Jiangzhou District 江州区

History

In the Mulanshan cave (木榄山智人洞) in Luobai township (罗白乡), excavators found two human teeth in 2007 and the front of a lower jaw in 2008 with features of emerging anatomically modern humans, dated to about 111,000 years ago. From 2007 the Guangxi Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (广西文物考古研究所) also excavated Neolithic shell-midden sites at Chongtang (冲塘) and Hecun (何村), dated to around 6,000 to 7,000 years ago, with stone and bone tools and dozens of burials.

In 214 BC the area belonged to the Qin commandery of Xiang (象郡). In the Song, after Di Qing (狄青) put down the rising of Nong Zhigao (侬智高), the Zuojiang garrison was renamed Taiping stockade (太平寨), the first use of the name Taiping; Chongshan County (崇善县) followed in 1053. From 1369 the area belonged to Taiping Prefecture (太平府), and in 1428, after the local chieftain Zhao Xian (赵暹) rebelled, hereditary rule gave way to appointed officials.

In April 1951 Zuo County (左县) and Chongshan merged, taking one character from each name to form Chongzuo County. In December 2002 the State Council replaced the county with Jiangzhou District as the seat of the new prefecture-level city of Chongzuo, which formally opened on 6 August 2003.

What to see

The Zuojiang Leaning Pagoda (左江斜塔), also called the Guilong Pagoda (归龙斜塔), stands on a rock island in the Zuo River and has been a national key protected monument since 2019; the district government notes that it is called one of the world's eight leaning towers. Huangchao City (黄巢城), 9 km east of the city on the south bank of the Zuo, is a natural stone wall about 100 m long across a valley, pierced by a square gate. Legend says Huang Chao (黄巢) camped here with his troops after a defeat at the end of the Tang, and a stone "horse" kneeling in the water and a rock called the Stone Dwarf (石矮子) have their own stories. The gate, the horse and the Stone Dwarf can all be seen from a boat on the Zuo.

The district also lists the Nongguan white-headed langur park (弄官白头叶猴生态公园), Shijinglin (石景林) and the Heishui River (黑水河), known as a "stone forest on the water".

Highlights

• Zuojiang Leaning Pagoda 左江斜塔: Pagoda on a rock island in the Zuo River, a national key protected monument since 2019.
• Huangchao City 黄巢城: Natural stone wall with a square gate on the south bank of the Zuo, 9 km east of the city, tied to legends of Huang Chao.
• Mulanshan cave 木榄山智人洞: Cave in Luobai township where a jaw about 111,000 years old with early modern-human features was found in 2008.
• Nongguan white-headed langur park 弄官白头叶猴生态公园: Park for the endangered white-headed langur listed among the district's sights.