Guilin Overview

Guilin in General

Guilin (Chinese:桂林, Pinyin:Guìlín, Zhuang:Gveilinz) which means translated "Osmanthus Forrest" is located in the northeast of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in the South of China. Guilin covers an area of about 27,800 square kilometers (10,734 square miles), which is rather small compared to other leading tourist destinations in China. Nevertheless there are a wealth of attractions to be discovered, like Elephant Trunk Hill, the Jing Jiang Ming Tombs or the former imperial tea plantation (more on Guilin attractions).

The city center is surrounded by two rivers and four lakes which have been connected artificially in 2002. The city scenery includes many karst mountains that are characteristic for this area of China. Many old osmanthus trees, can still be found along the main roads, especially Binjiang Road.

Guilin is furthermore home to many Chinese ethnic minorities, especially Zhuang, Yao, Hui, Miao and Dong.

 

Guilin History

Guilin has a history of more than 2,000 years.The Han Chinese empire first expanded into Guangxi in the 3rd century BC. They considered Guangxi an exotic region inhabited by barbaric and unruly aboriginal tribes. The Ling Canal was cut around this time, allowing small boats to transit from the Yangtze to the south flowing Xi River via the Kuei River.

In 111 BCE, during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Shi An County was established, which could be regarded as the beginning of the city. It grew into an important trading post on the route between central China and the southern ports of Guangdong (Canton), so that under the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) a garrison was set up here.

In 1921,the Northern Expeditionary Army under the command of Dr. Sun Yat-sen joined forces In Guilin with the headquarters sited in the Royal Palace at the foot Of the Solitary Beauty Peak.

The city was heavily bombed by Japanese forces in the second world war, destroying most of the old architecture.It furthermore served as one of the bases for the Flying Tigers (more)

Guilin served as the capital city of Guangxi Province until the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 when it was replaced by Nanning.

In 1981, this ancient city was listed by the State Council as one of the four cities (the other three being Beijing, Hangzhou and Suzhou) where the protection of historical and cultural heritage, as well as natural scenery, should be treated as a priority project.

 

Guilin Weather

Guilin features a sub-tropical monsoon climate with moderate and mild climate and abundant rainfall. The weather in January is the coolest with an average temperature of 7.9C/ 46F. July is the hottest with an average temperature of 28.3C/ 82.9F. The rain season is between the April and July and the rainfall during the period by the 40% of the whole year.(more)