Quyang

I wanted to visit a town way off the tourist path, and Quyang was that town. Unlike Zhengding and my next destination, Dingzhou, Quyang is not even connected by railway. Apart from a large temple and a crumbling pagoda, Quyang has nothing for tourists. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Quyang, but was moderately surprised to see old-style buildings in the temple area. Apparently the local government wishes to attract tourism.

Quyang is not very well developed. Unlike the massive apartment towers in Zhengding, Quyang, had squat little apartment blocks, and I didn’t see a KFC there. Having a KFC is the mark of a city in China. Quyang’s claim to fame is its sculpture industry. Before I left on my trip, I did a quick internet search of Quyang and found a reuters article about the sculpture industry. It seems as though the economic downturn has severely affected Quyang, with orders drying up for the Greek style sculptures. Not surprisingly, there is little domestic demand for these kind of sculptures, so they sit in the workyards of Quyang. On my way out of town, I passed tons of these workshops filled with garish statues.

Overall, I quite enjoyed Quyang. The Beiyue temple was spectacular, and it was kinda fun stumbling across a decrepit pagoda in the midst of hutongs. People were very friendly to me in Quyang, which was nice, and no one tried to cheat me. I got a lot of stares but thankfully no hellos.