Qianxinan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture 黔西南布依族苗族自治州

Setting and landscape

The Nanpan River (南盘江) runs along the southern border and the Beipan (北盘江) through the east; they meet at Shuangjiangkou (双江口) in Wangmo County (望谟县) to form the Hongshui River (红水河). The land is highest in the west and north, reaching 2,207.2 metres on the Qishe (七舍) and Pengzha (捧乍) plateau in Xingyi, and lowest, 275 metres, beside the Hongshui in Wangmo. Wanfenglin (万峰林), a 5A-rated area in Xingyi, is called by the prefecture the most fully developed example of cone-shaped peak-forest karst in China.

History

Eastern Han tombs at Wantun (万屯) in Xingyi and Jiaole (交乐) in Xingren (兴仁市) have yielded a bronze horse and carriage and "money trees"; both cemeteries are national key cultural relics. In 1652 the Southern Ming Yongli emperor (永历帝) took up residence at Anlong (安笼). Fossils known as Guizhou long (贵州龙), about 240 million years old, were first found in 1957 at Lüyin village (绿荫村) in Xingyi. The 24-bend road at Qinglong (晴隆二十四道拐) carried international aid supplies during the war against Japan; relics such as the "US Army wall" survive, and it became a national key cultural relic in 2006. Buyei bayin (布依八音), sung to eight kinds of instruments at festivals, weddings and house-raisings, joined the national intangible-heritage list the same year.

What to see

Maling River Canyon (马岭河峡谷), a national scenic area in Xingyi, is a gorge 200 to 400 metres wide and deep whose walls are hung with travertine falls; its 1.7-kilometre Tianxing Gallery (天星画廊) holds 13 waterfalls 120 to 200 metres high. Wanfeng Lake (万峰湖), 28 kilometres south of Xingyi on the three-province border, covers 176 square kilometres. In Anlong the Zhaodi (招堤), a stone dyke built in 1694 to protect the town from floods, stands beside a wetland planted with lotus.

Food and local products

Zhenfeng glutinous rice (贞丰糯米饭), known since the Qing Jiaqing reign and on Guizhou's provincial intangible-heritage list since 2014, is soaked glutinous rice steamed twice and fried in lard, topped with thin slices of spiced lean pork fried golden. Anlong's lotus ponds supply lotus-root starch and lotus-leaf tea.

Getting oriented

Xingyi and Xingren are county-level cities; the six counties are Pu'an (普安县), Qinglong (晴隆县), Zhenfeng (贞丰县), Wangmo, Ceheng (册亨县) and Anlong (安龙县). The Shanghai–Kunming and Shantou–Kunming expressways cross the prefecture.

Highlights

• Wanfenglin 万峰林: 5A-rated cone-shaped peak forest in Xingyi, called by the prefecture China's most fully developed example.
• Maling River Canyon 马岭河峡谷: National scenic area in Xingyi: a gorge 200-400 m wide and deep with travertine falls and 13 waterfalls in the Tianxing Gallery.
• Qinglong 24 bends 晴隆二十四道拐: Wartime aid-supply road with the 'US Army wall'; a national key cultural relic since 2006.
• Wanfeng Lake 万峰湖: Lake of 176 km2 on the Guizhou-Yunnan-Guangxi border, 28 km south of Xingyi.
• Zhaodi 招堤: Stone flood dyke of 1694 at Anlong, beside lotus wetland.
• Zhenfeng glutinous rice 贞丰糯米饭: Twice-steamed glutinous rice fried in lard with slices of spiced fried pork; provincial intangible heritage since 2014.