Fall in Love With the Diverse

Industrial city

Liuzhou is located in the middle reaches of the Liujiang River valley. The Liujiang River,like a belt, meanders eastwards and surrounds the city, dividing the city into two parts.Looking from above, the main part of the city looks like a pot, and Liuzhou thus gains the name of pot city. Such natural endowment and unique location make Liuzhou prosperous at one time and lay a good foundation for it to develop industries. Nowadays, Liuzhou has become the major industrial base in south China, boasting national well-known companies and brands such as Liugong Machinery, Wuling Motors, Golden Throat, and Liangmianzhen Toothpaste.

The magnificent bridges are also the epitome of Liuzhou’s developed industries.At present, there are more than 20 bridges built in Liuzhou, which earns the city the reputation of “Museum of Bridges”. All the bridges witness the most advanced bridgebuilding technologies in China, for example, Hongguang Bridge is the first suspension bridges in Guangxi, and Baisha Bridge is the world’s largest asymmetrical cable-stayed bridge. Arching across the Liujiang River, they not only connect the lives of local people who are separated by the river but also convey a sense of romance with their complex industrial structure and different appearances in day and at night.

Originally, local people named the bridges with numbers like Liuzhou First Bridge. With more and more bridge springing up, such method is on longer adopted. Huxi Bridge, also Liuzhou Fourth

Fascinating natural scenery

It’s hard to imagine Linzhou, as an industrial city, has such bright and vibrant natural scenery. Liu Zongyuan,a great poet of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907) once described Liuzhou as “Mountain ranges are dense with trees obscuring even the best of eyesight, Winding and convoluted like the intestines are the rivers and streams.” When Xu Xiake, a famous travel writer and geographer of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644),made his visits to Liuzhou, he composed the lines of“Thousands of mountains stand all around and a river runs around the city.” Here in Liuzhou, you can enjoy the sublime Liujiang river scene, climb grotesque mountains covered by lush vegetation, and have an eyeful of willow tress blowing in the wind. There is no doubt that people said Liuzhou has the most beautiful scenery among industrial cities.

What’s worth mentioning is the bauhinia planted all over the city. When spring arrives, it booms splendidly on streets and in parks, forming endless flower lanes.The whole city is shrouded in pink and purple mist. Every spring, many tourists coming from afar rush to Liuzhou only to have a look at the stunning bauhinia feast.

Distinctive ethnic culture

Apart from being a modern city with beautiful surroundings, Liuzhou is distinguished by its ethnic culture. There are 48 ethnic groups including Zhuang, Miao, Yao, Dong, and Mulao inhabiting in Liuzhou, which accounts for more than 52% of the city’s total population.Numerous unique ethnic customs have been formed and nourished in this land such as Manghao Festival, Horse-fighting Festival, oil tea-making techniques, Hundred-family Banquet, Lusheng-playing techniques (a folk musical instrument made of bamboo pipes),Yao’s long drum dance, and Dong folk songs. Architectures with ethnic characteristics are also easily found in Liuzhou such as the Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge, Sanjiang Drum Tower, and Bird’s Nest Bamboo Building. The diverse ethnic groups live here harmoniously generation after generation, adding a special luster to the modern industrial city.

1. Liuzhou is known as the hometown of Liu Sanjie (a legendary female folk singer in Guangxi),where folk songs are heard throughout streets and alleys.

2. There are two autonomous county under the jurisdiction of Liuzhou, namely Sanjiang Dong

Foodies’ Heaven

Liuzhou is a gourmet paradise with many delicious snacks. Luosifen ranks first in Liuzhou flavor snacks. Making up of unique soft and smooth rice noodles, with sour bamboo shoots, fungus, peanuts, fresh vegetables, and other ingredients, as well as sour, hot, and spicy snail soup, it is a very representative food in Liuzhou and also an indispensable part of the life of local people. In recent years under the pandemic, it has become a national dish popular among the young and old. If you are going to Liuzhou, you must not miss such classic food. Besides snail river noodles, snail duck foot pot, sour fish, filter noodles, and shuiyoudui (fried doughnut with white sesame) are also worth a try. All these can be found in the streets and alleys of Liuzhou city.

