Qianzhou
'Qianzhou's walls, Fenghuang's soldiers.' This was once a popular saying in western Hunan, meaning Qianzhou's city walls were rock-solid and hard to breach, while Fenghuang's soldiers were first-rate fighters. Both were of top quality. Why were Qianzhou's walls so strong? History provides proof: in June 1925, Sichuan armies under Xiong Kewu and Tang Zimo...
This article is compiled from the original travel notes on the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com); it is a record of trips from earlier years. Time-sensitive information such as ticket prices, schedules, and accommodation prices is subject to the latest announcements from scenic areas and transportation authorities; the itinerary ideas and attraction introductions still have reference value.
"The city of Qianzhou, the soldiers of Fenghuang." This was a popular saying among the people of Xiangxi in the past. It means that the city of Qianzhou was as solid as a rock and difficult to break, and the soldiers of Fenghuang were first-rate troops, skilled in battle. Both were of first-class quality.
Why was the city of Qianzhou so solid and not easy to break? There is a historical battle example to prove it. In June 1925, the troops of Xiong Kewu and Tang Zimo of the Sichuan army passed through Xiangxi on their way back to Guangdong, passing through Guzhang, Baojing, Yongshui, Luxi, Qianzhou, and other places. Chen Quzhen, commander of Xiangxi, and others hastily retreated to Fenghuang, while Han Tianchi, Teng Jiuchang, and Zhou Dade of the patrol defense army were ordered to lead their troops in holding Qianzhou. The Sichuan army division commander Luo Jinguang and others led troops in a siege for more than a month, and even used coffins filled with gunpowder to bombard the city wall, yet still could not take the city. After 48 days, the Sichuan army, short of military provisions, had no choice but to retreat to eastern Guizhou. The strength of Qianzhou's city defenses thus became famous.
In fact, the city of Qianzhou was not really so difficult to attack. During the Miao Rebellion of the Qianjia period, the Miao leader Wu Bayue and others led rebel forces in capturing this city. On September 9, 1937, Long Yunfei led more than 2,000 men of the "Xiangxi Anti-Tun and Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army" and, by means of internal and external cooperation, also captured Qianzhou City in one stroke. It can be seen that no matter how solid the city wall, if the defenders are lax internally, it can still be easily broken.
The city of Qianzhou is famous, and its architecture has a long history. During the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty, before the border wall was built in the Miao region, a small city with a height of 1 zhang 5 chi and a circumference of 239 zhang had already been initially constructed here. At that time, the Qianzhou area was still under the jurisdiction of Chenzhou Luxi. In the 43rd year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1704), Qianzhou Ting was established, with its administrative seat in Qianzhou City. In the 2nd year of the Jiaqing reign (1797), when Zhao Guilan was the Tongzhi of Qianzhou, he expanded and repaired Qianzhou. The stone wall around the city was 1.2 zhang high, with a circumference of over 600 zhang, a bottom width of 8 chi, and a top width of 6 chi. It was entirely built of bluestone. After this city wall was built, more than 10 military camps and blockhouses were constructed at strategic points around it, and over 1,300 soldiers were stationed inside and outside the city. In the 12th year of the Republic of China, Qianzhou was changed from a ting to a county. Afterwards, Qianzhou also hosted offices such as the Third District Administrative Inspector's Office, the Xiangxi Pacification Office, and the Xiangxi Border Colonization Office. Chen Quzhen governed in Qianzhou multiple times and built a residence there. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, a large number of refugees from occupied areas poured into Xiangxi, and Qianzhou City was overcrowded for a time. Its ancient city walls, ancestral halls, and temples were almost entirely demolished for other uses during this period. Today, apart from a small section at the East Gate, the city walls of Qianzhou are hard to find. Only the ancient streets and a few temples remain, faintly revealing traces of former Qianzhou.
During the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period, Qianzhou produced three nationally influential figures.
The first was Yang Yuebin, a native of Chongjiaoying in Qianzhou Ting. He was a naval general under Zeng Guofan. When Zeng Guofan organized the Xiang Army militia, he relied on training a Xiang Army navy, and Yang Yuebin was the commander of this navy. Why did Yang Yuebin, who grew up in a mountainous area, become a naval general? This stemmed from his childhood love for martial arts and archery, and he also learned to swim in water. In his youth, he passed the examination as a military officer and was appointed as an external committee member of the Xiangyin garrison. He frequently operated in the Xiang River and thus became proficient in naval warfare techniques. When Zeng Guofan supervised the militia and trained the navy in Hengyang, he transferred Yang Yuebin to serve as the commander of the Right Battalion. Yang Yuebin used his strengths, commanding troops in naval battles and achieving repeated military successes, thereby earning Zeng Guofan's deep appreciation and important appointments.
After the Taiping Rebellion was suppressed, Yang Yuebin was once appointed by the Qing government as the Governor-General of Shaanxi and Gansu, and was sent to the northwest to suppress the Hui uprising. However, Yang Yuebin was a naval warrior and was not skilled in mountain warfare. After arriving in the northwest, he failed to prevent a mutiny and was soon dismissed from his post and sent back to his hometown. In his village, he was at a loss and spent 17 lonely years. In 1884, French forces invaded Keelung, and Taipei was in emergency. The court then thought of employing this old naval hero again. Yang Yuebin was ordered to lead troops to Taiwan once more and forced the French to withdraw from Keelung. After the Sino-French Beijing Peace Treaty was concluded, Yang Yuebin returned across the sea and went back to his hometown to recuperate, until he died of illness in June 1890 at the age of 69. After his death, the Qing court posthumously granted him the title of Crown Prince's Grand Guardian and the posthumous name Yongdui.
