Why Liuzhou Is Considered Guangxi's Most Underrated City
When discussing cities in Guangxi, besides the already renowned Guilin and the capital Nanning that must be mentioned, the most important place we should not overlook is the key city located in the northern part of the autonomous region—
Nowadays, many people know about Liuzhou, but mostly because of Luosifen. However, if you happen to notice the subtle disdain on a Liuzhou local's face when someone mentions the landscapes of Guilin, and when you connect Wuling Motors, Liangmianzhen toothpaste, and the image of Ronaldo grinning with a pack of Jinhuangsang Houbao on TV to this "small city" that is neither a provincial capital nor boasts "scenery under heaven," you'll realize:
This is truly a city of hidden talents, submerged in stereotypes. Even within Guangxi, which already has low visibility, Liuzhou hasn't gained much recognition, but its profound inner strength and layers of stunning qualities can definitely deliver a powerful cognitive impact to those who only know it for Luosifen.
Liuzhou has a beautiful name. "Liu" is the delicate and sentimental tree, and among the celestial constellations, the beak of the Vermilion Bird of the South has eight stars arranged gracefully, resembling willow leaves, known as the Liu constellation. Some believe that the "Liu" in Liujiang and Liuzhou comes from the correspondence between its geography and the stars.
The area where Liuzhou is located features magnificent karst landscapes. The photo shows the karst mountains in Luzhai County, Liuzhou.
Others say that the Liujiang River was turbulent, and people during the Han Dynasty called it the "Liu River" (溜江, meaning "slippery river"). Because this name was considered inelegant, it was later changed to "Liu" (柳). Such an explanation naturally lacks much romance. Fortunately, no one knows for sure which version is correct.
During the Spring and Autumn period, a man from the State of Lu became a model of male virtue for his upright and unwavering conduct. Because his fief was at Liuxia, people called him Liuxia Hui, the progenitor of the Liu surname. His descendant, Liu Zongyuan, is a monumental figure in the history of Chinese literature. Due to a spirited political reform in his youth, this great poet was long exiled to the miasma-ridden southern regions. And Liuzhou was the final stop of his life.
The geographical location of Liuzhou in Guangxi.
That year, the sensitive and ailing great poet was by the Liujiang River, leading the local people in his agricultural reform project. Seeing the vibrant and promising scene, he felt joyful and wrote a playful poem, the first line of which was:
"The Prefect of Liuzhou, Liu, plants willows by the Liujiang River."
Four "Liu" characters重叠在一起 in this way, a mysterious twist of history. A year later, Prefect Liu passed away in Liuzhou. His literary fame soared, and he was later honored as one of the "Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties." Liuzhou, the "land of the tattooed Baiyue people" in the prefect's poem, gradually integrated into the Chinese cultural sphere because of him.
The statue of Liu Zongyuan in Liuzhou city.
It can be said that Liu Zongyuan's arrival was the first piece of luck for this river city in Lingnan, but it was certainly not the last.
In Prefect Liu's time, Liuzhou was undoubtedly wild and remote. What truly brought this city into historical prominence was, surprisingly, coffins.
There is a rumor that when Liu Zongyuan's remains were sent back to Shaanxi, the people in the imperial center saw for the first time the unique quality of Liuzhou coffins and their exquisite craftsmanship. The deceased literary master inadvertently promoted the product, and Liuzhou coffins became famous overnight.
The mountains upstream of the Liuzhou River are rich in timber.
Needless to say, like the stories of Emperor Qianlong's culinary adventures in Jiangnan, this tale was likely fabricated by coffin merchants of later generations. But one fact remains: since the Song Dynasty, Liuzhou coffins have been renowned throughout the country for their absolutely reliable quality, becoming the most popular burial utensils.
Today, coffins have become Liuzhou's most deeply ingrained cultural symbol. A Liuzhou local who sincerely wishes you well might even give you a coffin handicraft as a gift. A small, exquisite coffin placed in the living room or on the car dashboard symbolizes promotion, wealth, and protection. No one finds it inappropriate. After centuries of coffin culture, the people of Liuzhou have learned to face the death reflected by this elongated wooden box with the most open attitude.
A master craftsman working on a coffin in a Liuzhou workshop.
The superior quality and widespread sales of Liuzhou coffins ultimately stem from the city's unique geographical location.
First, let's look at the position of Liuzhou in the entire water transport system of Guangxi: within the territory of Liuzhou, three tributaries with abundant water—the Longjiang, Rongjiang, and Luoqingjiang—successively flow into the Liujiang River. In other words, Liuzhou is where these three rivers converge, so the water, people, and goods from the upper reaches of these three rivers naturally gather in Liuzhou.
Schematic diagram of the water flow from the three rivers upstream of Liuzhou.
Now, let's take a closer look at the detailed geography of Liuzhou: amidst the magnificent karst peaks of northern Guangxi, Liuzhou is located in the relatively flat Guidong Basin. Like Guilin, apart from the beautiful stone peaks dotted around the city that serve as natural urban parks, Liuzhou is generally quite flat and expansive. Here, the Liujiang River makes an almost 90-degree bend. Such a winding and meandering river is considered a typical "affectionate water" in feng shui, which is excellent for gathering energy and nurturing people.
For millennia, the center of Liuzhou has hardly changed, precisely because this "pot city" encircled by the Liujiang River is blessed with natural beauty and favorable geography: it retains people, gathers goods, facilitates trade, and fosters prosperous clans.
The Liujiang River meandering through the city of Liuzhou.
It is not difficult to infer that in the past, the high-quality oil-sand fir wood harvested by villagers in the upper reaches of the Liujiang River was transported by merchant ships to Liuzhou, a city known for gathering wind and energy. The generations of merchants and artisans in the city established workshops and shops to process and sell the wood, gradually forming a cluster of the coffin industry.
The Xijiang River Basin, connected by the Liujiang River, is the most important (if not the only important) water transport channel in Guangxi. It extends south to the Port of Guangzhou for access to the sea and north to the Lingqu Canal, which connects to the Xiangjiang and Yangtze Rivers. With materials coming in and goods going out, a complete coffin industry chain naturally formed.
The broad and navigable Liujiang River has been an excellent waterway since ancient times.
Such geographical advantages, of course, were not only beneficial to the coffin industry. As the most vibrant town along the entire Xijiang River route, Liuzhou gradually became a true port and commercial city after the Tusi system was abolished. The famous "dock culture" of Wuhan and Chongqing on the Yangtze River also existed in Liuzhou.
The water bus on the Liujiang River today.
The bold and vigorous customs of Hunan and Hubei also traveled downstream with merchants, making Liuzhou, though located in Lingnan, permeated with Chu culture. It is worth noting that even today, the Mandarin spoken by people in Liuzhou and Guilin, located in the Guidong Basin, can be understood without difficulty by many people from Hubei and Sichuan.
Immigrants also brought changes in taste. Many outsiders believe that people in Guangxi can eat spicy food, a stereotype largely stemming from Liuzhou's luosifen. This misrepresents many Guangxi residents. In fact, many parts of Guangxi do not eat much spicy food, especially in the southeastern region, which is rich in produce and cuisine, where people prefer light and refined flavors. Only in Liuzhou and Guilin in northeastern Guangxi, influenced by Hunan and Hubei culture, has the spicy reputation spread throughout the province.
The sour and spicy broth of luosifen.
What is even more interesting is that Liuzhou not only retains immigrants but also has the ability to export them in large numbers.
In the old urban area of Ganzhou, Jiangxi, 700 kilometers away and surrounded by Hakka people, people speak the same dialect as those in Liuzhou. This is the famous "Ganzhou dialect island" in linguistics, resulting from immigration from Liuzhou to Ganzhou during the Ming Dynasty. Today, likely due to its dwindling influence, the Ganzhou dialect island is gradually being eroded by surrounding dialects and is showing signs of disappearance. More and more people who grew up in the old urban area of Ganzhou claim that only when traveling to Liuzhou can they rediscover the "feeling of their childhood."
In short, the crisscrossing river networks, numerous docks, bustling commercial ports, and constant flow of immigrants have made Liuzhou's local culture inclusive and dynamic. This open and free atmosphere has also cultivated fertile ground for the city's future industrial development.
"What the people need, we produce."
Modern industrial civilization favored Liuzhou for two main reasons: first, the New Guangxi Clique warlords invested in factories here; second, the construction of railways played a crucial role. It is worth noting that, like the ancient rivers, modern railways have also shown particular favor to this beautiful small city in northern Guangxi.
During the War of Resistance against Japan, engineers in Liuzhou, despite scarce materials, managed to construct the Liujiang Iron Bridge through extreme拼接, enabling the Qian-Gui and Xiang-Gui Railways to converge here. This directly established Liuzhou as a major transportation hub in Guangxi and even the entire southwestern region. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Liuzhou became the starting point of the Jiao-Liu Railway. These factors led to the Liuzhou Railway Bureau being the only railway bureau in China not located in a provincial capital for a long time.
Starting from the 1930s, with the dual support of political power and the transportation system, Liuzhou embarked on a rapid and intense industrialization drive.
In the 1950s, Chairman Mao personally approved the relocation of numerous factories and workers from Shanghai, Wuhan, and other major cities to Liuzhou. This industrial migration had a profound impact on the city. It is said that at least half of Liuzhou's current population are descendants of those Shanghai workers.
Liuzhou became a city of factories in the absolute sense. From heavy industries like steel and machinery to light industries such as textiles and daily necessities—whatever form of factory one could imagine could be found in the small city of Liuzhou back then.
Factory chimneys pierced the sky alongside the karst peaks, while vast residential areas spread along both banks of the Liujiang River. The stunning natural scenery blended with the冷酷 industrial plants billowing smoke, creating the most surreal landscape in the eastern Guangxi basin at that time.
Industrial landscape in Liuzhou.
By the 1980s, Liuzhou's factories, which had accumulated deep manufacturing expertise from the era of the republic, began to demonstrate formidable strength. From mechanical parts like bearings and gears to daily necessities such as toothpaste, soap, and electric fans, the people of Liuzhou "made everything and profited from everything." This small Guangxi city was not only self-sufficient but also saw its goods sell well across the country. The convenience and superiority of daily life for its citizens rivaled that of any traditionally prosperous city.
The industries nurtured by Liuzhou's local environment are characterized by practicality, cleverness, and affordability. The ultimate embodiment of this philosophy is undoubtedly Liuzhou's automotive industry, which proudly declares, "We make whatever the people need."
Liuzhou has a long history of automobile production, dating back to the warlord era. The Liuzhou Machinery Plant and its spin-off factories successively produced charcoal trucks, airplanes, diesel engines, tractors, and even sewing machines. Starting in the 1980s, the Liuzhou Tractor Plant began researching family minivans. Since their main model for emulation was Japan's Mitsubishi minivan, they chose a name that sounded even larger: Wuling.
Today's Liuzhou Baojun automobile production base.
At the beginning of the century, like many domestic automobile brands, Wuling encountered bottlenecks in engine technology. After careful consideration, Wuling decided to transfer most of its equity to foreign investors in exchange for core technology, with the sole condition that all supporting manufacturers remain in Liuzhou.
The rest is well-known: the minivans produced by SAIC-GM-Wuling perfectly inherited the essence of Liuzhou's industry—affordability and convenience for the people. The Wuling Hongguang was crowned an iconic vehicle, roaming far and wide, becoming the most reliable partner for countless workers on their path to prosperity.
Production workshop of SAIC-GM-Wuling in Liuzhou.
Today, Liuzhou, a so-called "small-to-medium" city with a population of four million, is surprisingly one of China's four major automobile cities and the only city in China that hosts production bases for all four major automobile groups.
Walking the streets of Liuzhou today, one can directly experience its unique landscape as an automobile city: small electric vehicles produced by Baojun or Wuling are everywhere, omnipresent and reaching every corner. Their sheer numbers might make one wonder if even elementary school students in this city hold driver's licenses.
Ubiquitous small electric vehicles on the streets of Liuzhou.
If you were to move to Liuzhou now, the first thing to do would be to buy one of these small cars for 40,000 yuan (including government subsidies). It is convenient to charge, compact, and agile. Most importantly, it enjoys an almost utopian treatment in this city—everyone drives the same car, so there is no comparison or discrimination. Driving it across the city's many bridges, tasting one noodle shop after another, and traversing the banks of the Liujiang River freely—it must be said, this is a highly attractive way of life.
As a city in Guangxi, electric two-wheelers are also common on the streets of Liuzhou.
