The History and Culture of Zhaoyang Town

Zhaoyang has a long history. According to some cultural relics unearthed in Nantang, the existence of human beings in China can be traced back to the Neolithic Age about 4,000 years ago. Zhaoyang dialect belongs to Jianghuai dialect area. In the early Ming Dynasty, due to the influx of immigrants from Suzhou, Zhaoyang dialect also contained Wu dialect.

Zhaoyang diet contains culture and belongs to Weiyang cuisine. Cooking methods include stewing, stewing, steaming, roasting and frying. Famous dishes include steamed mandarin fish, fried shark slices, stewed chicken with drunken crabs, braised mandarin fish with vinegar, steamed stuffed buns with crab roe, rice cakes in water towns, crystal shrimps, preserved eggs with pine blossoms, and local snacks such as rice cakes, sweet-scented osmanthus jiaozi and casseroles.

There are still traditional cultural customs in Zhaoyang, such as boating on the lake, playing lotus lanterns, dancing dragons and fans, waist drums, drum horns, colored silk and colored balls, and their connotations are updated with the changes of history. In particular, there are many kinds of labor songs, such as yangko, kiln worker, cart water, ploughing, threshing and singing. Folk stories, folk songs and folk proverbs have been passed down to this day. The painting and calligraphy art of the sages represented by Li has great influence at home and abroad.

Zhaoyang Town is an ancient city of water culture with a long history of more than 2,300 years. During the Warring States period, it was the food city of General Zhao Yang of Chu, and was buried in Yangshan Mountain in the west of the city after his death, hence the name. In the second year of the Five Dynasties (AD 920), Xinghua County was established, and the calendar was the seat of county administration. 1March, 1988, Sa County was established as a city, which is also the residence of the municipal party committee and municipal government. The ancient town of Zhaoyang is the hometown of Liu Xizai, the "Oriental Hegelian School" among Zheng Banqiao, Shan Li and the "Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou".