Gongcheng County
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Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County () is a county within the prefecture-level city of
Guilin Guilin ( Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively romanized as Kweilin) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the nort ...
,
Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
, China. The county spans a total area of , and has a population of approximately 300,000 as of 2011.


History

The area was first incorporated under the
Sui Dynasty The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...
as Chacheng County (). During the
Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
it was changed to Gongcheng County (). On February 3, 1990, Gongcheng County was changed to Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County.


Geography

Most of the county is mountainous in nature, sans the lower southern portion of the county, and the valley along the Cha River. Common fruits in the area include
peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...
es,
persimmon The persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus ''Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Oriental persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki'' ''Diospyros'' is in the family Ebenaceae, and a number of non-pers ...
s,
plum A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes. History Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found i ...
s,
loquat The loquat (''Eriobotrya japonica'') is a large evergreen shrub or tree, grown commercially for its orange fruit and for its leaves, which are used to make herbal tea. It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant. The loquat is in the family R ...
, and
mandarin orange The mandarin orange (''Citrus reticulata''), also known as the mandarin or mandarine, is a small citrus tree fruit. Treated as a distinct species of orange, it is usually eaten plain or in fruit salads. Tangerines are a group of orange-coloured ...
s. In the spring, red and pink peach blossoms bloom, and in autumn, the county's persimmons bloom.


Climate

The climate of Gongcheng is subtropical monsoon climate. Summer is hot, humid and long, whereas winters are dry and short. The county also receives adequate light and abundant rainfall. Annual rainfall averages , and annual average humidity is 75%.


Administrative divisions

The county is divided into 6
towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...
and 3
townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
. The county government is seated in the town of . The county's 6 towns are Gongcheng, , , Jiahui, Xiling, and . The county's 3 townships are , , and


Demographics

As of 2011, the total population of Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County stood at around 300,000 people. It is estimated that 60% of the county's population are ethnically Yao. Gongcheng County is also termed as "China's longevity" as by the end of 2013, the average life expectancy was at 77.09 years old. According to the statistics of February 2015, the Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County has three main ethnic groups: the Yao, the Zhuang and
Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...
. Other groups with significant populations in the county include the
Miao Miao may refer to: * Miao people, linguistically and culturally related group of people, recognized as such by the government of the People's Republic of China * Miao script or Pollard script, writing system used for Miao languages * Miao (Unicode ...
, Yi, Li, Dong,
Hui The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...
,
Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) and ...
, Tujia,
Buyi The Bouyei (also spelled ''Puyi'', ''Buyei'' and ''Buyi''; self called: Buxqyaix, or "Puzhong", "Burao", "Puman"; ; vi, người Bố Y), otherwise known as the Zhongjia, are an ethnic group living in Southern Mainland China. Numbering 2.5 mi ...
, Guan,
Lisu Lisu may refer to: *Lisu people, an ethnic group of Southeast Asia *Lisu language, spoken by the Lisu people * Old Lisu Alphabet or Fraser Alphabet *Lisu syllabary * Lisu (Unicode block), the block of Unicode characters for the Lisu language. *Lisu ...
, Uygur, Jingpo, Tu and the Lahu. The county's Yao population largely reside in the mountainous terrain of the southwest and south.


Languages

The majority of people in the county speak a
Mienic language The Mienic or Yao languages are spoken by the Yao people of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Some of the Yao peoples speak Hmongic languages (Miao); these are called '' Bunu''. A small population of Yao people in Jinxiu Yao Autonomous Cou ...
, and approximately two-fifths speak a
Bunu language The Bunu (Punu) are the Yao people The Yao people (its majority branch is also known as Mien; ; vi, người Dao) is a government classification for various minorities in China and Vietnam. They are one of the 55 officially recognised ethn ...
. Some also speak Lakkia.


Yao subgroups

Gongcheng County has four major subgroups of the Yao people: the Pan Yao, the Pingdi Yao, the Guoshan Yao, and the Sidamin Yao.


Pan Yao

The Pan Yao (), also known as Pangu Yao (), is a subgroup of Yao people in Gongcheng. Their autonyms are Mian () and Longyan ().


Pingdi Yao

The Pingdi Yao (), also known as the Bidi () in the Shangong Yao language, and the Gan () in the Guoshan Yao language, is a subgroup of Yao people in Gongcheng. Their autonyms are Muyo () and Bingduoyou ().


