Longsheng Town

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.

Baimian Yao Village

Surround by verdant woods, the village is situated in Longsheng Hot Spring National Park, 6 km from Longsheng hot spring. With a total area of 35000 square kilometers and construction area of 3000 square kilometers, the village was now inhabited by 35 households of Red Yao people.

Although the history of the village can be traced back to the Song dynasty, the Yao people's drinking and eating culture, their customs and habits, and their costume ornaments all have been perfectly preserved. Once entering this Yao village, one will feel as if he was in a Yao village a thousand years ago.

Yinshui Dong Village

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.

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 thisrebellion, 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.

ee drum-tower and Wind and Rain Bridge, which is a unique complex acting as bridge, pavilion as well as corridor simultaneously.

Dragon's Backbone Rice

In the south-east of Long Sheng County in Guangxi Province and within the land of Ping Xiang, there is a group of large-scaled rice terraces built into the hillside. Some of the terraces look like great chains, other look like ribbons. They wind from the foot to the top of the hill. The smaller ones are like snails and the bigger ones like towers. There are layers on layers of terraces, high and low. The outline is very smooth. Its scale is enormous. It is called "The champion of the terrace world". It is the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces. By the way, Long Sheng is also the gathering land for the minorities, such as Yao, Dong, Zhuang and Miao. The stockaded villages' backs face the hills and their fronts face the river.

The Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces is 27 kilometers from Long Sheng County, and it is 80 kilometers from Guilin city. The total area of this scenic spot is 66 square kilometers. The altitudes of the terraces vary between 300 meters & 1100 meters with sloping grades between 26 degrees and 35 degrees. The steepest slope is 50 degrees. Although there are terraces everywhere in the mountain areas of South China, it is extremely rare to see a terrace as big as the dragon ridge terrace.

Long Ji Mountain (the Dragon's Backbone Mountain) is a high mountain and its peak, Mao Er peak, is the highest in South China. With its foundation such a high mountain, how can the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces not be winding and boundless! The total area of the Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces is 1014 hectares, and the whole terrace is built on the hillside with attitude from 300 meters to 1100 meters. Layers of terraces swirl and climb up from the river valley of torrent to the top of the hills where there are a lot of clouds. If you look toward the horizon, you would see that blocks of terraces are found to hand in hand, from the steep cliff to the end of the lush trees. Everywhere there is mud, there are cultivated terraces. Specifically speaking, the core of the terraces is a big land with area of two or three square kilometers.

The Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces was built from Yuan Dynasty to the beginning of Qing Dynasty. It has already been more than 650 years in history.

The four seasons in the terraces have different features. The lands of each season present us a miracle. It is funny that in this big terrace world, the biggest block is not more than one Mu (Chinese acre. One Mu equals to 670 square meters.).

Zhuang and Yao people live in this Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces scenic spot, and mainly are Zhuang people. Their dress is unique. Here you can feel the original Zhuang people's feelings. You can enjoy some dancing arts, such as pole dancing and lion dancing from Zhuang and reedpipe dancing from Yao. Also, you may come across the local customs of long hair combing (It is a way women comb their hair). Besides, you can also enjoy the simple living rooms in the zhuang villages, pure Longji(the dragon's backbone) tea and Longji(the dragon's backbone) wine.

Hot Spring National Park

Longsheng Hot Spring National Park is located at the upper reach of Sangjiang River in the southern end of the Yuecheng Ridges, 129 kilometers from Guilin City and 29 kilometers from Longsheng County. Covering an area of 10 square kilometers, the park, with a high elevation, has become a favorable place for visitors. Standing in the park, one may be charmed by the wave-like ridges and peaks, queer rocks, luxuriant trees, deep gorges and clear creeks. Major rare flora and fauna there include such plants as gingko and long-stalk hairy beech, and such rare animals as black bear, rhesus monkey, deer, musk, civet, and giant salamander. Hot Spring National Park has many interesting sights; the most famous include Longshen Hot Spring, Yanmen Gorge, and Baiman "Queer" Rock.

Longsheng Hot Spring

Longsheng Hot Spring, reputed as "a heaven of peace and happiness" and "paradise on earth," is the centerpiece of the national park. Welling out from rock cracks halfway up the mountain, the hot spring water is colorless, tasteless, pure and clear, 54-58 degrees centigrade, and consists of many trace elements, such as lithium, strontium, iron, manganese, zinc, copper and other elements. The water is good for drinking and bathing. It also has curative effects for nerves, skin diseases, rheumatism, and arthritis. Since Longsheng Hot Spring is situated in a deep and tranquil valley and surrounded by mountains of dense vegetation, it is warm in winter and cool in summer. It is an agreeable resort for tourism, recuperation, health, relaxation and vacation.

Yanmen Gorge Rafting

Another spot that attracts much attention from tourists is Yanmen Gorge Rafting Course located in the national park. Roaring in between the breath-taking mountain ranges, the torrential currents make an ideal place for rafting throughout the course, which is a great experience, thrilling but dangerous, challenging but amusing. Ninety meters above the rafters, an iron-chain bridge 120 meters long and 1.5 meters wide spans the Yanmen Canyon. Those who ascend to such heights may enjoy an excellent view. Since this place is dangerous, not many foreign tourists will choose it except some Chinese who is very familiar with the route.

"Baimian" Queer Rock

Four kilometers away from Longsheng Hot Spring, there stands a grotesque rock "Baimian Queer Rock". Several meters long and sticking out of the slope of a mountain inhabited by the Yao people, the rock resembles the tongue of a dragon.

On the rock there are some Chinese inscriptions. There is a story to these inscriptions. On December 9, 1934, when the Chinese Workers and Peasants Red Army was passing through on its long march, the Yao chief in this region followed the advice of a commander of the Third Red Army and called on his people to adopt the path of revolution. Therefore, he wrote on the rock face, "Go on to fight, and fight for the bright future" and "The Red Army absolutely protects the Yao people". Later on, the sentences were carved by local people, using a Yao chief's writing as a model.