Laibin 来宾市

Setting and landscape

The ground is higher to the east and west and lowest in the middle. The Hongshui runs through the city itself and joins the Liu in the middle of the prefecture to form the Qian River (黔江), and the Tropic of Cancer crosses the area. Shengtang Mountain (圣堂山), the main peak of the Dayao range, is called the highest peak in central Guangxi by the city government and has broad rhododendron forests that flower in May. Xiangzhou (象州) has both hot and cold springs, with water up to 86°C, and was named a "China spring capital" in 2012.

History

The Qin set up Zhongliu County (中留县) in 214 BC, seated at Lema village in today's Wuxuan (武宣), and in 274 the Wu kingdom created Guilin Commandery (桂林郡), seated in today's Xiangzhou. Jinxiu Yao Autonomous County (金秀瑶族自治县) began in 1952 as the county-level Dayaoshan Yao Autonomous Region and took its present name in 1966; the city government calls it China's first Yao autonomous county. Laibin became a prefecture-level city in 2002, when Laibin County became Xingbin District (兴宾区). Its long-settled peoples are the Zhuang, Han and Yao.

What to see

The Mo chieftains' yamen (莫土司衙署) in Xincheng (忻城), begun in 1582 and nicknamed the "Forbidden City of the Zhuang", is a national key cultural relics protection unit; the city calls it China's largest and best-preserved chieftain complex. In Jinxiu, the Yao Museum (瑶族博物馆) opened in 1992 as what the city government calls China's first museum of the Yao, and the county's yellow-mud drum dance (黄泥鼓舞) and Yao stone-tablet custom (瑶族石牌习俗) are national intangible heritage. Baiya Grand Canyon (百崖大峡谷) in Dongxiang (东乡), Wuxuan, runs 10 kilometres with 37 bends and 10 waterfalls, and Wuxuan's Confucian temple, built in 1431, is, according to the city government, one of two surviving temples in Guangxi dedicated solely to Confucius.

Food and local products

Wuxuan's specialities include rice cakes (武宣米饼) and red-lees pickles (红糟酸), which visitors can learn to make, and the county also serves a local winnowing-basket banquet (簸箕宴). At Guzhan Yao village (古占瑶寨) in Jinxiu, Yao long-table feasts come with knife-ladder climbing and fire-walking shows.

Getting oriented

The city government sits in Xingbin District, 156 kilometres from Nanning (南宁), and the Hunan–Guangxi railway crosses the prefecture.

Highlights

• Mo chieftains' yamen 莫土司衙署: Chieftain complex in Xincheng begun in 1582, nicknamed the Forbidden City of the Zhuang; a national key cultural relics protection unit.
• Shengtang Mountain 圣堂山: Main peak of the Dayao Mountains in Jinxiu, with rhododendrons flowering in May.
• Yao Museum, Jinxiu 瑶族博物馆: Opened in 1992; the city government calls it China's first museum of the Yao.
• Baiya Grand Canyon 百崖大峡谷: Canyon in Dongxiang, Wuxuan, 10 km long with 37 bends and 10 waterfalls.
• Xiangzhou springs 象州温泉: Hot and cold springs, with hot water up to 86°C; named a China spring capital in 2012.