Longji Ancient Zhuang Village Terraces - the Root of Longji Rice Terraces

Longji Ancient Zhuang Village History

With a history over 700 years, Longji Ancient Zhuang Village is absolutely the oldest village group of Longji area. Even the most popular Ping'an Village was once part of Longji Ancient Zhuang Village. Longji Village gets its name for it is located on the ridge which just likes the backbone of a floating dragon swooping down to the River. The current Longji Village consists of four separate villages, including Liao Family Village (廖家寨), Hou Family Village (候家寨), Pingduan Village (平段) and Pingzhai Village (平寨).

Why Visit Longji Ancient Zhuang Village

● With a long history over 700 years, it is where Longji Rice Terraces started. The first rice terrace of Longji Rice Terraces (始祖田) is located there.

● A good place to enjoy the magnificent view of the rice terraced fields and the authentic ethnic looks of Zhuang nationality.

● It preserves the largest scale of unique stilt-style wooden houses (Diaojiaolou; 吊脚楼) and stone carving culture of Zhuang ethnic group in China.

● It is the nearest Rice Terraces Area from the entrance of Longji Rice Terraces Area.

● It enjoys the only ecological museum of Zhuang nationality in China.

Curvaceous Rice Terraces - All the villages there are embraced by mesmerize rice terraced fields, attracting numerous tourists come to visit. Due to its unique unobstructed view of rice terraces, you can admire thousands layers of rice terraces stretching to the Jin River (金江) at the below of the mountain, no matter where you are.

Centenary Houses (百年古屋) and Stone Carving Culture - As the root of Longji rice terraces area, there are largest scale of unique stilt-style wooden houses (Diaojiaolou) and stone carving culture of Zhuang ethnic group. The oldest stilt-style wooden house there, which is still inhabited by the locals, has a history of more than 250 years. Aside from the wooden houses, there is also abundant stone carving relics like stone mills, flagstone roads, old stone bridges, ancient steles, stone vats, ancient well, ancient village gate, etc.

Ecological Museum of Zhuang Nationality - Inside the Ecological Museum of Zhuang Nationality in the village, which is also the only Zhuang Ecological Museum in China, there are varieties of farming tools like coir rain capes, bamboo baskets, etc. The museum is free of charge, so do not miss it if the museum opens to the public on the day you arrive at the village. Besides, there is no fixed opening hours or dates of the museum, and you won’t know whether it is open or not until you get there.

Photo Shoot by Our Guest

Stilt-style Wooden Houses in Longji Village

Best Time to Visit Longji Ancient Zhuang Village

The best time to visit Longji Ancient Zhuang Village rice terraces is from the late April to the early October. On the 15th of the third month of Chinese lunar year, Longji Village will operate an annual Kaigeng Festival (开耕节). On that day, the local Zhuang nationality people will start their irrigation work. And about half a month after that, the rice terraces around Longji Village will full fill with glittering water. From mid-June to mid-September, it is the growing period for the rice plants. When the breeze blows gently, those rolling plants just like green waves among the mountain. From late September to early October, all the rice plants have clothed in gold, forming a “yellow sea” among the mountains. Time for harvest always comes after the National Day Holiday (the first week of October). If you want to meet the rice terraces during its most beautiful time, you are not suggested to visit Longji Village area after the harvest work is finished, but before that.

Nearby Attractions

Ping An Rice Terraces

Ping'an Rice Terraces area is the most popular tourist spot of the whole Longji Scenic Area. At Ping'an Terraced Fields, there are two main viewpoints - “Nice Dragons and Five Tigers”(九龙五虎) and “Seven Star around the Moon” (七星伴月). To get to Ping An Rice Terraces from Longji Village, you can hike along the flagstone trail or drive back to the entrance of the whole Longji Rice Terraces and then drive to the Ping'an Parking Lot. It takes about 40 minutes to 1.5 hours by hiking and about 1-1.5 hours by driving.

Jinkeng Rice Terraces

Jinkeng Rice Terraces is the farthest rice terraces area from the entrance, and it enjoys the largest scale of rice terraces. Inside Jinkeng Area, there are four viewpoints to enjoy the scenery, including No.1 Viewpoint - West Hill Music(西山韶乐), No.2 Viewpoint - Large-scale Thousand-layers Terraces (千层天梯), No.3 Viewpoint - Golden Buddha Peak (金佛顶) and Seven Stars Accompany the Moon (七星追月). Due to the long distance from Longji Village to Jinkeng Rice Terraces, you are suggested to drive to get there from Longji Village, which takes about 1.5-2 hours.

Seven Star around the Moon in Ping An

Large-scale Thousand-layers Terraces in Jinkeng

Which to Choose? Longji, Ping'an, Jinkeng?

