Lianzhou & Liannan Yao Villages
Home of the Pai Yao people in northern Guangdong, with thousand-year-old Yao villages built up the hillsides, the Shua Getang festival, Lianzhou's underground river, the Huangchuan Three Gorges and an annual photography festival.
Lianzhou and Liannan lie in northwestern Guangdong Province, under Qingyuan City, in the Nanling Mountains where Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong meet. Lianzhou is a celebrated Lingnan prefecture with a walled-city history of more than 2,000 years, while Liannan is the only Pai Yao settlement area in China. This destination is centered on Lianzhou's urban area and Liannan county seat. Liannan is all about Yao culture: the thousand-year-old Nangang and Youling Yao villages are stacked up the hillsides, you can stop on the way at Wanshan Chaowang to see karst peak clusters, and the county seat has the Guangdong Yao Museum. Lianzhou offers the three-level Lianzhou Underground River cave system, the Huangchuan Three Gorges with boat cruises and a glass bridge, the Taoist sacred mountain of Fushan, the ancient Huiguang Pagoda and Yanxi Pavilion (celebrated in an essay by Han Yu), and the Lianzhou Museum of Photography, as well as Qinggang ancient village, Tanling Tianhu, and the Dadongshan hot springs in winter. The best seasons are spring and autumn. Around the 16th day of the tenth lunar month, the Pai Yao hold their Shua Getang festival, and every autumn and winter Lianzhou hosts an international photography festival. In summer you can cool off in the caves, and in winter soak in hot springs. Getting there: from Guangzhou it is about 3 hours by car via the Guangzhou–Lianzhou Expressway, or you can take a high-speed train to Qingyuan or Shaoguan and transfer. Sights are spread out, so driving or chartering a car is the most convenient. We suggest 2–3 days: one day for the Liannan Yao villages, one for the Lianzhou Underground River and Huangchuan Three Gorges, and one for Lianzhou's old town and the surrounding ancient villages. Note: the Yao villages have steep slopes and many steps, which are slippery in the rain; please ask permission before photographing Yao villagers.
Top sights
- Nangang Ancient Yao Village – An ancient Paiyao Yao village built into the mountainside, with hundreds of stone-walled, blue-tiled old houses stacked up the slopes. It i…
- Lianzhou Underground River – A large three-tiered cave: walk the upper and middle levels to see the stalactites, then take a boat through about 1,500 meters of undergro…
- Huangchuan Three Gorges – Gorge scenery on the upper reaches of the Lian River. Boat trips pass through Lengjia, Yangtiao and Longquan Gorges, and the Qingtian Glass…
- Youling Yao Village – One of the Eight Big Pai villages of the Pai Yao, a mud-brick ancient village stacked on the mountainside, where traditions such as long-dr…
- Fushan Scenic Area (Lianzhou) – The 49th of the Daoist “72 Blessed Lands,” with Fushan Temple and the Fu Character Well, a channel carved from a boulder in the shape of th…
- Huiguang Pagoda – An ancient pagoda in central Lianzhou, first built in the Southern Dynasties and now a national key cultural relic protection site. It is a…
- Lianzhou Museum of Photography – A state-run photography museum converted from an old warehouse. The building has won international awards, and the museum is one of the ven…
- Tanling Sky Lake – A high mountain reservoir lake in the northeast hills of Lianzhou, ringed by green water and peaks. It suits driving around the lake, campi…
- Wanshan Chaowang Viewpoint – A karst peak viewpoint beside Provincial Road S261 in Sanpai Town, Liannan, where hundreds of peaks seem to face the Yao King Mountain. It…
- Guangdong Yao Museum – A thematic museum in the Liannan county seat dedicated to the Yao people, showing Pai Yao history, costumes, long-drum dancing and song-hal…
- Qinggang Ancient Village – A well-preserved Ming and Qing village in northern Lianzhou, with green-brick ancestral halls, gatehouses, an intact lane layout and pleasa…
- Dadongshan Hot Spring – A hot spring resort at the foot of Dadong Mountain in eastern Lianzhou, with open-air pools, forest scenery and waterfalls. It is especiall…
- Jinzi Mountain, Lianshan – A high-mountain scenic area in Lianshan Zhuang and Yao Autonomous County, with summit meadows, wind turbines, sunrise and sunset, and sea o…
- Yanxi Pavilion – A Tang-dynasty pavilion on the campus of Lianzhou Middle School. Han Yu wrote the “Record of Yanxi Pavilion” for it, making it a symbol of…
Where to eat
- Impression Yao Village (Liannan Branch) – A Yao restaurant opposite the China Yao Ethnic Museum in Liannan county town, with over a thousand reviews. Mountain in…
Itineraries
- Guangdong Grand Loop: Diaolou, Peaks & Danxia Landform – Starting from Guangzhou, loop through Kaiping, Zhaoqing, Yingxi, Yao villages, and Mount Danxia to experience the best…