Zigui

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Brief introduction:
Situated on the north bank of the Yangtze, half a dozen kilometers upstream from the west entrance to Xiling Gorge, Zigui is the hometown of Qu Yuan, one of China's greatly loved patriotic poets. Qu Yuan was from the State of Chu and lived during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC).
Zigui is alternatively known as Stone Town or Gourd Town because in ancient times its wall were of huge stone stabs and the city itself looked like a gourd.

Where the name came from?
In fact, the name Zigui is connected with Qu Yuan. Qu Yuan served as a chancellor to King Huai in the Kingdom of Chu and the king had complete trust in him. Later, court discord developed among the clans and Qu was falsely slandered. He was banished from the capital with deep sadness and bitterness. On hearing that Qu Yuan had been dismissed from office by the Chu ruler who was influenced by slanders against the upright poet-cum-statesman, his sister came back from her husband's home to see and encourage him. People, therefore, gave Qu Yuan's hometown the name of "Zigui", which means in Chinese "the Returning Sister". To memorialize him, a museum has been built outside the east end of the county seat. This structure was built during the Tang Dynasty (618--907). The stone figure of the poet is displayed here. Quyuantuo, has the former sites of Qu Yuan's tomb and temple. Now, an ancient arch bearing the words "Hometown of Qu Yuan" written by the contemporary scholar Guo Moruo (1892-1978) still stands in the city. A tablet at its side has the inscription "Hometown of Qu Yuan, High Minister of Chu".

History of the City
Zigui was first made a county in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.- 220 A.D.), and it became a prefecture in the Tang period (618-907) having under it several counties, a fact that shows its former importance along the Three Gorges. History tells that, during the Battle of Yiling in the Three Kingdoms period (220-280), Liu Bei, ruler of the state of Shu, defended Zigui against attack by the state of Wu. At the end of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) when the Mongol soldiers marched south, the seat of Zigui was moved to Yowanxi downstream, where traces of the town's erstwhile site can still be seen. The dilapidated town walls there were built in the Qing Dynasty.

Culturl related
The Zigui region used to be the cradle of the Chu Culture belonging to the system of the Ancient Southern China Culture. On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival (the fifth day of the fifth lunar month), the people of Zigui would gather along the riverside early in the morning to watch the boat races, one way to commemorate the poet Qu Yuan, who, as the story goes, threw himself into the Miluo River in order to protest against the tyrannical King of the Chu State. The mourning local people hoping to find his body beat drums to scare away fish and console the soul of the dead and dropped zongzi -- glutinous rice dumplings, into the water in the wish that fish would feast on the zongzi rather than on Qu Yuan. Finally, his body was carried back to Zigui by a magic carp that swam out of Dongting Lake. The villagers had him buried at Quyuantuo and erected a temple behind his grave. Over the years, this has gradually evolved into the Dragon Boat Festival with people eating zongzi on the day. What is fascinating about this particular race is that at the bow of each boat, there is a man singing for the purpose of calling back the soul of the deceased. Tourists will join a boat racing here when the ships stop at Zigui for shore excursions.
Today, the dragon boat racing and eating zongzi have been a tradition for worldwide Chinese people, and especially the people in the South East Asia.

Interesting places
Qu Yuan Temple
There is three main structures dedicated to the famous poet in the county: the Qu Yuan Temple, the Qu Yuan Tomb and the Qu Yuan former residence. Qu Yuan's memorial temple on the hillside east of the town has a distinctive white gateway and walls edged in red. It contains a statue of the poet from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) with many stone inscriptions.

Fragrant Stream (Xiangxi Stream)
Fragrant Stream (Xiangxi Stream) is a small stream just below Zigui and above the entrance to Xiling Gorge.
Six or seven kilometers northwest of Xingshan County there is a small village. Baoping Village is known to all Chinese as the home of the Western-Han-Dynasty (206 BC-AD220) beauty Wang Zhaojun, one of the four famous ancient beauties.
Zhaojun was a maid of honour to the Emperor during the Western Han Dynasty. She was beautiful and upright and she refused to bribe the painter whose portraits the Emperor traditionally used to chose his concubines. In revenge, the painter portrayed her as quite hideous, and so imperial favour was denied to her. In 22 B.C., in expectation of creating a good relationship between Xiongnu and Han people, the Emperor decided to make a marriage alliance with the northern Xiongnu king. Wang Zhaojun volunteered for the marriage. Zhaojun exerted a good influence on relations between the Xiongnu and Han peoples after her marriage, and for this she earned great respect. Local people say that before her marriage, Wang Zhaojun returned to her hometown and dropped a precious pearl when washing in the stream. This pearl caused the stream to become crystal-clear and fragrant.
In Zhaojun's hometown there are many places commemorating her including a Zhaojun Pavilion, Zhaojun Temple, Zhaojun's Former Residence, Nanmu Well and Dressing Table. There are sixteen steps leading to the Dressing Table and it symbolizes that Zhaojun lived there for sixteen years.
Among those moving stories and legends about this beautiful lady, the most famous one is about "Peach Fish". In this crystal stream there is a rare kind of creature like a small jellyfish. It has a pink finger-sized crystal body with an umbrella. In March, they swim onto the water, and with peach blossoms on each bank it is very beautiful phenomenon to watch. Legend has it that once, during Zhaojun's visiting her hometown, she wept so sadly that her tears fell into the stream and became the Peak Fish

Local procucts
Zigui is a major producer of tangerines and oranges. Walking through the dense citrus orchards reminds one of Qu Yuan's renowned Ode to the Orange Tree.