Ding'an County
Known of old as Dingyang, this northern Hainan county honours the Song Daoist Bai Yuchan at Wenbi Peak beside Nanli Lake.
A place shaped through time
Ding'an lies inland in northeastern Hainan, where the Nandu River runs along its northern edge and has laid down a fertile plain. Known in older texts as Dingyang, its county town, Dingcheng, has long been a market and school centre, and locals speak the Ding'an variety of the Fucheng Hainanese dialect. The solitary Wenbi Peak rises above Yuchan Palace, a shrine to Bai Yuchan, the Southern Song founder of the Southern School of Daoism, which makes it a focus of Daoist culture on the island. Nanli Lake winds between wooded hills and small islands. Ding'an rice dumplings, filled with pork and salted egg yolk, are the county's best-known festival food.