Guilin tourist information
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 with great halls and walls. 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 and Guangxi Three Departments. Emperor Yongli had been here twice. Our revolutionary pioneer Sun Yat-san had his residence set up here and directed the northward expedition. In 1940 Guilin was reset as a city and the capital of Guangxi Province. So Guilin has been the political, economic and cultural center in northeast Gui Region ever since its founding.
Guilin is situated in the northeast of Guangxi Province and southwest of Nanling Mountains. 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. Carbonate rocks form the main body of the city ground where the karst physiognomy spreads widely, and 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. There are little snow and evergreen trees. It also has plenty of rainfall with an average precipitation per year of 1,872 mm.
Karst caves and stone forests feature the wonderful natural ecological environment of Guilin, whose altitude is 140-160 meters. Li River is meandering through Guilin from north to south, with a yearly sand content of 0.067kg/m3 and strong self-cleaning ability. The earth consists of mainly red soils, with PH ranging from 4.5 to 6.5. The plants in Guilin belong to the southern green plants of the sub-tropical evergreen forests, with a variety of 2,329 species, which fall into 247 divisions and 969 sections. There are 1,593 kinds of animals in Guilin, falling into 60 divisions and 295 subdivisions.
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. In 1998, the GDP of the city amounted to 29.142 billion yuan, and the fixed capital in vestment was 6.366 billion yuan. The gross production of grain went up 50 2.183 million tons, meat 640 thousand tons, and aquatic products 71.9 thousand tons. The gross production of agriculture totaled 16.523 billion yuan, and that of industry was 35.43 billion yuan. The income of tourism was 3.193 billion yuan.
Guilin has a long history and brilliant culture. To the north of Guilin City, there are Baojiyan Cultural Site in Old Stone Age 30,000 years ago and Zengpiyan Cultural Site in New Stone Age 9,000 years old, which provide precious data to the research of pre-historical culture in South China. After the construction of Lingqu Canal in Qin Dynasty, Guilin has shown its state of cultural exchange between South and North. Guilin mountains and rivers as the best scenery attracted a lot of famous poets in Tang Dynasty. The poems and essays they wrote added charming brilliance to the Guilin mountains and rivers, forming a unique culture of mountains and rivers. At that time in Guilin, the culture of Buddhism was flourishing. In Song and Yuan Dynasty, the culture in Guilin made greater progress and was listed on the top in the country. In Ming and Qing Dynasty, Guilin became a key cultural city in Lingnan. The education in Guilin is so developed that it is also called the Zhuangyuan City. There are also many famous painters of whom over one hundred have their names in history. The Gui Opera, Cai Tone, drama and mass cultural activities are very popular and lasting.
by China National Tourism Administration
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