A Liuzhou rice-noodle dish in a broth simmered from river snails and pork bones, topped with pickled bamboo shoots, peanuts, fried beancurd skin and chilli oil. The fermented bamboo shoots give it a strong smell.

Industrial centre · Historic city · Cultural centre · Guangxi

Liuzhou

柳州 (Liǔzhōu)

Industrial city in a bend of the Liu River, home of luosifen

Liuzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Guangxi, built in a tight loop of the Liu River among karst hills. It is Guangxi's largest industrial city, with vehicle, machinery and steel plants, and is known for the Tang writer Liu Zongyuan, who served here as prefect, for the snail-broth noodles luosifen, and for the Dong and Miao counties in its north.

ProvinceGuangxi

Key facts

Region: Guangxi
Administrative level: Prefecture-level city
Area: about 18,600 km²[1]
Resident population: 4.16 million(as of 2020 census)[2]

Overview

The Liu River curls almost all the way around Liuzhou's old centre, leaving it on a peninsula surrounded by water and karst hills. The city became an industrial base from the 1950s and today makes cars, commercial vehicles, construction machinery and steel.

Liuzhou's name is known across China for luosifen, rice noodles in a pungent river-snail broth, which grew from a local night-market dish into a packaged product sold nationwide. The old saying “live in Suzhou, eat in Guangzhou, dress in Hangzhou, die in Liuzhou” refers to coffins of Liuzhou timber.

Names and nicknames

龙城 (Lóngchéng)
“Dragon City”
From a legend of dragons seen in the Liu River in the Tang.
壶城 (Húchéng)
“Pot City”
The river loop around the old centre is shaped like a pot.

History

Liuzhou became a prefecture under the Tang. The writer Liu Zongyuan was sent here as prefect from 815 until his death in 819; he freed indentured servants, dug wells and built schools, and is honoured at the Liuhou temple. Prehistoric remains from the Bailian Cave show human occupation reaching back tens of thousands of years. In 1944 the city was taken by Japanese forces; after 1949 it was developed as the main industrial centre of Guangxi.

815–819
Liu Zongyuan prefect of Liuzhou
The essayist and poet, one of the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song, died in office here.
1944
Battle of Guilin–Liuzhou
The city, with its airfield used by American air forces, fell to Japan in November 1944.
1950s–1960s
Industrial base
Steel, machinery and vehicle plants were established, followed by the Liugong and Wuling works.

Landmarks

Historic site
Liuhou Park and Liu Zongyuan Memorial Temple
柳侯祠 (Liǔhóu Cí)
Temple and park dedicated to Liu Zongyuan, with his cenotaph and the Lizi Stele with calligraphy by Su Shi.
Nature
Mount Yufeng
鱼峰山 (Yúfēng Shān)
Karst hill in the city linked to the legend of the singer Liu Sanjie.
Museum
Bailian Cave Museum
白莲洞洞穴科学博物馆 (Báiliándòng Dòngxué Kēxué Bówùguǎn)
Cave site with prehistoric human remains and a museum of cave science.

Neighbourhoods

Sanjiang
三江 (Sānjiāng)
Dong autonomous county in the north, with drum towers and wind-and-rain bridges.
Rongshui
融水 (Róngshuǐ)
Miao autonomous county with lusheng festivals and mountain villages.

Food

Luosifen
螺蛳粉 (luósīfěn)
Rice noodles in river-snail broth with pickled bamboo shoots, peanuts, beancurd skin and chilli oil.
Sanjiang oil tea
三江油茶 (Sānjiāng yóuchá)
Dong oil tea with puffed rice and peanuts.

Culture

Liuzhou has the literary legacy of Liu Zongyuan and the folk-song tradition of Liu Sanjie. The minority counties to the north hold some of the best-preserved Dong villages, where drum towers and covered bridges are built of wood without nails, and Miao communities celebrate the Po festival with bullfights and reed-pipe music.

城上高楼接大荒，海天愁思正茫茫。

Chéng shàng gāo lóu jiē dà huāng, hǎi tiān chóu sī zhèng mángmáng.

“From the high tower on the wall the view meets the great wilderness; my sorrow spreads as wide as sea and sky.”

— Liu Zongyuan, “Climbing the Tower of Liuzhou, Sent to the Prefects of Zhang, Ting, Feng and Lian” (登柳州城楼寄漳汀封连四州), 815

Getting around

Liuzhou station has high-speed services to Guilin, Nanning and beyond on the Hunan–Guangxi line.
Liuzhou Bailian Airport serves domestic routes.

Day trips

Chengyang villages
程阳八寨 (Chéngyáng Bā Zhài)
Eight Dong villages around the Chengyang wind-and-rain bridge in Sanjiang.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

Liuzhou Municipal People's Government — Liuzhou Municipal People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
Liuzhou — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)

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