Lingchuan County 灵川县

Setting and landscape

Lingchuan sits in the southwest of the Nanling (南岭) mountains, with land that falls from the north and east towards the southwest. Middle and low mountains fill the northwest, northeast and southeast, and the highest peak, Guoditang Ding (锅底塘顶), reaches 1,722.4 metres; the centre and southwest are river terraces, karst peak forests and peak clusters. The Rong River (溶江) runs through the centre and south, and the county also holds the Qingshitan Reservoir (青狮潭水库). The climate is subtropical monsoon.

History

Lingchuan County was carved out of Shi'an County (始安县) in 662, under the Tang, with its seat at today's Sanjie (三街镇). It was merged into Lingui County (临桂县) in June 1954 and restored by the State Council on 27 March 1962. The old county town at Sanjie keeps a city wall, three gates and old courtyard houses. The Ming traveller Xu Xiake (徐霞客) stopped in Lingchuan twice, and the county culture and tourism bureau traces his routes through Haiyang (海洋乡) and the Daxu villages. In December 1934, after the Red Army broke through on the Xiang River (湘江), units of its Third Army Group under Peng Dehuai (彭德怀) passed through Xinzhai (新寨村) in Jiuwu (九屋镇) on their way to Longsheng (龙胜); the Lingchuan section of the Long March National Cultural Park is at Xinzhai.

What to see

Daxu Ancient Town (大圩古镇) lies on the Li River and keeps Ming and Qing flagstone streets, its old wharves and the spot where Sun Yat-sen landed and spoke in 1921; most of its shops are two-storey Ming and Qing buildings. Jiangtou Village (江头村) in Jiuwu, settled by descendants of the Northern Song thinker Zhou Dunyi (周敦颐), keeps its Ming and Qing layout and holds the Lingchuan Girls' Festival (灵川姑娘节), a regional intangible heritage item, on the 14th of the fifth lunar month. Changgangling (长岗岭村) in Lingtian (灵田镇) has more than 100 Ming and Qing buildings and an eco-museum of the old trade-route village, and Xiong Village (熊村), in the north of Daxu township, dates from the Song. The Gudong forest waterfalls (古东森林瀑群) are also in the county.

Highlights

• Daxu Ancient Town 大圩古镇: Li River trading town with Ming and Qing flagstone streets, old wharves and the site of Sun Yat-sen's 1921 speech.
• Jiangtou Village 江头村: Village of Zhou Dunyi's descendants in Jiuwu with an intact Ming–Qing layout; hosts the Lingchuan Girls' Festival.
• Changgangling Village 长岗岭村: Over 100 Ming and Qing buildings and an eco-museum of the old trade-route village.
• Gudong forest waterfalls 古东森林瀑群: Listed among Lingchuan's scenic areas.