Sanjiang Travels Guide

Sanjiang
Sanjiang was named after its three rivers of Rongjiang, Xunjiang and Miaojiang. It was originally built in 1100. It had several names before it got the name of Sanjiang in 1914. Sanjiang has15 towns, one of which is Yao ethnics' and two of which are Miao ethnics; 167 communities and 879 villages.
Location
Sanjiang Dong Autonomous County is located in the north of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
Sanjiang is situating between north latitude 25.4----26.0 and east longitude 108.14---109.45, about 200 kilometres away from Liuzhou and 166 kilometres away from Guilin .
Sanjiang is in the joint area of three provinces of Hunan, Guizhou andGuangxi . It is surrounded by mountains with average elevation of 80 meters-100 meters
Weather
It enjoys a subtropic, humid and monsoon climate, with the annual average temperature of 17-19C. The coldest weather is in January, with mean temperature9 C. The hottest weather is in July, with a mean temperature of 26 C. There are plenty rainfall in Sanjiang, which concentrates in summers; annual precipitation of 1493 mm.
Forests
Sanjiang isafamous forest county in China. The forest cover rate is 77 percent , rich in pines and fir-trees.
Population
With the most populous one of the seven Dong Autonomous Counties in China, Sanjiang is a region traditionally inhabited by Dong people, which makes up for more than 60% of the population of 360 000. And the others are Miao, Yao , Zhuang, Molao, and Han people.
Features
The Dong people are famous with Wind Rain Bridge , Drum Tower, Wooden House and Sour Food.
Feng Yu Qiao
"Feng" is wind in Chinese, "Yu" is rain and "Qiao" is bridge. So "Feng Yu Qiao" means Wind and Rain Bridge.
Feng Yu Qiao is a triad of bridge, corridor and pavilion, so the people can stay on the bridge even when it rains. There are 108 wind and rain Bridges in Sanjiang, among them, Chengyang Feng Yu Qiao is the biggest, most elaborate and best-conserved bridge standing in Sanjiang.
Chengyang Feng Yu Qiao
Cheng Yu Feng Qiao was originally in 1916. It was damaged by flood in 1984 and rebuilt in1986. The bridge is 64.4 metres long, 3.4 metres wide and 10.6 metres high.
There are five solid stone piers supporting the bridge and the pavilions. It was built from pegged wood ,without any nails using in the bridge construction.
BatuanFeng Yu Qiao
Among all the Wind and Rain Bridges, the Batuan Feng Yu Qiao is the most unique. It has two respective ways, one for man, the other for animals.
Drum tower
Drum Tower is the symbol of Dong people. It is the place for Dong people to hold the meeting and entertainment. According to the traditions of Dong people, Drum Towers are usually built before the villages are built, The Drum Tower is the center of the village. There are 118 drum towers in Sanjiang county; among them , Mapang Gulou is the most famous one.
Mapang Gulou is in Bajiang ( eight rivers ) Town, 23 kilometres away from the Sanjiang Town. It was originally built in Qing Dynasty, suffered from several fires and was rebuilt in1943. The tower with nine levels is 13 metres high, 12 metres wide witha broad rectangular base . The Mapang Gulou is the largest and most typical drum tower in Sanjiang.
Wooden House
Dong Ethnics' villages are almost on the hill sides and near rivers or lakes. Their traditional buildings are wooden houses. The wooden houses are normally two or three stories. The first floor is used to keep farming tools, firewood, raise chickens, ducks and make rices. The second floor is used as bedroom, sitting room and kitchen.
In some villages the wooden houses are connected together. So in sunny days there are so much shade that you don't need a hat or umbrella to walk about in the villages. And in rainy days you can go around the villages without raincoats or umbrellas.
But that is not always good, sometimes , if there is a house on fire, it is not easy to put out the fire and the the fire is very easy to spread. Sometimes, some wooden houses are put down in order to keep the fire away from other houses.
Chengyangbazai
Chengyangbazai means eight villages in Chengyang. It is one of the Guangxi top ten charming villages.
Danzhou Cun
Danzhou Cun is one of the model of China's ecological agriculture.
Specialities
4000 tons of tea leaves are produced in Sangjiang every year, and Sajiang is " the Home of Tea Leaves in Guangxi"
There are 55 000 hectares tea oil trees in Sanjiang, and sanjiang is " the Home of Tea Oil in China"
There are lot of specialities in Sanjiang such as tea leaves, tung oil tree, kiwi fruits, oranges, mushrooms and fungus.
Culture and Tourism Festival
Duoye Chengyangqiao Wenhua Luyou Jie is the culture and tourism festival in Sanjiang. It holds in October (1st--- 7th )during the China National holidaysevery year, with the original one in 2003.
Sanjiang Traveling Routes
Route A
Dong Ethnic Ecological Museum----- Sanjiang Drum Tower ----- Buyang Tea Farm ----- Dong Ethnic Ecological Area ----- Batuan Wing and Rain Bridge ----- Great Grassland ----- Datang Hill ----- Three Province Land.
Route B
Dong Ethnic Ecological Museum----- Sanjiang Drum Tower ----- Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge ----- Farmer's Home Visiting ----- Ma'an Drum Tower ----- Huilong Bridge ----- Yanzhai Drum Tower ---- Puji Bridge ----- Dazhai Village ----- Ma Village ----- Batou Village.
Route C
Dong Ethnic Ecological Museum ----- Sanjiang Drum Tower ----- Lijintan Strange Stones Village ----- Doujiang Town ----- Lecun Village.