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.