Donglan County 东兰县

Setting and landscape

The county government puts Donglan 308 km from Nanning (南宁) and 108 km from Hechi's Jinchengjiang district (金城江区). The Hongshui River crosses it for 92 km, from Jingu Township (金谷乡) in the north to Datong Township (大同乡) in the southeast, in a deeply cut bed with 16 named rapids that were cleared after 1949. The stone-mountain areas have almost no surface rivers, and the Dongping River (东平河) sinks into an underground cave to join the Panyang River (盘阳河) in Bama (巴马). Summers are long and winters short.

History

In 111 BC the area was known as Wenlan Dong (文兰峒); the Yuan named it Donglan Prefecture (东兰州). In 1535 the native prefect Wei Qiyun (韦起云) moved the seat from Wuzhuan (武篆) to today's county town, where it has stayed. Under the Ming Zhengde and Jiajing emperors, four generations of Wei chieftains fought Japanese pirates. Appointed officials replaced hereditary rule in 1730, and the prefecture became a county in 1912.

What to see

Lenin Cave (列宁岩), halfway up Lajia Mountain (拉甲山) in Wuzhuan town, is a natural cave 43 m high and 137 m deep, once named after a temple to the god Beidi inside. In 1925 Wei Baqun trained 276 peasant organisers from 11 counties there; it took its present name in 1930 and became a national key cultural relic site in 2006. The Wei Baqun Memorial Hall (韦拔群纪念馆) in the county Martyrs' Cemetery has 13 exhibition halls, and his former home (韦拔群故居) on Teya Mountain (特牙山) is a pair of mud-brick houses with a rooftop lookout.

At the First Bend of the Hongshui River (红水河第一湾), a national AAAA scenic area in Banwen village (板文村), the river loops into a U-shaped gorge seen from a glass platform on the summit. Wuyihou Park (武夷侯公园) stands on the tomb site of the chieftain Wei Huchen (韦虎臣). Changle Palace (长乐宫) is a karst cave 20 km from the county town.

Food and local customs

Donglan mo rice (东兰墨米, "ink rice") is a national geographical-indication product, also made into wine. From the second day of the second lunar month, Zhuang villages along the Hongshui keep the Frog Festival (蚂拐节): families offer five-coloured glutinous rice and red-dyed eggs to the frog goddess, parade a frog in a bamboo "coffin" to bronze drums, and dance in masks by torchlight.

Highlights

• Lenin Cave 列宁岩: Cave where Wei Baqun ran Guangxi's first peasant-movement training school in 1925; national key cultural relic site since 2006.
• Wei Baqun Memorial Hall 韦拔群纪念馆: In the county Martyrs' Cemetery, with 13 exhibition halls and more than 700 items.
• First Bend of the Hongshui River 红水河第一湾: National AAAA scenic area where the river forms a U-shaped gorge, in Banwen village, Sanshi town.
• Changle Palace 长乐宫: Karst cave in Changle town, 20 km from the county town, with 13 named scenes inside.
• Donglan mo rice 东兰墨米: National geographical-indication product, also made into wine.