Border city · Historic city · Scenic area · Guangxi
Chongzuo
崇左
Zhuang borderland of the Huashan cliff paintings and Detian falls
Chongzuo is a prefecture-level city in south-western Guangxi on the border with Vietnam. Its territory holds the Zuojiang Huashan rock paintings, a World Heritage site, the Detian waterfall on the border river, and Friendship Pass, the main land gateway between China and Vietnam. Most of its people are Zhuang.
Key facts
Overview
Chongzuo lies in the valley of the Zuo River, a landscape of karst hills and sugar-cane fields. The Zuo flows in from Vietnam and past the cliffs where, about two thousand years ago, the Luoyue people painted hundreds of red figures in ceremonies centred on bronze drums.
The city was created in 2003 from the former Nanning prefecture's border counties. Its border crossings — above all Friendship Pass near Pingxiang — carry much of China's overland trade with Vietnam, and the region is one of the last refuges of the white-headed langur, a monkey found nowhere else.
Names and nicknames
中国糖都
“China's sugar capital”
Chongzuo is one of the largest cane-sugar producing areas in China.
History
The Zuo valley was the home of the Luoyue, ancestors of the Zhuang. Imperial control was exercised through native chieftains until the Qing. The pass at Pingxiang, known in turn as Zhennan Pass and Friendship Pass, saw Feng Zicai's victory over French forces in 1885. In 1907 Sun Yat-sen's revolutionaries staged an uprising at Zhennan Pass. The border region was also the scene of fighting during the Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979.
c. 5th century BCE – 2nd century CE
Huashan rock paintings
The largest group of cliff paintings in China, on the Zuo River in Ningming.
1885
Battle of Zhennan Pass
A Chinese victory in the Sino-French War that contributed to the fall of the French government of Jules Ferry.
1907
Zhennan Pass Uprising
An unsuccessful revolutionary rising directed by Sun Yat-sen, who came to the border in person.
2003
Chongzuo city created
The border counties of the former Nanning prefecture became a prefecture-level city.
2016
Huashan inscribed as World Heritage
The Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape became Guangxi's first cultural World Heritage site.
Landmarks
Historic site
Huashan rock paintings
花山岩画
A cliff about 200 m wide covered with some 1,900 red painted figures, seen from boats on the Ming River.
Nature
Detian Waterfall
德天瀑布
Broad, tiered waterfall on the Guichun River in Daxin county, continuous with Ban Gioc falls on the Vietnamese side.
Historic site
Friendship Pass
友谊关
Fortified pass and gate on the border road to Hanoi, known earlier as Zhennan Pass.
Nature
Nonggang reserve
弄岗国家级自然保护区
Karst forest reserve and home of the white-headed langur and the Nonggang babbler.
Neighbourhoods
Pingxiang
凭祥
County-level border city with markets trading with Vietnam.
Food
Five-colour sticky rice
五色糯米饭
Zhuang festival rice dyed with plant extracts.
Vietnamese-style rice rolls
越南卷粉
Steamed rice sheets with herbs and dipping sauce, common in the border towns.
Culture
Chongzuo is one of the most strongly Zhuang parts of Guangxi. Bronze drums, antiphonal singing and the Sanyuesan festival remain part of village life, and the border brings Vietnamese food and trade into daily routines. The Huashan paintings, with their figures raising arms around drums, are often read as scenes of the rituals from which Zhuang drum culture descends.
Getting around
- Chongzuo South station has high-speed trains to Nanning, and the line continues to Pingxiang on the border.
- Boats on the Ming and Zuo rivers take visitors to the Huashan cliffs.
Day trips
Mingshi valley
明仕田园
Karst valley of rice fields and a slow river in Daxin county.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Chongzuo Municipal People's Government — Chongzuo Municipal People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art Cultural Landscape — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (retrieved 27 September 2026)
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