1. Shuiyoudui was listed into the first batch of the intangible cultural heritage of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

2. If you want to taste authentic Liuzhou local

An industrial city with pleasant scenery and good food is just the briefest and the most superficial impression of

Miao Embroidery:

● By Wei Yingling

A group of young girls are dancing to Lusheng and occasionally bursting into peals of laughter. Their pleated skirts are adorned with colorful embroidered totems,swaying slightly with their steps. Such is the scene in Rongshui County, Liuzhou, where inhabits a small group of Miao minorities. As a minority without recorded history and written language, Miao turns to embroidery to preserve their ethnic culture. With stitches going back and forth, the legend of this nation was told in the embroidery

Tips

Lusheng is a Miao musical instrument. It is a mouth organ with multiple bamboo pipes that has special significance

The origin of Miao embroidery

Legend has it that the origin of Miao embroidery can be traced back to when Miao people had to relocate their settlements several times due to the battle between the Yellow Emperor and Chi You. Lan Juan, a Miao chieftainess,devised the idea of using colored threads to record her migratory journeys. She embroidered a yellow line when crossing the Yellow River, a blue line for the Yangtze River,and a symbol mark for mountains. By the time when Lan Juan arrived at her destination, she had embroidered every piece from her collar to the leg of her trousers. Since then,Miao people have worn hand-embroidered customes on important occasions to remember their departed homeland and wise predecessors.

Women have been the keepers of this art form over history.Traditionally, Miao embroidery is mainly applied to adorn a girl’s ceremonial costume that she will wear on her wedding day or other important occasions. A young Miao girl would learn from her mother all the skills needed when she turned around seven years old. It doesn’t mean they would marry at that age, but a full set of Miao costumes takes years to make. The process of sewing makes its meaning goes beyond its aesthetic qualities. It carries not only a lady’s hope and dreams for love and life but also something that, potentially, can be handed down from mother to daughter.

Intricate, exquisite, and stunning

One of the features of the Miao embroidery is that its color is rich and sprightly, which makes people feel warm, bright, and passionate. And the dense patterns make the colors even more gorgeous and splendid. Another characteristic is that every piece of the embroidery is completed by using several stitches and techniques, making it intricate and tasteful.Miao people believe their heavenly ancestors will always have eyes on them as they sew. If they don’t embroider well, they will be punished. And it will be a shame for them to wear. Miao people’s worship of their ancestors gives their embroidery eternal power,allowing them to create exquisite Miao costumes. To make a stunning dress, according to this standard,will take at least four to five years. And at most, it will take one’s entire life. The complete set of Miao embroidery starts from weaving, and then follows the whole process of inserting weft, tightening, dyeing,embroidering, and so on. The most complete progress of Miao embroidery, however, is singing while embroidering.

If the costume is a condensed history of the Miao people, then the embroidered patterns are a more vivid, specific, and thorough language expressing the Miao people’s understanding of nature and the origin of life. In Miao culture, every totem has a different meaning: a butterfly stand for the Protective Mother, a bird for eternal love, a flower for the beauty of nature,and fish with a round head, fat body, small mouth, and big eyes represents Miao people’s wish to live long and prosper. Besides, almost every Miao village stands a banyan tree in the center. The ancient banyan tree symbolizes the feminine power of Miao women. Locals say the tree is shaped like a dancing lady, with her roots deep in the ground and her branches reaching to the sky.

What’s traditional also fashionable

In recent years, this beautiful dance of fingertips has helped Miao women to gain a promising and brilliant future. It is getting a new life through povertyreduction programs in China. The inheritor of Rongshui Miao embroidery, Li Yiyuan, established the Caiyun workstation in Rongshui and set up training classes to improve the skills of local embroiderers. More than 60 females took the class and helped lift their families out of poverty. Their works include traditional Miao formal costumes, accessories, and jewelry. Since then,Miao embroidery has become an indispensable element in adorning clothes, shoes, bags, earrings, jewelry,and even daily necessities and can be found almost everywhere.

Culture belongs to the world, and thus it is interlinked, so does the beauty. In 2017, the Miao embroidery stepped onto the stage in Paris, finding itself a place in the world of haute couture. More than 90 Miao embroideries were showcased on the pavilion. Visitors from all over the world were wowed by the highquality craftsmanship of Miao embroiderers and wanted to reserve their works. Behind the stage, the embroiderers were also excited about their national culture that was brought into limelight. “The more I know it, the deeper I love it. The longer I stare at it, the more beauty I find.” A British lady said at the