Long'an County 隆安县

Setting and landscape

The county sits in the karst uplands of southwestern Guangxi. Mountains rise on two sides and the land drops to the You River, which crosses the county from northwest to southeast past the county town. Around Dujie (都结), Buquan (布泉) and Pingshan (屏山) in the southwest the land breaks into clusters of karst peaks with depressions between them. The climate is hot, rainy and south-subtropical, with short winters and long summers.

History

Long'an became a county in 1533 under the Ming, with its seat at Chengxiang (城厢镇). It was merged with Wuming in December 1958 and restored in May 1959, and it has been under Nanning city since 2003.

Place names beginning with "Na", such as Natong (那桐) and Nake (那可), cluster here, and a 1978 table in the journal Wenwu put 15 of 60 stone-spade find sites in southern Guangxi in Long'an. The Guangxi Museum's treasured waisted stone spade came from the Dalongtan (大龙潭) site. The county government describes Natong's farm-tool festival on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month as a survival of the old stone-spade rites.

What to see

Longhushan Scenic Area (龙虎山风景区) in Pingshan Township is a national 4A scenic area and a regional forest and wildlife nature reserve; the scenic area covers 271 hectares. The county tourism bureau counts more than 3,000 wild macaques there in eight troops, and raft trips on the Lüshui River (绿水江) let visitors watch them swim and dive.

At the Buquan River source (布泉河源头), water rises from three springs at the foot of a hill. A dam and stone bridge built in the 1960s and 1970s hold back a small lake; the bridge is about 120 metres long with 31 stone openings that the water spills through.

Food and local products

Buquan Zhuang sour fish (布泉壮族酸鱼) began about 200 years ago, when people on the Buquan River pickled fish they could not eat at once; it is a festival and wedding dish, and its making technique joined the regional intangible heritage list in 2018. Dujie tofu (都结豆腐) from Dujie Township is handmade from local soybeans and holds up well to boiling and frying.

Getting oriented

The county town is 80 kilometres from central Nanning. Long'an borders Wuming (武鸣) to the east, Chongzuo (崇左) to the south and Pingguo (平果) to the north. Long'an East Station (隆安东站) is on the Nanning–Kunming passenger railway.

Highlights

• Longhushan Scenic Area 龙虎山风景区: National 4A scenic area and regional nature reserve with more than 3,000 wild macaques in eight troops.
• Buquan River source 布泉河源头: Spring-fed source with a 1960s–70s dam and a stone bridge of 31 arches about 120 metres long.
• Dalongtan site 大龙潭: Stone-spade site; the Guangxi Museum's treasured waisted stone spade came from here.
• Buquan Zhuang sour fish 布泉壮族酸鱼: Pickled river fish with about 200 years of history; regional intangible heritage since 2018.
• Dujie tofu 都结豆腐: Handmade tofu from local soybeans; city-level intangible heritage since 2015.