Guilin Counties

Besides Guilin City area, counties of Guilin also have many interesting things to explore. There are ten counties and two autonomous counties in Guilin. They are:
 

Ten counties: Lingui County, Yangshuo County, Lingchuan County, Xing'an County, Quanzhou County, Yongfu County, Ziyuan County, Guanyang County, Pingle County, Lipu County.
 

Two autonomous counties: Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County, Longsheng Various Nationalities Autonomous County

 

Among them, Yangshuo and Longsheng are two most famous ones for travellers to go.

The well known saying, "Guilin is the most beautiful city of natural scenery in the world, but next to Yangshuo" manifests the importance of Yangshuo's natural landscape in the world tourism. Yangshuo has the sub-tropical monsoon climate, with temperate weather all the year round. It has the most typical karst topography, with abruptly standing hills spotted everywhere within the county. The hills are of various shapes, some looking like a utensil, some like a man or an animal. The hills are covered with evergreen forest of trees and bamboos. Each hill has caves, and each cave is fantastic with sparkling and crystal-clear stalactites taking peculiar shapes. The rivers in Yangshuo are green and clear in dreaming flow.

 

The river is a blue silk ribbon, the peaks are hairpins of jade.' This is the best description of Yangshuo's scenery written by Han Yu, the famous literary writer in Tang Dynasty.

 

Situated northeast of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 100 Km away from Guilin, Longsheng is a fascinating scenic spot for tourism. It is well known for her enchanting scenery, plenty of local products and several of colorful national minorities’ customs. The Dragon Backbone terraced fields are second to none in the world by its scenery beauty. Surrounded by green hills and with fresh air and pure and clean water, the Hot-spring of Longsheng is an ideal resort for both tourism and health care. And adjacent to the hot spring, the Forest Park is covered with thick forest. There are precipitous suspension bridge, lovely monkeys as well as the intoxicating scene inside the park. All these will make you reluctant to leave.

 

It is about two hours drive to the north through twisty mountain roads from Guilin to Longsheng town. It is also possible to get to Longsheng on public transport from Guilin. From Longsheng, the Longji terraces are a further hour or so by local bus. Buses can take you straight to either one of the villages from Longsheng, enquire which village beforehand, if you have one in mind for late-arrival accommodation purposes. Once there, travel between the two villages is straightforward. Its faster if you change the Bus at Heping instead of Longsheng - one village before Longsheng, but there is no Busterminal and you have to wait on the Road and also some taxidrivers will bother you. The Busses to Longsheng leave fronm 2011 from the new Busterminal near the LIQ-Brewerie.

 

Lingui County is located in the western Guilin. It is an industrial area of Guilin. Located 6km away from Guilin city, Lingui County has a history of more than 2,000 years. From the Three Kingdom Period, Lingui County had been the political center for hundreds of years.

 

Quanzhou County is located in the northwestern Guilin, on the upper reach of Xiangjiang River. It is called the gateway of western Guangxi. Covering an area of 4,021 square kilometers, Quanzhou County has a population of 78,000 people (in 2009).

 

Quanzhou Town has been developed into a complete economic system integrating finance, business and culture into one.

 

Xing’an County plays a key role in the history. Since the ancient time, Xing’an County is the area of Han ethnic culture and Lingnan culture. Especially after the Lingqu Canal was finished, Xing’an became the tie to connect the culture of middle land and Lingnan area. It promotes the exchange of both areas in politics, economy and culture. And Xing’an County also possesses the profound historic culture since that time.

 

Tongfu County is located in the northwestern Guangxi. Yongfu County is famous as a long life town. Green hills and clean rivers make people live longer than the average ones.

 

Guanyang County is located in the east side of Guilin. As another county which is focus on agriculture field of Guilin, the scene of Guangyang can be summarized into the following sentence “Farmlands are surrounding hills, rivers are surrounding villages”.

 

Ziyuan County is a dwelling area for Guangxi minority people. The beautiful landscape in this county makes it as a travel resort. While the rich resources such as forests, land source, medical materials and local products also make this county develop very well. Besides the economy, Ziyuan County has developed many travel scenic sports.

Pingle County is located in the southeastern Guilin. It is in a convenient location that can be easily got by bus. The golden channel Li River can ensure a cruise from Pingle County to Guilin City.

Lipu County is located in the southern Guilin. Built in Western Han Dynasty, Lipu is a county with the history of more than 2000 years. The famous local product of Lipu County is the taro. Well taste of Lipu taro makes it as one of the most popular food among Guilin people.

 

Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County is located in the southeastern Guilin. Covering an area of 2,149 square meters, the population here is about 27,800 people, among them are minorities such as Yao, Han, Zhuang, Miao, etc. And because Yao ethnic people takes the largest proportion, thus it got the name Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County.