Furong Town (Hibiscus Town)

This is the still of movie named Furong Town. It is the movie that makes this time-honored town nationwide famous in a short time. and the landscape as well as the touching story in movie both impress the audience deeply. Enjoy it and learn more, if possible!

Furong Town or Hibiscus Town is located Yongshun County of Western Hunan Tujia and Miao  Autonomous Prefecture. It started to be famous for a movie named Furong Town as well. Furong Town is an ancient town with more than 2000 years of history. It is on the riverside of Youshui River with 51 kilometers far from county center. Thanks to its convenient waterways, visitors can easily arrive in Sichuan and Guizhou provinces as well as Tongting Lake. Anciently, Furong Town was the business port in Yongshun County. Furong Town boasts The Great Town of Youyang, Little Nanjing as well as one of Top-Four Famous Towns in West Hunan Province.

Apart from known as a time-honored town with thousands of years of history, Furong Town is also a famous tourist destination strongly featured by its natural landscape and folk custom. Furong Town is also the attraction of Mengdong River Scenic Area, another famous destination over there. Furong Town is surrounded by the green mountains and rivers. In town, many deep and long lanes and streets weave the transportation of civilians. Diaojiaolou of Tujia Nationality on the riverside and 2500-meter street paved with green flagstone impress the comers with the strong local features of local people of Tujia nationality.

Xizhou Copper Column listed in cultural sites under the national protection is the historic evidence of political and military history of Tujia people. Currently, Xizhou copper column is preserved in Folk Museum of Furong Town. In 940, Ma Xifan, King of Chu Area reached an agreement with local leader of Xizhou after a long-time war. They both agreed to administrate different regions respectively in accordance with their agreement. For confirming this, they founded a copper column with the weight of 2500 kilograms. They engraved the story of the war and the items of agreement on the copper column. In 1018, the local people added some information of the local officials on the column. But later this copper column was stolen, and it was sunk in the bottom of the river, the copper coins and treasures in column were lost. In 1885, Zhang Zengyang, the local official built a pavilion to preserve it. During the time of Republic of China, the pavilion was destroyed. But this copper column is still kept well. Xizhou Copper Column is the important historic evidence to research on the ancient history of Tujia people. And it is also considered to be the sacred object of Tujia people.

 

Both movie and novel named Furong Town touch the audience and readers too much. As the location of the film and the original model of novel, Furong town is always a mysterious destination for travelers. Its original appearance and natural environment are both the aspects to show its lasting charm.

Starting from the port, visitors walk on the stone steps and go through this 2500-meter street paved with green flagstone. This street is not named, and the local people named it Wulichangjie which means 2500-meter long street. Wandering on the street, people may feel the history of this town. In folk-custom museum, many local original machines or objects are available such as manual cotton machine, flower-carving bed and others. Hundreds of the tools and displayed articles mostly show the long and rich history of Tujia people. The museum operator said these objects of exhibition are all collected by a young man of Tujia nationality for a long time. This three-storey building, half above the water held with concrete columns and half based on the riverbank, is experiencing the time and story. The wooden houses with green tiles on both sides of the streets are strongly featured by local architectural style. There are several shops among the houses. Exactly, they are the workshops rather than the shops. The workshops have many orginal brocade machines. On the wall, many works such as satchels, beddings and hangings are available. Visitors can pause to see the making process when the girls weaving the brocade and also can see the displayed articles. It is said that the local girls only make brocade for their Mr. Right and relatives. What more interesting is the rice-made tofu, which is easily available on the street. It is of course the unique of this town, and many years ago, it was shown in the famous movie of Furong Town. The local snacks are also welcome. At night, many snack shops are slightly lightened by the dim lamplight. The fresh and delicious Laurel Fish and First Winkle on Earth are the unforgettable part of memory or experience that visitors have in Furong Town.

 

The old street and the old house	The ancient building

This is a simple and small town apt to a countryside village. The life in this town is little changed although the outside of the town has been immensely changed. That maybe is the major reason why it is so attractive and charming in mind of visitors. Come here and just see it with heart.