Chongzuo

Chongzuo is one of the earliest centers of Zhuang culture. Important sites dating back to the Stone Age have been found here. The Rock Paintings of Hua Mountain along the Ming River at Huashan date back 1800 to 2500 years and are one of the largest groups of pictographs in China and in the world. On several cliff faces are hundreds of large red pictographs depicting a large battle. The red pigment is still bright and vivid and individual figures, weapons, and animals are easy to distinguish. The cliffs, part of the sacred Frog Mountain, were important site to the early Zhuang. In 214 BC, during the Qin dynasty, Chongzuo was part of the Xiang (象郡) commandry. Chinese general Feng Zicai beat back a French attack here at the Battle of Bang Bo in 1885. Sun Yat-sen fired the first cannon shot of the anti-Qing revolution in Chongzuo in 1907. …

Chongzuo is located in southwestern Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It borders Nanning to the east, Baise to the north, Fangchenggang to the south and Lạng Sơn, Vietnam to the west. The Zuo or Left River and the You or Right River have their confluence in Chongzuo after which the river becomes the Yong River. Chongzuo is mountainous and hilly with numerous karst formations similar to Guilin and northern Vietnam's Ha Long Bay. Its area is 17,732 km2 (6,846 sq mi), 10,529 km2 (4,065 sq mi) of which is forested. Chongzuo's climate is humid subtropical and monsoon-influenced. January's average temperature is 14.1 °C (57.4 °F) and in July it is 28.9 °C (84.0 °F). Within the prefecture, the annual mean is 20.8–23 °C (69.4–73.4 °F). There are 330 frost-free days. Annual precipitation is between 1100-1300mm, much lower than other areas in Guangxi. …

Forestry and agriculture are two of Chongzuo's biggest industries. Oranges, rice, beans, corn, cassava, cinnamon, bananas, vegetables, durian, pineapples, longan, and tea are all major crops, but sugarcane is the center of Chongzuo agriculture. Farm raised animals include beef and dairy cattle, sheep, ducks, chickens, geese, and bees. Aquaculture for fish is also big. Chinese medicinal herbs are picked from the wild and also grown. Important mineral resources include manganese, gold, ferberite, coal, barite, bentonite, uranium, and vanadium. It is China's biggest manganese producer and the world's biggest producer of bentonite. Other industries include export infrastructure, paper, forest products such as timber and turpentine, building materials, pharmaceuticals, and electronics manufacturing.