Longsheng
Terraced Fields
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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