Longji Town

Longji Town

Longji Town is a national AAA-level tourist attraction.

Longji Tourist Town serves as the “southern gateway” to Longsheng and is the town where the famous Longji Scenic Area is located. The Longji Tourist Town’s featured district is a neighborhood that blends the local customs and culture of the ethnic minorities in Longsheng. Here, you’ll find a series of buildings that incorporate architectural styles from five ethnic groups: Miao, Yao, Dong, Zhuang, and Han. There are flagstone-paved streets, blue-brick walls, wooden stilted houses, distinctive Dong drum towers, classic wind-and-rain bridges, uniquely styled performance stages, and a riverside prayer site full of artistry, leisure, culture, and entertainment. All these elements give Longji Street a rich local character and unique regional cultural identity. As night falls, creatively designed chili pepper lamps light up, thousands of household lights twinkle in harmony, and neon lights outline the silhouette of Longji Town, creating a breathtaking night scene that is truly enchanting.

In terms of commercial offerings, the Longji Town featured district continues the traditional culture of the ethnic minorities in Longsheng and fully showcases local specialty products. In the featured district, you can taste special snacks such as Longji aged rice wine, Longji glutinous rice cakes, and Longji oil tea. You can also admire exquisitely handmade Yao ethnic costumes and silver jewelry, and purchase local agricultural products such as Longji tea, Longji chili peppers, and Longsheng bamboo shoots.

Therefore, the Longji Town featured district is a tourism-oriented neighborhood that is suitable for living, business, work, and travel.

Historical Changes

In the early Northern Song Dynasty, Heping Street was called “Kuliu Village,” home to eight households of Pan Yao people. The village was located in the area where the current clinic is situated. Later, a great fire destroyed all the houses in the village. The Yao people relocated the entire village toward Miaoping. Hundreds of years later, the Hou family of the Zhuang ethnic group resettled in Kuliu Village.

During the Ming Dynasty, Longsheng was under the jurisdiction of Yining County, and a patrol inspection office (Sangjiangkou) was established in Si Ping (now Si Ping Village, Wantian Township), northwest of the county seat, to manage the local governance of the northwestern part of Yining County (today’s Longsheng region). This office was abolished at the end of the Ming Dynasty. In the late Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, the Sangjiang Office was re-established, with its seat located in Kuliu Village.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Yining County set up a salt bureau in Kuliu Village to manage salt sales. Nearby Zhuang residents often went to the salt shops in Kuliu Village to buy salt and referred to “Kuliu Village” as “Salt Office.” After the Sangjiang Patrol Inspection Office moved to Kuliu Village, the Salt Office became an “Official Office” inhabited by officials. As a result, Kuliu Village was renamed “Official Office.” However, even today, the Zhuang people in the Heping area still call the “Official Office” the “Salt Office.”

Before the founding of New China, Han businessmen surnamed Li, Yang, and Zhou from Lingchuan County came to Official Office to do business. They developed the area from the clinic to the primary school into a commercial street. They dealt in food, cloth, daily necessities, and purchased mountain products such as palm bark, tea, tung oil, and tea oil. Commercial activity was quite vibrant. By the early years of the Republic of China, the first, fourth, and seventh days of the lunar month were designated as market days for “Official Office Street.” The Official Office Market was the only formal market in Longsheng County.

In 1953, “Official Office Street” was renamed “Heping Street.” The market days remained the first, fourth, and seventh days of the lunar month. Every year on the 24th day of the sixth lunar month, Heping Street held a agricultural trade fair. On that day, the exchange of goods was bustling, and a variety of recreational and sports activities created a lively atmosphere.

The “dragon” is a mystical animal revered by the Chinese nation. To the outside world, we call ourselves the descendants of the “dragon.”

In Chengbu County, Hunan Province, there is a mountain peak that resembles a “dragon head.” A feng shui master surnamed Zheng thought: if there is a “head,” there must be a “tail”—where is the “dragon tail”? In the first year of the Tongzhi reign during the Qing Dynasty, this curious feng shui master, along with his three disciples, used a compass to determine direction and followed the “dragon vein” in search of it. One day, the four of them arrived at Official Office Street, and the compass pinpointed their destination. Without resting from their long journey, they immediately climbed to the hill opposite and looked down—ah, how beautiful it was. A small river meandered around the street, and a “dragon tail” appeared right before their eyes. Since then, the saying “the dragon head is in Chengbu, the dragon tail is in Official Office” has been widely celebrated among the people.

Friends, both domestic and international, after you have admired the “world’s most unique” beauty of the Longji Terraced Fields and tasted the distinctive cuisine and drinks of the Zhuang people, don’t forget to stay a night in Longji Street (formerly Heping Street). Perhaps, this short rest on the “dragon tail” will bring you endless blessings throughout your life.

Source: Longsheng County Tourism Bureau