Yulin 玉林市

Setting and landscape

Darong Mountain (大容山) closes the north, the Liuwan Mountains (六万大山) the west and the Yunkai Mountains (云开大山) the east; overall, hills and tablelands are the commonest landforms, under a southern subtropical monsoon climate. Darong Mountain National Forest Park reaches 1,275.6 metres, which the Yulin Daily calls the highest peak in south-eastern Guangxi, with upland meadows, lakes and waterfalls.

History

The city counts its history from Yulin Commandery (鬱林郡), set up by the Han in 111 BC. In 996 the seat of Yulin Prefecture moved to Nanliu County (南流县), today's city, and has stayed there for more than a thousand years. The old first character of the name was later replaced by the homophone "jade" (玉), which the city government reads as "fine jade of Lingnan, scenery like a forest". Its listed intangible heritage includes southern Guangxi tea-picking opera (桂南采茶戏) and Yulin eight-tone music (玉林八音).

What to see

In Rong County (容县), the three-storey Zhenwu Pavilion (真武阁) was raised in 1573, in the Ming Wanli reign, on the Jinglue Terrace (经略台), named after the Tang commissioner Yuan Jie (元结), who often went there. Four of its pillars hang clear of the floor, a structure the architect Liang Sicheng (梁思成) examined in 1962; it has been a national key cultural relic since 1982. The county's Duqiao Mountain (都峤山) is a Danxia landscape counted as Daoism's twentieth grotto-heaven, and the county, known as the "county of patriotic generals", keeps a group of Republican-era generals' villas. Goulou Cave (勾漏洞), 3 kilometres north-east of Beiliu (北流市), joins four caves over about a kilometre and carries more than 120 cliff inscriptions; Daoist texts list it as the twenty-second grotto-heaven. Xielu Villa (谢鲁山庄), built in 1920 in Wushi town (乌石镇), Luchuan County (陆川县), became a national key cultural relic in 2013.

Food and local products

A common local breakfast is shengliaofen (生料粉): raw pork liver, intestine, kidney or fish slices, marinated in local rice wine, are blanched in pork-bone stock and served with rice noodles, each bowl cooked in its own pot, with pickled radish and papaya on the side. The Yulin Evening News reports a tradition that it began at the Chuanbu wharf (船埠码头) in Fumian District (福绵区) in the late Qing and early Republic. The city calls itself the original home of the Shatian pomelo (沙田柚); Rong County's Shatian pomelos and Xiayan chickens (霞烟鸡) and the iron woks of Luchuan are geographical-indication products.

Getting oriented

The Nanning–Yulin section of the Nanning–Zhuhai high-speed railway opened in December 2024, the Luoyang–Zhanjiang railway crosses Rong County, and Yulin Fumian Airport (玉林福绵机场) serves the city.

Highlights

• Zhenwu Pavilion 真武阁: Ming three-storey pavilion on the Jinglue Terrace in Rong County, with four pillars that hang clear of the floor; a national key cultural relic since 1982.
• Goulou Cave 勾漏洞: Four linked karst caves about 1 km long, 3 km north-east of Beiliu, with more than 120 cliff inscriptions; the twenty-second grotto-heaven of Daoist texts.
• Duqiao Mountain 都峤山: Danxia landscape in Rong County, counted as Daoism's twentieth grotto-heaven.
• Darong Mountain National Forest Park 大容山: Peak of 1,275.6 metres, called south-eastern Guangxi's highest by the Yulin Daily, with upland meadows, lakes and waterfalls.
• Xielu Villa 谢鲁山庄: Villa of 1920 in Wushi town, Luchuan County; a national key cultural relic since 2013.
• Shengliaofen 生料粉: Rice noodles with fresh raw pork offal or fish blanched in pork-bone stock, each bowl cooked in its own pot.