Guangfu in Handan: China’s One-of-a-Kind Water City

Handan sits at the junction of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan provinces. It is the only city among the four boasting an integrated transport network with intersecting railways, crisscrossing national highways, expressways and a civilian airport. Once the future Beijing-Zhengzhou High-Speed Railway, Qingdao-Lanzhou Expressway and the feeder hub expansion of Handan Airport are completed, the travel time between Handan and major central cities will be greatly shortened. Neighbouring the Beijing-Tianjin metropolitan area, Handan is roughly 200 kilometres away from four provincial capitals: Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, Jinan and Taiyuan, enjoying an extremely broad tourist market.

The Handan-Changzhi Railway winds through the urban area and connects with the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway. More than a dozen trains run daily from Beijing West Railway Station to Handan. Intercity trains T519/T520 and T525/T526 travel back and forth between Beijing West and Handan, with a journey time of about 4 hours and 20 minutes. Handan has a well-connected highway network. The Beijing-Shenzhen Expressway runs through the whole city, making the drive from Handan to Beijing only 5 hours.

Ancient Guangfu Town is located in Guangfu Town, Yongnian District, Handan City, Hebei Province. With a long history, picturesque natural scenery and profound cultural heritage, it is the only ancient city, water town and Tai Chi city of its kind across China.

Known historically as Quliang, Guangfu has served as the administrative seat of prefectures, governments, states and counties since the Western Han Dynasty. Before the Sui and Tang dynasties, it was an earthen city with a perimeter of six li and 240 paces. At the turn of the Sui and Tang dynasties, Dou Jiande, King of Xia, established his capital here. There are more than 20 cultural relics protected at national, provincial and municipal levels inside and outside the town, including Guangfu Ancient City, Hongji Bridge, former residences of Yang Luchan and Wu Yuxiang, the Tomb of Mao Sui, and the Troop-Hiding Caves.

The ancient town lies right in the centre of Yongnianwa, one of the three major low-lying wetlands in Hebei covering 46,000 mu. A moat stretching around 5 kilometres long encircles the city wall. With an average altitude of 41 metres, Yongnianwa holds water all year round with excellent water quality. Historically it was a famous natural aquaculture base, praised as a "land of fish and rice" in northern China.

This is the birthplace of Yang-style and Wu-style Tai Chi. It produced two founding masters: Yang Luchan and Wu Yuxiang, from whom Sun-style and Wu-style Tai Chi later developed. Since 1991, eleven sessions of the International Tai Chi Friendship Conference have been successfully held here to promote Tai Chi culture worldwide. In 2005, Yongnian was awarded the titles of "Hometown of Chinese Tai Chi" and "China Tai Chi Research Centre".

The planned area of Guangfu Tourist Zone covers 30.5 square kilometres with a controlled area of 100 square kilometres and a total investment of 660 million yuan. Key projects include: renovating inner-city streets into antique styles and restoring ancient residential courtyards such as the Wu Family Compound and the Tong Family Compound; carrying out restoration projects for cultural sites including emergency repairs to the ancient city wall, reconstruction of gate towers and expansion of Hongji Bridge Park; developing scenic spots such as ten-thousand-mu reed marshes and lotus wetlands; and improving infrastructure including roads and squares, as well as tourist facilities such as visitor centres and parking lots.

In recent years, Yongnian District invited Professor Ruan Yisan from Tongji University in Shanghai to compile the Conservation, Renovation and Development Plan for Guangfu Ancient City. With a cumulative investment of over 300 million yuan, the comprehensive development project of the moat has been fully completed. Infrastructure projects including the Four-Gate Bridge, the ring road and South Pond Road have been finished. New scenic attractions such as reed marshes and the ten-thousand-mu ecological angling centre have been developed. Cultural relics including the city wall, the former residences of Yang Luchan and Wu Yuxiang, and the Troop-Hiding Caves have been renovated. Hongji Bridge has been put under enclosed protection to fully display the town’s unique charm, and the area now has basic capacity to receive tourists.

At present, the Guangfu tourism project has become a core project of Hebei’s tourism development strategy and a flagship programme driving Handan’s tourism industry. As a satellite town within Handan’s "1+8" urban cluster, Guangfu has been named a "Famous Historical and Cultural Town of China" by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. Rising to global fame with its distinctive brand, Guangfu has become a popular tourist destination and a hot investment magnet for visitors and entrepreneurs at home and abroad.