Beyond these ubiquitous cyberpunk-style small cars, Liuzhou also boasts many urban landscapes with distinct industrial characteristics. For example, trash bins here are equipped with solar panels that make butterfly patterns on them glow at night. Additionally, Liuzhou has an unusually large number of high-rise buildings, with over 1,300 structures exceeding 20 floors. The Liuzhou Diwang Tower, standing at 303 meters with 72 floors, was the first 300+ meter skyscraper in a non-provincial capital city in southwestern China and was once the tallest building in Guangxi. Visitors stepping into its elevators often feel dazed and can't help but marvel at how such a small city has urban development that surpasses many provincial capitals.
Liuzhou is not a typical tourist city—it doesn’t even have shared bicycles to this day. Yet it remains on the珍藏 lists of many seasoned travelers. After all, those experienced travelers aren’t just here for the luosifen (river snail rice noodles).
Don’t forget that Guangxi is an autonomous region, and Liuzhou is also home to a large number of ethnic minorities.
First, if you want to see a city uniquely nestled among karst peaks—aside from the most typical example, Guilin—Liuzhou is absolutely worth a visit. It should be said that while Liuzhou lacks a natural wonder like Guilin’s Elephant Trunk Hill, the two cities each have their own merits in terms of overall visual appeal.
Industrial pollution was indeed a major problem for Liuzhou in the past, but after nearly thirty years of governance, the city has largely overcome its pollution issues today.
The diverse water activities of Liuzhou citizens.
It's hard to imagine that a city reliant on heavy industry has ranked first in surface water quality nationwide for many consecutive years. Various world-class water sports competitions are held annually on the Liujiang River. If you are an experienced swimmer, you can confidently dive into the Liujiang for a refreshing swim.
It is said that there are over 300,000 Hong Kong orchid trees in Liuzhou. Every April during the blooming season, the trees are filled with fragrant flowers, creating a spectacular and boundless view. When the petals fall, they drift along the rushing Liujiang River, covering the mountain slopes and riverbanks with a ten-mile carpet of brilliant red—a particularly stunning sight. It can be said that the floral scenery of Liuzhou is just as breathtaking as that of any other flower-famous city in China.
Hong Kong orchid trees blooming on the streets of Liuzhou.
Of course, as a city renowned for its signature dish, Luosifen (river snail rice noodles), food is an unavoidable topic when discussing Liuzhou.
As mentioned earlier, discussing Guangxi's cuisine is a complex task, as it is not a typical province with a unified culinary style. Influenced deeply by Hunan culture, Liuzhou’s traditional bold flavors are characterized by fusion, owing to its strong immigrant and industrial nature.
The birth of Luosifen is the best example: Liuzhou workers, working nine-to-five, loved late-night snacks. At the food stalls near factory dormitories, after finishing a pot of river snails, everyone still wanted more. They simply asked the vendors to add the most common local dried rice noodles to the leftover broth—this was the earliest form of Luosifen.
The people of Liuzhou are broad-minded, open, and平和. They won’t insist on concepts like "authenticity," "rules," or "orthodoxy." As long as it suits their taste, nothing is unacceptable.
For example, if you come to Liuzhou looking for the "most authentic" Luosifen, you won’t find it. Each restaurant’s version is different: some focus on the fragrance of river snails, others specialize in the richness of bone broth, some prefer extremely spicy chili levels, and some fry duck feet to such tenderness that they fall off the bone and steal the show. In recent years, the best-selling Luosifen in the city has even shifted from the traditional soup version to "stir-fried Luosifen." In short, this young dish is still rapidly evolving in Liuzhou, and no one knows what Luosifen will look like ten years from now.
Photo / Liuzhou Ximi, Image / Tuchong Creativity
Liuzhou’s late-night food culture remains thriving today. River snail and duck foot hotpot is still a must-order dish at every late-night stall in Liuzhou. Sweet and sticky Lipu taro and long strips of tofu soaked in broth give this hotpot an enduring cohesion. On deep nights with breezes from the river, groups of friends gather at alley entrances, sucking snails, gnawing duck feet, grilling a dozen oysters, and ordering a few bowls of stir-fried Luosifen. When the conversation winds down, they leisurely disperse—another ordinary summer night in this river city.
Having long resided in a relatively hidden corner of the world, the people of Liuzhou possess a calm confidence in observing trends. Amid current changes and uncertainties, no one knows what surprises this ancient city, embraced by a bend of the river, will bring to the nation.
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