Bama Yao Autonomous County 巴马瑶族自治县

Setting and landscape

The Panyang River rises in Fengshan County (凤山县) and runs through Bama, disappearing into karst caves and re-emerging five times before it flows into Cifu Lake (赐福湖). Most of the county's centenarians, the county says, live along its banks. The Yao, Zhuang and Han are among twelve ethnic groups living here, and Yao festivals such as the Panwang Festival (盘王节) of the Landian Yao (蓝靛瑶) are marked with five-colour glutinous rice and bronze-drum dances.

History

Wan'gang County (万冈县) was set up here in the winter of 1934 and abolished in 1953; on 6 February 1956 Bama Yao Autonomous County was founded, reviving the old place name Bama (岜马). The county was part of the Right River (右江) revolutionary base, where Deng Xiaoping, Zhang Yunyi and Wei Baqun (韦拔群) lived and fought. Xishan (西山), which the county calls "the Jinggangshan of Guangxi", was the command centre of the Right River revolution in the 1920s and 1930s. The former sites of the Red Army's Independent Third Division, the Right River Special Committee and the Right River Revolutionary Committee are protected at autonomous-region level.

What to see

Baimo Cave (百魔洞), a national AAAA scenic area in Poyue village (坡月村) 25 kilometres north-west of the county town, averages about 70 metres high and 50 metres wide, with a main route of over 4,000 metres; a Sino-British karst expedition explored it for nine days in 1987. Between its southern and northern sections a cylindrical sinkhole about 100 metres deep holds a herb garden, and Tu Yao (土瑶) families live at its rim. At Shuibo Tianchuang and Bainiao Yan (水波天窗•百鸟岩), below Mozhai Hill (漠斋山) in Jiazhuan town (甲篆镇), the Panyang River emerges from its last underground stretch before joining the Hongshui River (红水河); boats travel inside the cave to a round skylight about 300 metres in, which throws a shaft of daylight onto the water.

Food and local products

Bama is the original home of the Bama fragrant pig (巴马香猪), a small, round, lean breed said to have been sent as tribute to the Song court; in March 1995 the county was named China's Home of Fragrant Pigs. Hemp-seed soup (火麻汤) is served in restaurants across the county and is listed in the Guangxi Traditional Famous Foods records: shelled hemp seed, grown in the county's northern stone hills, is crushed and stir-fried until the oil runs, then boiled with fresh vegetables into a milky-white soup. Oil fish (油鱼) from Pokai village (坡开村) is another local catch.

Highlights

• Baimo Cave 百魔洞: National AAAA karst cave 25 km north-west of the county town, with a sinkhole herb garden between its two sections.
• Shuibo Tianchuang and Bainiao Yan 水波天窗•百鸟岩: Boat cave where the Panyang River leaves its last underground stretch; a skylight lights the water about 300 m in.
• Bama fragrant pig 巴马香猪: Small lean pig breed native to Bama; county named China's Home of Fragrant Pigs in 1995.
• Hemp-seed soup 火麻汤: Crushed, stir-fried hemp seed boiled with fresh vegetables into a milky soup.