The second was Luo Rongguang, the Tianjin Brigade General who fought against the Eight-Nation Alliance. He guarded the Dagu Fort, the gateway to Beijing and Tianjin, for 24 years.
Luo Rongguang was a native of Yaxi Village in Qianzhou. Born in 1833, 11 years younger than Yang Yuebin, he also joined Zeng Guofan's Xiang Army in his youth and gradually rose to the rank of Brigade General. Unlike Yang Yuebin's experience, Luo Rongguang mainly gained the trust of Li Hongzhang, then Governor of Jiangsu, who let him lead the personal guard battalion and sent him to Shanghai to learn artillery techniques from the British Gordon, after which he became the commander of the artillery battalion.
In 1876, Luo Rongguang was ordered to guard the Dagu Fort in Tianjin, and he did so for 24 years. In the deep night of June 16, 1900, the gunboats of the Eight-Nation Alliance suddenly attacked the Dagu Fort. Luo Rongguang led his troops to fight back, personally operating the cannon to sink the Russian main battleship 'Gilyak'. But the Eight-Nation Alliance's offensive was fierce, the cowardly Beiyang Navy commander Ye Zugui retreated without fighting, and the Qing reinforcements controlled by Yulu were nowhere to be seen. The Dagu Fort ran out of ammunition and reinforcements, and Luo Rongguang led his subordinates in a breakout to the north, where he died heroically. Legend has it that when Luo Rongguang died, the Xuan Pond in his hometown Yaxi dried up for 3 days. People said that when the Xuan Pond dried up, the rhinoceros was returning to its place. Soon after, Luo Rongguang's coffin was indeed transported back to his hometown for burial. Because Luo Rongguang sacrificed himself for the country, he was deeply praised by later generations after his death.
The third was Fu Liangzuo, who was posthumously granted the rank of General during the Republic of China. He was a native of Qianzhou City, born in 1873. His father was a Qing Dynasty fifth-rank candidate county magistrate. Fu Liangzuo became a prominent upper-class figure mainly because he entered the Beiyang Military Academy in his youth, and soon after went to Japan to graduate from the Army Officers' Academy, where he was a classmate of Cai E and others. After returning to China, he served in the Beiyang Army and gained the favor of Duan Qirui. After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, Duan Qirui became Premier and Minister of the Army, and Fu Liangzuo was promoted to Deputy Minister of the Army, presiding over ministry affairs. People at the time called him, along with Xu Shuzheng, Jin Zhipeng, and Zeng Yujun, the 'Four Heavenly Kings' of Duan Qirui, and there was a saying: 'For external affairs, always ask Xu and Fu; for internal affairs, always ask Jin and Zeng.'
With the outbreak of war, Fu Liangzuo fled back to Beijing in panic. Later, after Duan Qirui became the Border Defense Commissioner, he appointed him as chief of staff. In 1920, the Zhili-Anhui War broke out, and the Anhui clique was defeated. From then on, Fu Liangzuo became disheartened and turned to the Wenshu Temple in Tianjin to chant sutras and worship Buddha. In 1924, during a three-month 'bathing and fasting' period, Fu Liangzuo fell ill and soon died in Tianjin.
Qianzhou's culture and education were also famous in history. During the Zhengde reign of the Ming Dynasty, the Miao teacher Wu He set up schools in Shanglao, Sanchaping, Sima Creek, Majing'ao, and other places, leaving his name in historical records. In the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty, a Zhenxi School was established; in the Qianlong reign, a Zhenxi Academy; and in the Guangxu reign, a Licheng Academy. Teng Chuanshu, who served as the education commissioner of Qianzhou Ting and the secretary-general of Chen Quzhen's command, was the main lecturer at Licheng Academy. In 1936, Qiancheng County established the Hunan Tun District Joint Junior Middle School, later renamed the Provincial No. 13 Middle School. At that time, Xiang Changqing, a former professor at Beijing Normal University, became the first principal. Teachers included Xiao Hongmei, who later became a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and a professor at Beijing University of Science and Technology; Zhou Liquan, who later served on the National Academic Degrees Committee and as a researcher at the Institute of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; Zhong Qilu, who later became a professor at Columbia University in the US and director of the I Ching Society; Yang Yumang, who served as an editor and advisor at the Beijing Dramatists Association; and the writer couple Xiao Li and Xiao Feng, among other notable figures. After the founding of New China, the Provincial No. 13 Middle School was successively renamed Xiangxi Ethnic Middle School, Jishou Ethnic Middle School, and in 1978, Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture Ethnic Middle School, a name it still uses today. The school is located on Xiaoxi'an Slope by the Wanrong River on the outskirts of Qianzhou City. He Jiesheng, He Long's daughter, took refuge in Qianzhou during the War of Resistance and once ranked 8th in the entrance exam to study at this school. Luo Shengjiao, the famous internationalist fighter who sacrificed himself during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, was also a student who enlisted from this school, and the school built a 'Shengjiao Hall' in his memory. Today, the school has graduated over 20,000 junior and senior high school students, and the various talents it has cultivated are found all over the world.
After the founding of New China in 1949, with the establishment of Jishou County, the original Qiancheng County in Qianzhou was abolished in 1953. Afterwards, Qianzhou became the seat of a county-administered district and town government. With its institutions withdrawn and administrative status reduced, Qianzhou temporarily lost its former glory, and ancient Qianzhou fell silent and desolate for many years. Today, with the continuous expansion of the capital city of Xiangxi Prefecture, Qianzhou has basically merged with Jishou City. From Jishou to Qianzhou, a main road runs through the entire area, and both sides of the road have basically been developed. The Jishou municipal government is also planned to move to Qianzhou. With the rise of the great western development boom, ancient Qianzhou will surely regain new vitality in the near future.