Longji Village is the nearest rice terraces area from the entrance. It is a nature and culture tourist site. For tourists who want to know more about the history of Longji Rice Terraces, Longji Village suits your needs best. Ping'an Rice Terraces area is the core tourist area of Longji Terraced Fields. It is the first rice terraces area of Longji that opens up for visitors so now it enjoys more hotels, restaurants and other modern amenities like foot bath center. Jinkeng Rice Terraces enjoys the largest scale of rice terraces in the whole Longji area. Besides, Jinkeng has the only cable car facility of Longji area.

Click to enlarge the Longsheng Terraces Map

Longji Ancient Zhuang Village Rice Terraces Price

The ticket price of the whole Longsheng Rice Terraces is 80 RMB per person. Once you book the ticket, you can visit the whole Longji Terraced Field, including the Ancient Zhuang Village Rice Terraces, Ping An Rice Terraces, Jinkeng Rice Terraces, etc.

Get to & around Longji Ancient Zhuang Village

Longji Ancient Zhuang Village terraced fields area is about 9km away from the entrance of the whole Longsheng Rice Terraces. All the tourist buses, cars and coaches can only get to the parking lot of Longji Ancient Zhuang Village. Inside the rice terraces scenic area, hiking is widely chosen as the best way to enjoy the scenery. Once step into the scenic area, you can walk along the flat paved road or the flagstone trails to enjoy the rice terraces. You can get to the village where hotels located within less than half an hour by hiking. Apart from Hiking, there are also official sightseeing buses that can take you from the parking lot to the visitor center in the village within about 8 minutes, which charge about 20RMB per person. The opening hours of the sightseeing buses are usually from 9:00 to 17:00.

From Guilin to Longji Ancient Zhuang Village

Longji Ancient Zhuang Village is located about 80km north of Guilin. Currently, no direct coaches travel between the two destinations. If you want to get to Longji Village or travel back to Guilin from Longji Village, you should make a transfer at the Heping Country (和平乡) of Longsheng County (龙胜县) or the entrance of the whole Longji Scenic Area.

From Yangshuo to Longji Ancient Zhuang Village

Yangshuo is located about 155km south of Longji Village. There is no direct coach traveling between Yangshuo and Longji Village. Besides, driving from Longji Village to Yangshuo takes more than 4 hours, thus you are not really recommended to catch any inconvenient coaches to travel between the two destinations.

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To travel Guilin, Longji and Yangshuo without any worry about the transportation, you can choose to enjoy our transfer service, and our local guide and driver would well arrange every step to provide you a comfortable trip from pick you up, escort you among the attractions and to send you off to your next destination or home. Therefore, you could pay more attention to the wonderful highlights on the way. If you are interested, please feel free to contact our professional travel expert for details.

>> How to Get from Guilin to Longji / Longji to Guilin

>> How to Get from Yangshuo to Longsheng / Longsheng to Yangshuo

Longji Ancient Zhuang Village Rice Terraces Hotel

Hotels of Longji Village are mainly located around the visitor center of the village. Most of the hotels there are wooden ones with facilities that can meet the basic needs like hot water, free Wi-Fi, a TV, private bathroom, etc. The most popular wooden guesthouse there is the Dragon Hill Scenic Hotel (龙胜龙脊古壮寨风景楼) which lies on the higher side of the village. Look outside from the window of this hotel you enjoy the magnificent rice terraces and a sea of roofs of local stilt-style wooden houses.

Longji Ancient Zhuang Rice Terraces Restaurant

Most of the guesthouses or hotels of Longji Village have their own restaurants that can provide local food. Around the visitor center, there are also some local restaurants.

When you are there, you are highly recommended to have a try about the local fragrant bamboo foods. The locals put glutinous rice, wind-dry meat, peanuts, sour bamboo shoots and some other ingredients into the fresh thick bamboo tube and then burn the tube on fire. Such bamboo foods can have a sweet smell of both the material and the bamboos.

Tips for Visiting Ping'an Rice Terraces

1. Can anyone do you a favor about your luggage?

For the travelers with heavy luggage, you can ask the locals with pack basket in the entrance of Longji Village area for help. It may charge you about 20-80 RMB. Besides, for there may be language barrier, you can prepare the Chinese name of your destination in advance.

2. You'd better to follow the main roads.

There are a lot of spine-crunching gravel tracks around the rice terraces. You are highly suggested to follow the main road, or you may get lost.

3. Avoid arrange your Ping'an trip on your last trip day.

You are not suggested to arrange your Longji Village trip on your departure day or you may miss your flight, especially during the holidays like the National Holiday (10.1-10.7) and the Holiday of Labors Day (days around May 1st).

4. Better to take your raincoat, flashlight and antiskid shoes.

The weather changes quickly, so you are suggested to pack up your raincoat and comfortable antiskid shoes. Besides, please take your flashlight with you if you need to visit the rice terraces at night, though you are not recommended to do so.

5. Keep your ticket well.

If you want go to other rice terraces areas like Jinkeng and Ping An, you should keep your ticket well. There are separate ticket gates and you should show your tickets if you want to go inside.