Wuxuan County 武宣县

Setting and landscape

Wuxuan sits where the mid-subtropical zone gives way to the south subtropical, with long summers, short winters and a mean temperature of 21.5°C. The Qian River carries ships of 3,000 tonnes. Since the Datengxia (大藤峡) dam raised the river, water surrounds the county town, which the county government calls Guangxi's first inland island city; a cut channel links Qixing Lake (七星湖) in town to the Qian.

History

The Qin set up Zhongliu County (中留县) here in 214 BC; under the Western Han its seat stood at Lema (勒马) in today's Sanli town (三里镇), where the Lema Qin–Han city site survives. In 621 the Tang created Wuxian County (武仙县), named partly for a legend of immortals gathering on Xianren Mountain (仙人山); its seat also took the name Xiancheng (仙城), "Immortals' Town", which the county still uses. It became Wuxuan in 1431, when the seat moved to its present site. Wuxuan was the home of the Taiping leader Xiao Chaogui (萧朝贵), and Mocun (莫村) in Dongxiang is where Hong Xiuquan (洪秀全) proclaimed himself Heavenly King.

What to see

Baiya Grand Canyon (百崖大峡谷), in Dongxiang town (东乡镇) 38 km from the county town, is a Danxia-like gorge 10 km long and 5 to 40 m wide, with 37 bends, ten waterfalls and hundreds of side gorges that give it its name; the Tiannü Sanhua fall (天女散花瀑) drops 86 m in one step.

Nine kilometres from the canyon, Lower Liantang village (下莲塘) became a 4A scenic area in 2021. Its Jiangjundi (将军第), a Qing compound begun in 1801 with 175 rooms, is enclosed by a 4 m pebble wall with watchtowers at the corners. The Liu Bingyu Manor (刘炳宇庄园), begun in 1908 in mixed Chinese and Western style, was made a national key cultural relic site in 2019.

The Ming-dynasty Confucian Temple (文庙) is described by the county as the largest surviving building complex among Guangxi's autonomous-region protected sites. On the southern edge of town, Five Horses Blocking the River (五马拦江) is a curve of five hills on the Qian's south bank that turns the river east, with the Ming cliff inscription "敕赐永通峡" (imperially named Yongtong Gorge) on Puyu Mountain (璞玉山).

Getting oriented

Liuzhou is 95 km away. National Road 209, several expressways and the Liuzhou–Wuzhou railway (柳梧铁路) serve the county, and Jinxiu, Xiangzhou, Guiping and Laibin's Xingbin district surround it.

Highlights

• Baiya Grand Canyon 百崖大峡谷: Danxia-like gorge 10 km long with 37 bends and ten waterfalls, in Dongxiang town.
• Lower Liantang 下莲塘: 4A village with the 1801 Jiangjundi compound and the 1908 Liu Bingyu Manor.
• Liu Bingyu Manor 刘炳宇庄园: Chinese-Western manor of 1908; national key cultural relic site since 2019.
• Five Horses Blocking the River 五马拦江: Five hills on the Qian River's south bank with a Ming cliff inscription.
• Wuxuan Confucian Temple 武宣县文庙: Ming-dynasty temple complex, an autonomous-region protected site.