Jianshi

Jianshi County is located in the mountainous southwest of Hubei and is under the administration of the Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. It is near the main branch of the Yangtze River, and the Yangtze tributary Qing River passes through the county. Here, old traditions live on and remain quite popular. Locals continue to “marry off the caterpillar” by constructing paper caterpillars, coloring them with plant materials from their fields, and then using them to magically drive away pests. They also celebrate the festival for the Cow Lord Bodhisattva (Maitrāyaṇīputreṇa) and “dry the dragon robe” by setting their clothing out in the sunshine on an appointed day, in imitation of the old imperial tradition of the emperor setting his dragon robe out in the sunshine on a certain day. The Tujia people enjoy a range of entirely original tea beverages and soups. “Oil tea soup” (youchatang), is a complex concoction of fried tea leaves, noodles, and soybeans boiled into a soup with other vegetables. They also make “salt tea soup” (yanchatang) and “pot tea” (guanguancha), a tea made by a complex brewing process that includes roasting and steeping Chinese dates and longan fruit. Famous sights include the Chaoyang Guanfeng (“Chaoyang Lookout”) Scenic Area, the Jingyangxia (“Jingyang Gorge”) Scenic Area, and the Shizhu Guanfeng (“Stone Pillar Lookout”) Scenic Area.