A museum in Yitong covering Manchu clothing, shamanic practice, hunting gear and household life, built around a large local collection. The strongest explanation of Manchu material culture in the province. Two hours.
Sixteen volcanic necks scattered across the county, some climbable, all of them isolated columns in otherwise flat ground. A protected area with a visitor centre at one of them. Half a day with a car.
Volcanic rock hills with cliffs, a temple, pine woods and a reservoir below, on the prefecture's southern edge. Popular with local walkers at weekends. Half a day.
Planted pine forest with clearings, a lake and horse riding, built on land that was bare sand within living memory. It is the closest thing to a green day out near the city. Half a day.
A valley park in Yitong presenting Manchu and shamanic material with totem poles, halls and demonstrations. It is staged rather than original, and it is the easiest place to see the ritual objects. Two hours.
On the Map
Approximate locations of the attractions above, across Siping.
Eat
A brass pot with a chimney, filled with stock, pickled cabbage, sliced pork, blood sausage and vermicelli, cooked at the table over charcoal. Winter food and the standard family meal in the Manchu counties.
Pork belly boiled plain and sliced thin, with blood sausage from the same animal and pickled cabbage, eaten with a garlic and soy dip. It is the dish the pot is built around rather than a side.
Glutinous millet dough around a sweet red bean filling, steamed and then frozen outdoors in batches to last the winter. Eaten reheated with sugar. A northeastern winter staple made at home in quantity.
Hawthorn grown around Yehe, sharp and dark red, eaten fresh, dried, made into cakes or skewered and glazed. Harvest is September and October and the county sells it by the basket.
Do
The earth walls survive as ridges through the trees on both sites. Walking one perimeter gives visitors the size of a late Jurchen town, which is smaller than the later dynasty suggests.
Several of the necks have paths up. From the top the others are visible across the plain as a scatter of isolated rocks, which is when the geology makes sense.
The chimney pot works well in deep cold and that is when families use it. Order the pickled cabbage rather than fresh; the sourness is what the fat needs.
County theatres run nightly shows that are much rougher and funnier than the broadcast versions. No English, and the timing carries much of it, but the room is the experience.
When
Warm, green and the sole comfortable stretch, with long daylight and the forest parks open. The main season.
Harvest across the black soil, hawthorn coming in and clear cool air. The ideal month for the volcanic necks and the ramparts.
Hard cold to minus twenty-five, which is hotpot and sticky bun season and the right time for the indoor half of this prefecture.
A long brown thaw with wind and dust, greening just in late May. The least interesting stretch of the year.
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Siping is in Jilin, in Northeast China.
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