Get to know Pingle County
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- Administrative area
- County · 县
- Part of
- Guilin
- Chinese name
- 平乐县
- Local areas
- County guide
Area & population
- Area in the source
- 1,919.34 km²
- Administrative seat
- Pingle Town
Source: cited geographic source, as of the dates shown.
Setting and landscape
The Li River (漓江), the Lijiang River (荔江) and the Cha River (茶江) join at Pingle to form the Gui River, which runs through the county; the Li River itself is reckoned to end at Sanjiangkou (三江口), the three-river mouth at Pingle. China News Service notes that this waterway has long been called a thoroughfare between Guangdong and Guangxi (两粤通衢, "the road linking the two Yue"), and that north–south trade along it gave rise to Pingle stuffed dishes.
History
Pingle has been a county for about 1,800 years. Groups of ancient tombs at Yang'an (阳安) and Zhangjia (张家), dated from the Warring States period to the Jin, and at Ertang (二塘), dated from the Jin to the Tang, are protected at regional level. So is the Qing-dynasty Pingle Guangdong Guild Hall (平乐粤东会馆) at 55 Dajie in Pingle town (平乐镇).
Food and local products
The Chinese name promises eighteen (十八) kinds, but local cooks make far more, and a local saying holds that any vegetable can be stuffed and no banquet goes without stuffed dishes. A designated bearer of the Pingle stuffed-dish custom describes them as a meeting of northern dumpling-making and fresh southern produce. Pumpkin flowers are filled with fish, egg white, tofu and spring onion and steamed. Field-snail meat is chopped with pork and mushroom, seasoned with perilla and mint, packed back into the shells, then stir-fried and braised with sour bamboo shoot and chilli. Chard-leaf parcels hold glutinous rice, pork belly and peanuts. China News Service describes a family on Rongjin old street (榕津古街) in Zhangjia (张家镇) that prepares leaf-parcel, pomelo and mushroom stuffed dishes at every festival.
Highlights
- Pingle stuffed dishes 平乐十八酿: Vegetables, flowers and snails filled with meat, fish or rice; far more than eighteen kinds are made.
- Pingle Guangdong Guild Hall 平乐粤东会馆: Qing-dynasty hall at 55 Dajie, Pingle town; a regional-level protected site.
- Rongjin old street 榕津古街: Old street in Zhangjia where a family described by China News Service makes stuffed dishes at every festival.
Sources for this guide
【寻味中华】平乐十八酿，无菜不酿 · China News Service
平乐县 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia (Chinese) · CC BY-SA 4.0
漓江 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia (Chinese) · CC BY-SA 4.0
平乐县各级文物保护单位列表 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia (Chinese) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Original English written from the listed sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer. Updated 2026-09-25.
Explore Pingle County
Core places to explore, with English and Chinese names.
Places to explore around Pingle County
Pingle (Local life & food
Pingle County local specialties
平乐县特色美食 · 1 specialties to discover
Pingle stuffed dishes 平乐十八酿AI dish illustration · AI 菜品示意图
Different outer ingredients give the stuffed dishes distinct soft, crisp or chewy textures, even when their fillings share similar seasonings.
Source ↗Read the dish guide →All dish names · 全部菜名 (1)
More dishes from across Guangxi are in the Guangxi food guide.
Plan your visit
Getting there
Pingle County is about 80 km in a straight line from central Guilin. Search for 平乐县 in a map app to find stations and your accommodation.
Where to stay →Build your route
Start with Pingle. The linked place guides have entrance and visit details.
Continue with Guilin →More in Guilin
Sources & geographic information
Administrative names and parent areas: Official geographic directory · Reference date 2026-09-06.
Some facts checked against 平乐县 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Some facts checked against 漓江 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Some facts checked against 平乐县各级文物保护单位列表 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: Pingle · luchangjiang~鲁昌江 · CC BY-SA 3.0. Full frame retained; EXIF orientation normalized, proportionally resized to at most 800 pixels and converted to WebP. No generated pixels or subject changes. Cards may crop the display.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Pins mark approximate centres, not entrances or boundaries.