Guilin

As the second largest city of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Guilin is the political, economic and cultural center in northeast Gui Region in China. The name of Guilin means "Laurel Forest" in Chinese because there are tens of thousands of sweet osmanthus trees in the city. When osmanthus flowers in autumn, they are a riot of colors and permeate the city with a rich and refreshing aroma. As a scenic city with a worldly renowned fame, Gulin attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists each year from home and abroad. Today the key points of Guilin's economy are tourism and agriculture. Its new economic advantage is the modern industry featured by high technology and the tertiary industry characterized by tourism trading and service. Guilin has become one of the top tourist cities in China.

Geographic Features

Guilin is located 109o E longitudes and 24o N latitudes in the northeast of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It covers an area of 4,195 square kilometers. It is in the basin surrounded by Yuecheng Range, Ocean Hill, Jiaqiao Range and Tianping Hill. It appears at the southern end of Gui-Xiang Corridor. Li River is meandering through Guilin from north to south, with a yearly sand content of 0.067kg/m3 and strong self-cleaning ability. Karst caves and stone forests feature the wonderful natural ecological environment of Guilin, whose altitude is 140-160 meters. Millions of years ago, this area was an expanse of sea. Two crustal movements of the earth that took place about 200 and 180 million years ago thrust the limestone sediments out of the sea from its bottom more than 200 meters below the surface to form a large expanse of land. The karst formation becomes the hills and rocks of unusual shapes through many years of erosion by the wind and rain. Therefore there are many complete and wonderful karst sites, which have highly scientific value and tourist value. Guilin is in subtropical and monsoon zone with warm and moist surrounding, so it is not very cold in winter and not very hot in summer with average annual temperature of 7.6Co. There are little snow and evergreen trees. It also has plenty of rainfall with annual precipitation of 1,872 mm.

People

The city has a population of nearly 1.25 million. The region around Guilin is inhabited by 28 different ethnic groups including Zhuang, Miao, Yao, and Tong, and they make up 8.5% of the total population. The Zhuang people were the original inhabitants in Guilin and they still make the bulk of ethnic nationalities. These groups all have colorful customs and mostly rural lifestyles. The natives in Guilin speak local dialect, but the government language is still the mandarin. Buddhism is the major religion in Guilin.

History

Guilin was first established by Emperor Qinshihuang (214 BC) as the Guilin Shire. It was located on the Guixiang "Corridor", which was an important passage connecting Zhongyuan and Lingnan. During the Three-Kingdom period, the Wu Kingdom built up Shi'an Shire here, and from then on Guilin has come to be a political and transition center. Till Tang Dynasty, Guilin had become a relatively big city. In Song Dynasty Guilin was the capital of Guangnanxilu, which governed Guangxi and Hainan Island. In Ming Dynasty, Guilin was also the seat of Jingjiang Prince Mansion. The revolutionary pioneer Sun Yat-san had his residence set up here and directed the Northward expedition. In 1940 Guilin was reset as a city of Guangxi Province.