Xingye County 兴业县

History

Xingye County was created in 665 under the Tang, its name meaning "all trades flourishing". In 666 the Tang set up Yulin Prefecture (郁林州) with its seat at Tiewei Mountain (铁围山), known in the past as Tiecheng (铁城), the "iron city". The county was abolished in April 1953, with most of it merged into Yulin County (鬱林县) and part into Gui County (贵县), and it was re-created in April 1997.

The county government lists the Shiyi Tower (石嶷文塔), a Confucian temple and the old houses of Pangcun (庞村) among its surviving monuments. The Pangcun building complex in Shinan town (石南镇) was named a Guangxi protected site in 2009.

What to see

Longquan Cave, at the foot of Lufeng Mountain, is a karst cave of five main halls with 1,256 metres of developed route. A spring stream that never stops running gives it its name, the air stays at 20–23°C all year, and an underground waterfall drops 24 metres.

Yanshan Lake, in Liuxian village (六闲村) in Kuiyang town (葵阳镇), is fed by springs in its bed and does not dry up even in the dry season. Almost every peak around it has caves, and some have warm springs. Tiecheng Mountain (铁城山), a noted peak of the scenic area, has iron-coloured rock and takes its name from cliffs that stand like city walls; its Guzhou Cave (古州岩) keeps stone tablets recording its restoration and the fields endowed to it.

Food and local products

Shinan sweet-and-sour braised pork (石南甜酸扣肉) is a county intangible-heritage dish: local pork belly is boiled, pricked and fried until the skin shows a "tiger-skin" pattern, chilled in cold water, sliced, marinated with sour chillies, plums and fermented tofu, then steamed upside down. Chenghuang pickles (城隍酸料) are soaked whole in large vats with plenty of sugar and a rice vinegar that takes over six months to make; the radishes pickle for at least a month and the chillies for more than six.

Getting oriented

The Litang–Zhanjiang railway and the Nanning–Zhuhai high-speed line cross the county, with Xingye station and Xingye South station, and the G80 Nanning–Guangzhou expressway passes through.

Highlights

• Longquan Cave 龙泉岩: Five-hall karst cave under Lufeng Mountain with a spring stream and a 24-metre underground waterfall.
• Yanshan Lake 燕山湖: Spring-fed lake in Kuiyang town among cave-pocked peaks; the scenic area includes Tiecheng Mountain.
• Pangcun building complex 庞村古建筑群: Old houses in Shinan town, a Guangxi protected site since 2009.
• Shinan sweet-and-sour braised pork 石南甜酸扣肉: Fried, marinated and steamed pork belly, a county intangible-heritage dish.
• Chenghuang pickles 城隍酸料: Whole vegetables pickled in vats with sugar and long-aged rice vinegar.