Oldzhou Ancient Street (Oldzhou Scenic Area, Guangxi)

Oldzhou Ancient Street (Oldzhou Scenic Area, Guangxi)

Oldzhou Ancient Street is located 8 kilometers from Jingxi County. Renowned for its picturesque mountains and beautiful waters, it offers a microcosm of Jingxi’s scenery. The Oldzhou area boasts stunning peaks, clear and bright waters, pavilions and temples that complement one another. With blue skies, green trees, and unmanned boats resting by the water, the pastoral scenery is especially rich.

Aside from its beautiful mountains and waters and numerous historical attractions, it is also home to the nationally renowned Embroidered Ball Street. Built along the river with a stone-paved path, the street features many ancient buildings with large blue bricks and thick wooden doors. Here, people of all ages — children, adults, and the elderly, even three generations of a family — can all craft embroidered balls. These handicrafts feature exquisite patterns and delicate handiwork, as spiritually uplifting as the scenery of Oldzhou itself, making them hard to put down. Truly among the finest embroidered balls, they enjoy widespread acclaim and are a highly distinctive tourism handicraft in Jingxi. During agricultural off-seasons, the streets are filled with women sitting at their doorways sewing embroidered balls. The ancient lanes are awash with bright ribbons, silk strips, and threads, adding splashes of color and breathing new life into the otherwise faded old street. Women, with their needles and threads, conjure up countless exquisitely handmade embroidered balls and little shoes as if by magic. The colors are so vibrant, yet also pure and clean in themselves. Perhaps such cleverness and dexterity are innate.

Beyond its delicate landscapes, the entirety of Oldzhou consists of a bridge, a temple, and a small cluster of homes. The morning breeze ripples a pool of green water, slowly pushing in from around the corner of the temple wall. A person sits beneath a slender young tree, with layers of mountains stacked up right by the water’s edge. Looking down, there are serene reflections, while the brilliant sun of early summer silently brushes over the cornfields, gentle as colorless wisps of cloud.

In many ways, Oldzhou shares similarities with the “border town” depicted by Shen Congwen. Of course, the people of Oldzhou don’t enjoy diving to catch ducks; they prefer another sport — throwing embroidered balls.

Embroidered balls have a history of more than a thousand years in Jingxi. When a Zhuang girl has a sweetheart, she will embroider a delicate embroidered ball stitch by stitch as a token of love.

A bamboo or wooden pole over 10 meters tall is erected in an open space, with a large disc or bamboo branch made into a ring at the top, about 50 centimeters in diameter, and the ring’s opening covered with red paper. Young men and women take turns throwing embroidered balls at the ring. Successfully breaking through the red paper and passing through the ring wins the game. Any young man who hits the target is sure to win the affection of the opposite sex; if a girl throws an embroidered ball at a young man, it means she has her eye on him; if the young man accepts the ball, the two can then go aside to court. This could also be called “falling in love through sport.”

The Wenchang Pavilion is located about 1 kilometer east of Oldzhou Street. Built on a small island in the Equan River, it is a four-cornered, three-story ancient pavilion approximately 15 meters tall with a base area of about 16 square meters. Constructed during the Ming and Qing dynasties, it stands solitary in the water like a pearl inlaid in a green ribbon, possessing a unique charm. On the river’s bend, a small bridge leads to the pavilion, allowing visitors to enter and enjoy the view. It was also a place where ancient literati played music, composed poetry, and played chess or wrote by moonlight and flowing water. During the Jiaqing era of the Qing Dynasty, the then prefect of Guixun, Song Qinghe, inscribed a plaque that read: “Prosperity in the Southern Region.” The plaque was damaged before liberation due to the pavilion’s long-term neglect. After enduring years of wind and rain erosion, by the 1970s, the Wenchang Pavilion had become severely dilapidated. In recent years, the county government has allocated funds multiple times for renovation. With its upturned eaves and carved floral phoenix designs on the walls, the ancient pavilion has regained its former glory, adding new charm to the Oldzhou Scenic Area.

Scenic Area Address: 8 kilometers south of Jingxi County, Baise City

Transportation: Take a bus from Baise to Jingxi, then transfer to a local shuttle bus to reach the scenic area.