Tangqi Water Town

Introdution
Tangqi is a county-level town located on the north side of Hangzhou in China's Zhejiang province, 10 kilometers away from the main city of Hangzhou. Tangqi was established 1,000 years ago, and it is famous for its unique fruit called Loquat, also the Prunus mume in the neighborhood area of Chaoshan Mountain.

History & Background
Tangqi Ancient Town has a long history of more than 1,000 years, first built in the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127). It used to be a small fishing village. During the Yuan dynasty, Zhang Shicheng broadened the Grand Canal, and then the local fishermen gradually settled down on both sides, first settling the town. 

In the Ming dynasty, the Tongji Bridge (???) connected both sides, and the town was enlarged. The local record of history named Tangqi Zhi has the specific details. 

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, ancient Tangqi town ranked the first of top ten famous towns in the Jiangnan region. Originally, Tangqi town was under the administration of Renhe County. 

During the Republican era, Hang County was established, and Tangqi was removed to Hang County. Before 1949, the ancient Tangqi town consisted of north town and south towns, but the south town belonged to Hang County and north town belonged to Deqing County. 

In May, 1950, Tangqi ended the separation. Currently, Tangqi is the second largest town of Yuhang District.

Historical Sites
Guangji Bridge
Guangji Bridge was built in 1494. At 78.7 meters long, 5.2 meters wide, and 13.86 meters high, it was the only 7-arch stone bridge on the Grand Canal. It is rumoured that the Guangji Bridge was built in the Tang dynasty and expanded in the Ming dynasty. There are 80 steps on each side of the bridge.

Qianlong Stele
The Qianlong Stele was originally located in the branch of Hangzhou Water Conservancy Office in the early Republican era. The office site was destroyed but the stele was reserved because it was embedded into the wall of house of Lu Jinjiang, who was the first executive officer of Chongyu silk production factory.

The height of the Qianlong Stele is 5.45 meters. The header part is 1 meter high, 1.5 meters wide with the relief of "Two dragons playing a pearl" on it. The main body part is 3.35 meters high, 1.4 meters wide and 0.5 meters thick. The uncovering bottom part is 1.1 meters high 1.8 meters wide, and 0.8 meters thick. The stele was engraved with 429 Chinese characters as the main text and 10 Chinese characters as the signature of the Qianlong Emperor. The written characters served as the regular script. The Stele is decorated by carvings of cloerds and dragons.

The main content of the stele describes that the Qianlong Emperor rewarded Zhejiang province to pay enough amount of grains as taxes even during the period of the natural disaster when he inspected southern China in 1751. The emperor specially permitted Zhejiang province to reduce the land tax and poll tax by 30 million taels of silver and built the stele to inform the people.

The Qianlong Stele was recognized as a cultural relic under Hangzhou in 2004. The stele and the site of the branch of Hangzhou Water Conservancy Office were then recognized as a cultural relic of Zhejiang province in 2011.

Cuisine
Ci mao ruo yuan(? ? ? ?)
Ci mao ruo yuan is concerded one of the most famous foods for the Tangqi Town. It consists of meatball and glutinous rice. It was said the Ci mao ruo yuan was invented by a local chief at a time when the Qianlong Emperor once travelled down south from Beijing via the Grand Canal.

Xi Sha Yang Wei(????)
Unlike Ci mao ruo yuan, Xi Sha Yang Wei is a dish of dessert. It is a fried dough with large amount of red bean paste inside it. It is named after its shape, which is very much like the tail of a sheep.

Information
Address:Tangqi Town, Yuhang

Tel:0571-86375531

Transportation:Take No.342, No.319, No.350, No.480, No.487, No.786, No.790, No.792, No.793 or No.799 bus, and get off at Tang Qi Stop.