Longtan Park
Longtan Park is located in the south of Liuzhou, three kilometers away from downtown, and has a design area of 544 hectares. It is a natural scenery of karst landscape, gathering sceneries of karst landscape and subtropical plants, and it is rich in ethnic culture.
Longtan Park has one lake, two ponds, four valleys and twenty-four mountains in different appearances. The two ponds are Longtan and Leitan, and there are two opposite mountains surrounding the ponds, and it is said that two gods, the Thunder and the Dragon, controllers of thunder and rainfall, live here, which is the origin of their names. The temperature of water is usually varied between 18℃ to 22℃, and in winter, there are lots of water vapours emitting from the ponds , and a thick layer of mist above of the ponds, which give the ponds a veil of mistery. There are inscriptions on precipices and among them, there is a poem written by Zhang Chong, and the poem highly praises the scenery, the mountains, water, and trees.
In the park, there are many historic and cultural relics, like monument buildings for Liu Zhongyuan's praying for rainfall in here. Liu Zhouyuan, is a great poet and an officer in Liuzhou for a period of time. He, in here, once prayed for rainfall, and had written an article about this event. Considering this, monument buildings like a pavilion, a sacrificial altar and a temple, are built for him. The fishing terrace is built for Zhang Chong, an officer in the Ming Dynasty(1368AD-1644AD), who once fished in here. Li yu zui relic is a cultural relic preserved at national level, and material things like pottery, stoneware, bone tool and the remains of aquatic animal and terrestrial animal are unearthed.
The park has a region with ethnic themes, which is made as a special ethnic line for tour, and it has made several ethnic villages, like the Dong village, the Zhuang village, and the Thai village. The ethnic culture is reflected in some ethnic villages and those villages have buildings in ethnic styles, and artistic performances of ethnic groups, moreover restaurants provide ethnic food and snacks . There is a lake named Jinghu, and above the lake is a wind and rain bridge named Longtan wind and rain bridge, and it imitates Chengyang wind and rain bridge in Sanjiang of the Dong people. In the lakeside, there is a gulou which is the building of the Dong people, and it is in a square shape, and has nine floors. The two buildings fully show the building style of the Dong people. Besides these, there is a village of the Zhuang people. In this scenic park, there are buildings of the Zhuang style, like Duige pavilion and Zhenshui pavilion and Rongshu bridge. The Zhuang people like to construct buildings along rivers and those buildings are in stilt style. Still, it has a Thai village, and its buildings are constructed in Thai style, like restaurant, and pavilion. In the Thai village, there are many subtropical plants to harmonize with those Thai buildings.
Longtan Park has some entertainment facilities for activities, and you may go to the lake, Jinghu to feed fish or go boating, you may go to Douqu park to feed animals, and you may fly a kite in a lawn. In the flower season, you may go to there for flower sightseeing and have a picnic. It also has a playing zone for children, and children may has a joyful day.
In this park, you may see the beautiful scenery of karst landscape, and have a touch with the scenery of southern style composed of water, mountain and tree, and you may see some historic and cultural relics, you may see buildings of ethnic styles, eat ethnic food, and experience different ethnic cultures.
