Hezhou history
Hezhou boasts a profound history that can be traced back for 2,100 years. Hehzou is under the jurisdiction of Jiaozhou capital during Hang Dynasty(202 B.C.-220 B.C.) and is recognized as one of the earliest birthplaces of Lingnan culture and Cantonese by modern experts and scholars.
Hezhou city experices a long-term development. In 112 B.C., Han Emperor Wu set up Linhe County at Hejie and it belongs to Cangwu Shire. And it was set up Linhe Shire by Sunquan in 226. Emperor Ming changed Linhe Shire into Linqing state in 470. Linhe became a Shire again. In 589, emperor of Sui dynasty abolished Shire and set up Hezhou state. In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Hezhou was renamed He county. Turn to 1914, He county belong to Guilin District. The county government moved to Babu in September of 1952 and it belongs to Pingle district. In June 1997, the state council approved Hezhou convert county into city. Hezhou became a city officially in June 2002, the original county of hezhou was changed to Babu district. Hezhou city govrns Yao autonomous county, zhongshan county, zhaoping county and the newly established Babu district. Now, Hezhou can be divided into 2 districts, namely Babu District and Pinggui District, Zhaoping county, Zhongshan county and Fuchuan Yao Autonomous county.
Hezhou is a multi-cultural city, Zhongyuan culture, baiyue culture and xiangchu culture and other culture intersect here. As early as the Ming and Qing dynasties, here is the Commodity distribution center of Guangxi, Hunan and Guangdong provinces (regions), special history and culture created Hezhou many human landscapes and places of interest. There are more than 10 domestic-level and autonomous region-level key cultural relics protection units. Amony many scenic spots, Linhe ancient city, Yuyin Fushan, square Hakka enclosures, Wenbi tower and the Millennium Osmanthus Well are the most famous ones. Zhaoping County, known as the "dream home", preserved Huang Yao ancient town, which is the most complete Ming and Qing dynasties ancient architectural group in China. "Guangxi Provincial Committee site" memorial hall is also in there. In Fuchuan, there are Song, ming qing dynasties, ancient town, fengyu bridge and ruiguang tower, etc.
Hezhou is a “language museum”. According to the statistics, there are 29 dialects in hezhou. Chinese dialects are divided into seven categories, zhezhou dialects have five of them. Hezhou language features diversity and complexity, known as “language museum”, is the "natural laboratory" of study dialect. Besides Zhuang dialect and yao dialect, there are Cantonese Hezhou dialect (local dialect), Hakka dialect, pujia dialect, etc. Each county has a popular language, Cantonese mainly popular in Zhongshan and Zhaoping County, Babu District mainly use Hakka dialect. Almost everyone in the urban area can speak Gui Liu dialect, Cantonese, Hakka, local dialect and Putonghua. Some people can also speak other twenty languages such as "Jiudu dialect" and "Badu dialect"
The ethnic customs of hezhou are colorful: Yao people's "panwang festival", "valentine's day", "beating oil tea", "changgu dance"; Zhuang people's "March three", "temple fair", "gun period", "huomao dance"; Miao people's "lusheng dance" and other quaint folk customs.
Hezhou has been praised as land of abundance and outstanding people. North song dynasty writer and philosopher Dunyi Zhou was born in Hezhou in 1017 when his father was the county magistrate of Guiling county, Hezhou. He is the second generation of great Confucianism after Confucius and mencius, who has been listed as a world cultural celebrity by UNESCO because of his philosophical contribution. Shimu Yu is a official in the late Qing dynasty. Tingfu Zhang (1875--1951) is a calligrapher and painter in the late qing dynasty. Chinese famous talent and calligrapher Liqun Yu is also from Hezhou. Qiaobo Ye is Chinese women speed skater, her ancestral home is hezhou, guangxi. She is the runner-up of Winter Olympic Game and the member of Beijing winter Olympic athletes committee.
