Huangyao Ancient Town

Chinese name: 黄姚古镇 (Huang Yao Gu Zhen)
Location: Zhaoping County, Hezhou City, Guangxi.
Ticket: Entrance ticket CNY100.00
Estimated tour time: half day
Recommended time to visit: Mar to Oct
Nearby attractions: Gupo Mountain, Ziyun Wonderland, Jade Forest Scenic Area, etc.

Huangyao Ancient Town is the one of the most popular destinations for foreign travelers. This town has a history more than hundreds of years. The original one can be dated back to the Song Dynasty. It is 200km far from Guilin, located in the Northeast of Zhaoping County town.
Huangyao was built during the Wanli Period (1573-1620) of the Ming Dynasty, and reached its prime during the reign of Emperor Qianlong (1736-1795) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The family names of the townspeople were mainly Huang and Yao, hence the town became known as "Huangyao Town". Today Huangyao includes both an old town and a new district.Many of the buildings in the old town have stayed relatively unchanged in the modern era, and it began to develop as a tourist destination in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It was listed as one the 50 most worthwhile places to visit in China in 2006.

Being surrounded by karst peaks and traversed by streams, Huangyao Ancient Town is repute as "a dreamland for families". Covering a total area of 3.6 square kilometers. The town has eight main streets, stretching out in eight different directions, forming a giant “Eight Trigrams” from a bird’s eye view. The folk houses are situated mainly along Longpan Street and Zhongxing Street. Here all dwellings of the same family name are centered on their ancestral hall.Here you can see more than 30 temples, ancestral halls and pavillions all well preserved. With fabulous mountains, caves, pavilions, temples, ancestor hills, old trees and tablets, every corner of Huang Yao town shows typical Chinese features.

The people in Huang Yao ancient town celebrate two important festivals, one third of the third lunar month, in the old stage to sing opera; the other one is Fourteen in the lunar calendar, the Five-Year Plan Two days, there was a festival custom of He Shen, which is a grapefruit-point night lights on the river, lasting around 2.5 hours.
Local specialities in Huang Yao ancient town are the Huang Yao tofu, mushroom fried rice cake, sweet potato as well as tea, are famous around Guangxi Province. People in Huang Yao were very hospitable, if you chat with anyone, most likely they will ask you to their home to eat, if you want to try the rice farm, you definitely can.