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About Xiaoliancheng Fortress
A Guangxi County Economy Network report on an official Guangxi Department of Culture field visit describes Xiaolian Cheng as the 'lock and key' by which the three passes of Zhennan Guan (today's Youyi Guan), Shuikou Guan and Ping'er Guan connected to the interior, giving rise to the saying 'one garrison locks three passes'. The report traces the fortifications to the aftermath of 1885, when French colonial forces invaded the Sino-Vietnamese border and occupied Zhennan Guan and Guangxi provincial military commander Su Yuanchun led troops and border residents in resisting them; after France opened Longzhou as a treaty port the following year, Su Yuanchun built artillery emplacements at Xiaolian Cheng and Gongmu Shan in response, and by 1897 a fortified wall 2 to 8 metres high and 1 to 1.5 metres wide, running several hundred li, was completed. Steps lead up into Baoyuan Palace inside Longyuan Cave, a large natural cavern where an unrestored carved and painted archway and, above it, an unrestored Qing-dynasty nine-dragon mural survive well preserved owing to the cave's natural environment.
The State Council's sixth-batch national key cultural-heritage-protection notice, published 9 June 2006, lists 'Liancheng Fortress Ruins and Youyi Guan' as item V-148, dated Ming to Qing and spanning Beihai, Fangchenggang, Ningming County, Pingxiang, Longzhou County, Daxin County, Jingxi County and Napo County; Xiaolian Cheng in Longzhou is one component of that composite listing rather than a separately listed site. A China National Radio report records that during the 2023 Spring Festival holiday the Xiaolian Cheng scenic area received 46,500 visitors, one of four named Longzhou scenic areas in a county-wide Spring Festival total of 283,100 visitor-trips that year.
What to look for
- Baoyuan Palace inside Longyuan Cave, with its unrestored carved archway and Qing-dynasty nine-dragon mural
- The surviving fortified wall, begun the year after the 1885 fighting at Zhennan Guan and completed in 1897, 2 to 8 metres high and 1 to 1.5 metres wide
- The artillery emplacements Su Yuanchun built at Xiaolian Cheng following the 1885 fighting at Zhennan Guan
Location & getting there
Getting to Xiaoliancheng Fortress
Check which interiors and courtyards are accessible. Active places of worship and protected monuments may have different visitor rules.
- Search for 小连城 with 崇左市 and 龙州县.
Find Xiaoliancheng Fortress
小连城 · 龙州县
No reliable map pin yet: search by the Chinese name.
Sources & visit information
The linked sources support the identity and background described in this introduction. Opening hours, admission, activity availability and exact arrival arrangements have not been comprehensively checked. Confirm current visitor information with the venue; the original catalogue locality and editorial review flag are retained.