Atlas of China
Hezhou 贺州Hèzhōu
Ming lanes under karst peaks, Yao covered bridges and Hakka walled houses
About Hezhou
Hezhou fills the corner where Guangxi meets Hunan and Guangdong, and Hakka, Yao and Zhuang communities live among its forested hills. Huangyao Ancient Town, a Song-founded market town of more than 300 Ming and Qing buildings ringed by karst peaks, was a location for the 2006 film The Painted Veil. In Fuchuan Yao Autonomous County, roofed wind-and-rain bridges span streams along an old road from Hunan, and Hakka clans built walled compounds such as the Jiang family house at Liantang.
What to eat in Hezhou
- Stuffed vegetables and tofu, niang (贺州菜酿)
Listed sites in Hezhou
17 sites in Hezhou are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.
- Huangyao Ancient Town 黄姚古镇 5A scenic area
A market town ringed by karst hills in Zhaoping County, founded in the Song dynasty, built up in the late Ming and at its most prosperous under the Qing Qianlong emperor, and named after its two main clans, the Huangs and the Yaos. - Daguishan National Forest Park 大桂山国家森林公园 4A scenic area · on the map
A national forest park in the Dagui Mountains at Butou town, south of Hezhou city, one of the first national forest parks approved in China, with forest covering about 93% of its area. - Fuchuan Eco-Agriculture Science Park 富川生态高值农业科技示范园 4A scenic area · on the map
An agricultural demonstration park of about 58 ha near Fuli town, centred on a 9,600 m² greenhouse that shows soilless and hydroponic vegetable growing and giant vegetable-shaped displays. - Fuchuan Ming City 富川古明城 4A scenic area · on the map
The old walled county town of Fuchuan, begun in 1396 under the Ming, through which the Xiaohe Ancient Road, the old road linking the Xiao River in Hunan with the He River, entered by the north gate and left by the south. - Gui River Scenic Area, Zhaoping 昭平桂江 4A scenic area · on the map
A 25 km stretch of the Gui River, the lower course of the Li River, centred on Zhaoping town, from Songlin Gorge upstream to Matan Gorge downstream. - Gupo Mountain National Forest Park 姑婆山 4A scenic area · on the map
A forested mountain park about 26 km north of central Hezhou, near the Hunan and Guangdong borders, with 25 peaks over 1,000 m and a highest summit of 1,844 m, the tallest in eastern Guangxi; its many cliffs give waterfalls in almost every ravine. - Jade Stone Forest, Hezhou 玉石林 4A scenic area · on the map
A rare stone forest of white marble, the stone known in Chinese as 'Han white jade', in Huangtian town north of Hezhou. - Linhe Old City (Hejie) 临贺故城 4A scenic area · National heritage site · on the map
The old town of Hejie, on both banks of the Lin River where it joins the He, was the seat of Linhe county and later of Hezhou for some 2,000 years, from the founding of Linhe County in 111 BC until the county offices moved to Babu in 1952. - Nanshan Tea Plantation, Zhaoping 南山茶海 4A scenic area · on the map
Tea gardens covering the hills just south of Zhaoping town, ringed by mountains and often wrapped in mist, known for the county's early spring tea. - Shenxian Lake & Shenjian Stone Forest 神仙湖·神剑石林 4A scenic area · on the map
Two adjoining scenic spots in Fuli town in the farm country east of Fuchuan: Shenxian Lake, a lake with rural scenery beside the old village of Babailing, and the Shenjian Stone Forest, a small cluster of sword-like limestone pinnacles. - Shibashui (Eighteen Waters) Scenic Area 十八水 4A scenic area · on the map
A forested valley on the northern outskirts of Hezhou, below Gupo Mountain, where a stream drops through a long chain of waterfalls and pools, a type of stepped cascade uncommon in southern China. - Xixi Forest Hot Spring Resort 西溪森林温泉 4A scenic area · on the map
A hot-spring resort in forested hills at Nanxiang town in eastern Hezhou, where the spring water comes out at up to 86.5°C. More than a hundred outdoor pools are spread through the woods, from plain spring-water pools to a children's water park and a hilltop infinity pool, with hotel rooms, villas and inns on site. - Yingjia Village & CPC Guangxi Provincial Committee Memorial Park 英家·中共广西省工委纪念园 4A scenic area · on the map
Yingjia, in Qingtang town in south-western Zhongshan County, is an old market village near the Xiaohe Ancient Road that prospered from the late Ming onward. - Ziyun Cave (Ziyun Wonderland) 紫云洞 4A scenic area · on the map
A limestone cave in a karst hill at Limu village, Etang town, on the south-western edge of Hezhou city, lit with coloured lights. - Fuchuan Yao Wind-and-Rain Bridges 富川瑶族风雨桥群 National heritage site · on the map
Twenty-seven covered bridges built between the late Ming and the late Qing over streams and fields near old villages along the Xiaohe Ancient Road in Fuchuan Yao Autonomous County, home to Yao and Han communities; they come in stone-arch, stone-beam and timber-beam forms, topped by tiled galleries and pavilions that mix the Chinese covered-bridge tradition with Yao building features. - Jiang Family Hakka Walled House, Hezhou 江氏客家围屋 National heritage site · on the map
A large Qing-dynasty walled compound of the Hakka Jiang clan in Renchong village, Liantang town: square and symmetrical, enclosed by a wall about 3 m high, with halls, corridors, rooms and light wells interlocking inside, and fine carving of qilin, dragons, phoenixes, birds and flowers on its eaves, windows, screens, beams and pillars. - Ma Yin Temple (Hundred-Pillar Temple), Fuxi 马殷庙 National heritage site · on the map
Two temples in Fuxi village honouring Ma Yin, the 10th-century King of Chu in the Five Dynasties period: the Ma Chu Great King Temple, founded in 1396 and moved here in 1848, and a temple founded in 1413 whose hall, the Hundred-Pillar Temple, stands on 120 timber columns raised on stone bases, with an opera stage in front.
On the map
Open Hezhou on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.
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