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Longsheng
Longsheng town, surrounded by mountains
in four sides, is situated in the northeast of Guangxi Zhuang
Autonomous Region, 100 km away from Guilin, as well as in
the joint area of Heping River and Sang River. It is a famous
tourist spot well-known for her enchanting scenery, plenty
of local products and various colorful ethnic groups' customs.
With a total area of 2442 square kilometers,
the town is inhabited by Yao, Miao, Dong, Zhuang and Han
people. Built on the mountain slopes, the town boasts rows
of tall buildings separated by banyan trees in some places.
Seen at some place, the town, with mountains extending far
and wide in verdant green while rivers winding through the
mountains like blue ribbons, resembles a Japanese bonsai.
Therefore, the town is also called Bonsai Mountain Town.
Longsheng town is an enchanting place. Continuous
mountains not only produce rich plants, animals, and minerals,
but also created wonderful sceneries such as Hot Spring
National Park and Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces, which
is second to none in the world
by its scenery beauty. In the Yangmen Gorge, there is loft
and rugged hills around it deep and narrow riverbed. And
the exciting drifting about the gorge will bring you unlimited
pleasure. Further more, a national-level reserve - Longsheng
Huaping Reserve lies here.
Besides, the ethnic groups' customs of Longsheng
is even more colorful. Unique Ethnic Group villages in local
area would provide people a chance to experience the cultures,
costumes, living styles and habits of various ethnic groups,
adding more charm to this small town.
There are about 66 square kilometers terraced
fields in southeast of Longsheng, 22.5 km. from the town
seat, of which the terraced fields in Heping county show
a picture of great momentum and imposing beauty, being reputed
as "unrivalled in the world" and made one of the
best 20 scenic spots in Guangxi.
Longji (Dragon's backbone)
terraced fields
Dragon's backbone terrace was first built
in the Yuan dynasty and completed in the Qing dynasty as
the crystallization of the wisdom and labor of the Zhuang
people. The terraced fields are built along the slope winding
from the riverside up to the mountaintop, with the highest
place of an elevation of 885m and the lowest 380m. The coiling
line spirals up from the mountain foot to the top, making
the mountain looks like huge snail seen from afar.
Located 2 km west of Longsheng town, the village
is named after the waterfall that runs down from the mountaintop
resembling a long silver chain from afar.
Yinshui Dong Village
It is said that the village was founded during
the Tang-Song dynasties and gained its fame due to the hard
work of the later generations of the Dong people. In 1737
during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing dynasty,
Wu Jinyin, the 82nd chief of Yinshui Dong Village, led the
Dong people to rise in rebellion with the support of the
Zhuang, Miao and Yao peoples against the Qing government.
Shocked and fidgeted, Qing government hastily sent troops
from the neighboring provinces to put down the rebellion.
After the failure of this rebellion, the village moved to
another place and the original village became abandoned.
In recent years, with the development of local
tourism, Dong people were invited to return their home village
with 101st village chief of the Wu clan. In this village,
you can see drum-tower and Wind and Rain Bridge, which is
a unique complex acting as bridge, pavilion as well as corridor
simultaneously.
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