Guoshan Yao

The Guoshan Yao (), also known as the Guigelingmuyo () in the Pingdi Yao language, and the Gesuoxi () in the Yao language of , is a subgroup of Yao people in Gongcheng. Their autonyms are Yumian (), Biaoman (), and Shimen ().


Sidamin Yao

The Sidamin Yao () are a Yao subgroup which, during the
Qing Dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
, migrated from an area known as Yongming (), which corresponds to present-day
Jiangyong County Jiangyong County () is a county of Hunan Province, China, it is under the administration of Yongzhou prefecture-level City. Located on the south margin of the province, it is bordered on the west by Guangxi. The county is bordered to the northea ...
in
Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...
. The Sidamin, meaning "Four Great Peoples" historically were the Qingxi Yao (), the Gudiao Yao (), the Goulan Yao (), and the Fuling Yao ().


Economy

Gongcheng has significant deposits of
tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
,
tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...
,
lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
,
zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
,
manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...
,
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
, and
marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...
.


Culture

The Yao peoples of Gongcheng maintain a variety of traditional proverbs and poems. The ''
lusheng The ''lusheng'' (, ; Vietnamese: ''Khèn Mông''; also spelled ''lu sheng''; spelled ''ghengx'' in standard Hmong and ''qeej'' in Laotian RPA Hmong) is a Hmong musical instrument. It has a long history of 3000 years in China, traced back to the T ...
'' (mouth reed organ) is played by the Lowland/Pingdi Yao people () of Shuibing Village () and Guanyin Township (). Apart from the Spring Festival, the
Tomb Sweeping Festival The Qingming festival or Ching Ming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English (sometimes also called Chinese Memorial Day or Ancestors' Day), is a traditional Chinese festival observed by the Han Chinese of mainland China, Hong Ko ...
, the
Dragon Boat Festival The Dragon Boat Festival ( zh, s=端午节, t=端午節) is a traditional Chinese holiday which occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, which corresponds to late May or June in the Gregorian calendar. Names The Engl ...
and the
Mid-Autumn Festival The Mid-Autumn Festival (Chinese: / ), also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is a traditional festival celebrated in Chinese culture. Similar holidays are celebrated in Japan (), Korea (), Vietnam (), and other countries in Eas ...
, the Yao peoples of Gongcheng also have their own unique traditional festivals, such as Panwang Festival, Jichun Festival, Danu Festival, Shuaigetang Festival, Paga Festival. Some Yao women in the county have a knowledge of traditional Yao weaving, dyeing, and embroidery, which they use to make traditional Yao clothing. Said clothing typically features a distinct pattern. The Yao generally do not marry in other ethnicities and practice monogamy. Sometimes, marriage could be love marriages or arranged by the parents or elders of the family. One of the way of marriage in the Yao community specially in the past was by singing in antiphon specially during the Spring Festival, where the boy and the girl sing to each other in a way of question and answer. When a match is made, the boy and the girl give each other small pieces of ornaments as a keepsake. The Yao people also have certain taboos, such as stepping on stoves, burning paper which has words written on it, wearing white shoes and white hat indoors (as it is the symbol of funeral).


Cuisine

During many festivals, ethnic Yao people make ''Babas'', which are made with sticky rice, sometimes some local herbs are added, they are either sweet or salty and have sesame or peanut filling. Throughout other festivals most of the main dishes constitute of chicken, duck, fish, pork, tofu, and various kinds of vegetables. You Cha (), also known as Oil Tea, is a unique type of tea native to the region. In Guilin oil tea falls into several varieties: Gongcheng Yao oil tea, Longsheng Dong oil tea and Xing’an oil tea, each having its distinct characteristics. Among all of them, the most famous one is Gongcheng oil tea made by the local Yao community. Gongcheng oil tea is typically made by pounding tea leaves, adding a special oil and boiling water, filtering out solid residue, and adding salt, caraway seed, green onion, dried rice, fried groundnuts, sliced taro and fried beans to the tea. The process of beating the tea leaves is known as da youcha (), literally "beat oil tea". Oil tea is also served with local snacks and pickles. Among the locals, the custom is to present the first bowl of oil tea to the senior most member of the family and guests.


Tourist attractions

The county's two main nature reserves are the Yindianshan Forest Reserve and the Xilinggang Bird Reserve. The county has historic temples devoted to
Confucius Confucius ( ; zh, s=, p=Kǒng Fūzǐ, "Master Kǒng"; or commonly zh, s=, p=Kǒngzǐ, labels=no; – ) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. C ...
and .


