Zhongdu Ancient Town 中渡古镇

About Zhongdu Ancient Town

Luzhai County puts the town's founding in AD 265 and links its later prosperity directly to where it sits: because the town connected upstream to Guilin and downstream to Liuzhou, the county writes, Zhongdu flourished for a time under the Ming and the Qing. The same notice reports, on the authority of earlier records, that the traveller Xu Xiake went down the Luo River from here to reach Liuzhou. The township covers 374 square kilometres and contains 15 village and residents' committees and 176 natural hamlets, with the population given as 48,100.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage named Zhongdu in the sixth batch of Chinese Historic and Cultural Towns and Villages, one of nine places listed in Guangxi in that batch. The township's own profile dates that national title to February 2014, and records an autonomous-region-level Historic and Cultural Town title in July 2013 and a first-batch Chinese Characteristic Town title in October 2016. It also notes that the town's hejiayan (和家宴) was entered in an intangible cultural heritage representative catalogue in July 2014.

Within the township the county names natural features including Jiulong Cave, the Xiangshui waterfall, Ying Shan and old banyans along the Luo River, clustered around the Xiangqiaoyan national geopark. It separately names, among others, Yifang Baozhang, the Xiangqiao stone carvings and the Wu Miao as representative of Luojiang culture, and the township profile lists the geopark, the site of the old town of Zhongdu and the Wu Miao among the places the town is visited for.

What to look for

• The Wu Miao (武庙), which both the county news item and the township profile name among Zhongdu's principal sights.
• The site of the old town of Zhongdu (中渡古城遗址), listed in the township's own account of what draws visitors.
• The Xiangqiao stone carvings (香桥石刻) and Yifang Baozhang (一方保障), among those the county names as representative of Luojiang culture.
• Old banyan trees along the Luo River (洛江古榕), among the natural features the county places inside the township.
• Jiulong Cave (九龙洞) and the Xiangshui waterfall (响水瀑布), which the county groups around the Xiangqiaoyan national geopark in the same township.

Location & getting there

Getting to Zhongdu Ancient Town

Identify the main visitor approach and any separately managed houses, museums or performances. Ask before entering residential spaces or photographing residents.

• Search for 中渡古镇 with 柳州市 and 鹿寨县.