Dianjiang is a 1,000-year-old city featuring peony flowers and the land transport hub in East Chongqing. As an important grain-producing area and population center in Bayu, it is also reputed as “Hometown of Chinese Peony Flower,” “Granary of Ba,” and “Hometown of Stone-ground Tofu Pudding.”

 

Dianjiang owns abundant natural resources, enchanting views, a large population, numerous outstanding people, and prosperous civilization, making it ever so attractive for tourists.

Chinese peony flowers beautifying Dianjiang

Dianjiang is the hometown of the Chinese peony flower. The flower can be seen everywhere in the county. Comes March and April, a 30-kilometer hilly area on Mingyue Mountain will welcome a sea of peonies.

There are more than 100 species of peonies in Dianjiang, of which over 30 are originated from there, including Taipinghong. The county has established three tourist attractions for peony appreciation since the beginning of the 21st century. They are Taiping Peony Garden, Huaxia Peony Garden, and Peony and Cherry Blossoms World. Every year, millions of domestic and foreign tourists come there for sightseeing.

The root bark of the peony is called cortex moutan, and a valuable Chinese herbal medicine, which is in the ascendant in this industry. In recent years, Dianjiang sees a significant improvement in the comprehensive development and utilization of the peony, and it has created edible peony oil, toilet soap, skincare products, etc. Thus, the county builds a peony industry covering numerous fields.

Dianjiang Stone-ground Tofu Pudding becoming famous nationwide

People can see Dianjiang Stone-ground Tofu Pudding everywhere in Chongqing. This traditional local food and intangible cultural heritage have become nationally renowned.

Selecting Dianjiang soybeans as the raw material and bittern the coagulator, Dianjiang people soak soybeans before using the stone mill to grind them and then filter, boil, and coagulate the soymilk. Without pressing, the Tofu Pudding can be eaten with condiments directly.

Nowadays, Dianjiang Stone-ground Tofu Pudding has been well-known nationwide, with an industrial scale of several billion RMB. 

Rural tourism revitalizing the county

In the spring of 1999, Deng Zhengyou, the Secretary of the Party Committee of Taiping Town, surveyed Longhua Village. He found the flowers of the medicinal plant grown all over the mountains by the locals bright-colored and gorgeous, so he conceived the idea of developing rural tourism. In the next spring, the 1st Dianjiang Peony Cultural Festival was staged in Nanzhu Mountain of Longhua Village. Since then, the peony has possessed both the ornamental value and the medicinal value; thus, the rural tourism emerged in Dianjiang, bringing the county great wealth. It accurately verifies that clear waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets.

Now, Longhua Village has been renamed as Mudan Village. With the beautiful village, convenient transportation, and civilized customs, rural tourism featuring peony appreciation has become the primary source of income of the villagers.