Confucius Temple

The Confucius temple of Gongcheng was built in 1477. The temple is located in the south of Gongcheng town and is one of the best-preserved building from the Ming Dynasty in the area. It is also one of the four largest Confucius Temples in China, and the largest in
Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
. This temple is also listed as one of the important units of cultural relics under national protection. According to the records, the temple was originally located in the north side of the town and in 1447 it was moved to south of Gongcheng. The architecture was too small and simple in the beginning and over the years it was extended and renovated. The temple now covers an area of 1,300 square meters. This temple is built according to the geography of the mountains behind the temple and the Cha River in front of the temple. In and around the temple, there are a number of historical sculptures, plaques, and patterns. Da Cheng Gate, the last gate of the temple, resembles an ancient
halberd A halberd (also called halbard, halbert or Swiss voulge) is a two-handed pole weapon that came to prominent use during the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The word ''halberd'' is cognate with the German word ''Hellebarde'', deriving from ...
, therefore, people also refer to it as Halberd Gate. There are 3 doors in this gate, with the centre door only opening during certain important events. There are 108 nails on each door as 108 represents a lucky number in ancient China.


Wu Temple

Situated on the right side the Confucius Temple at about 50 meters is the Wu Temple. This temple was initially built in 1603 and rebuilt in 1720 thereafter it was destroyed during the war in 1854 and was later rebuilt again in 1862. The Wu Temple is also known as the Martial arts temple. It is a shrine built in honor of
Guan Yu Guan Yu (; ), courtesy name Yunchang, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Along with Zhang Fei, he shared a brotherly relationship with Liu Bei and accompanied him on ...
, a general during the
Three Kingdoms Period The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the West ...
, who was also worshiped as the Sage of Martial Art in ancient China. This is the only place across China where a Confucius temple and a Martial art temple exist together. The temple is built in accordance of The temple covers an area of 1,033 square meters. The temple has an old stage, a rain pavilion, a principal hall, a back hall and a memorial archway. There are only two side doors in the temple and no front doors, the reason behind it is not to let the aura of the outside affect the aura of the inside. On top of each door are Chinese inscriptions, stating – “Love your country and be loyal to your king. Do your best to help people”. Most of the temple’s sculptures depict dragons, phoenixes, birds and fish, and are made up of clay and wood. Inside the temple there is a stone
stylobate In classical Greek architecture, a stylobate ( el, στυλοβάτης) is the top step of the crepidoma, the stepped platform upon which colonnades of temple columns are placed (it is the floor of the temple). The platform was built on a level ...
, adorned with sculptures of flower and people. Four pillars on the top of the stylobate carry a heavy headpiece. During certain special festivals, local people sing, dance, or perform opera on the stylobate. Inside, there are depictions of two men standing next to their two horses, as tt is believed that these two horses belonged to Guan Yu and another soldier named
Jiang Wei Jiang Wei (202 – 3 March 264), courtesy name Boyue, was a military general of the state of Shu during the Three Kingdoms period of China. Born in Ji County (present-day Gangu County, Gansu), Jiang Wei started his career as a military officer ...
. There are also statues of two different Gods – the one on the left is believed to bring luck and the one on the right keeps people safe. The carvings in the temple are from different ages of history The principal hall called “Xie Tian Gong”, and houses statues of Guan Yu and his soldiers. There are also two memorial archways – the Stone memorial archway and the Wooden memorial archway.


Zhuo Wei Temple

This temple is situated at about 800 meters from the Wu Temple, and commemorates Zhuo Wei, who served as an official in 999 AD. He petitioned the tax breaks, and change the land tax, advocated the establishment of schools, and the education of children. To honour him the local people raised money and build a shrine for him. This temple was built in 1478 and later rebuilt again in 1723 and spreads over an area of 1,600 square meters. The Temple has a stage, a hall, a dorm and a gate. The brackets of the walls are shaped as honeycombs, which when grazed by an air current, makes noise. This noise acts as a natural resistant to birds and flies and prevents them from nesting there. This is considered an uncommon style of Chinese architecture. The temple's external wall consists of thousands of timbers linked together in a series.


Hongyan Village

Hongyan is a village within Gongcheng known as a "socialist model village". Major attractions within the village include its persimmon trees, ancient bridge, bamboo rafts, and traditional cuisine. There is no direct bus from the center of Gongcheng to Hongyan Village, however, taxi services exist in the region.


References

{{authority control County-level divisions of Guangxi Yao autonomous counties Administrative divisions of Guilin