Longsheng
Longsheng county in northeastern
Guangxi province was the earliest county
to be established in southern China.
Longsheng town is situated in
a densely forrested area of over 2400 square
kilometres and has a population of only
160 000 people. It is surrounded by mountains
in four sides and lies 100 kilometres north
of Guilin, as well as in the joint area
of Heping River and Sang River. Built on
the mountain slopes, the town boasts rows
of tall buildings separated by banyan trees.
Close to Longsheng town there
are the Hot Spring National Park and the
Dragon's Backbone Rice Terraces: 60square
kilometers of terraced rice fields southeast
of Longsheng. They were first built in the
Yuan dynasty and completed in the Qing dynasty
by 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.
Only two kilometres west of
Longsheng Town you will come to the Yinshui
Dong Village. It is named after the waterfall
that runs down from the mountaintop resembling
a long silver chain.
It is said that the village
was founded during the Tang-Song dynasties
and gained fame due to the hard work of
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. The Qing government
hastily sent troops from neighboring provinces
to put down the rebellion. After the failure
of this rebellion, the village moved to
another place and the original village was
abandoned. In recent years, with the development
of local tourism, Dong people were invited
to return their home village with the 101st
village chief of the Wu clan.In this village,
you can see an old drum-tower and the famous
Wind and Rain Bridge, which is a unique
76 metre long complex consisting of five
pavillions connected by corridors. The Ma
Pang Drum tower 25 kilometres north of Longsheng
town is the largest of its kind: It is a
12 metre high wooden construction: a nine-story
wooden roof held up by wooden pillars. Such
towers (resembling Chinese pagodas) were
set up as meeting points in almost every
Dong village.
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