An Internet-Famous City with a Pervasive Tangy Aroma All Year Round

Granduncle was the only son in my mother's family line. In his youth, he was a renowned top student, easily getting into prestigious universities in Wuhan multiple times. Due to the national need to support the construction of the southwest, and perhaps also because of his family background, after graduating from university in the 1960s, he was assigned to what was then considered a remote place: Liuzhou. Since then, the city of Liuzhou has been inextricably linked with my mother's family and us nephews and nieces. This huge oil painting displayed in the Liuzhou Industrial Museum captures the vibrant scene of builders from all corners of the country converging at Liuzhou Railway Station during those years (the phone photo quality is just passable, bear with it) ↓

When I was a child, material goods were scarce, but from as early as I can remember, I often had the rare treat of red sugarcane and fruit yingzi (younger friends can Baidu what kind of snack yingzi is). These were brought back by my uncle and aunt from 'distant' Liuzhou via green trains to Wuhan. Grandma and grandpa (maternal grandparents) worried about their only son far away, so they made several long journeys to Liuzhou to visit him. On one occasion, I, as a nephew, was taken along. I only remember that as a mischievous, curly-haired little girl, I fell into the vegetable-washing pool in my uncle's work unit canteen. Luckily, an adult spotted me and fished me out in time. I also remember the summer vacation after my freshman year of college, when I traveled from Wuhan with my younger aunt's family on a green train (we splurged on a sleeper berth) to Liuzhou to visit my uncle and aunt. We toured Yufeng Mountain and Reed Flute Cave. Then we boarded a boat from Liuzhou, taking the Liujiang River connecting to the Pearl River system, sailing via Wuzhou to Guangzhou, and disembarking at Zhoutouzui Pier. My aunt's husband's family lived in Guangzhou's Xiguan district. This New Year's visit to Liuzhou, I found that Yufeng Mountain, which I remembered as lofty and inaccessible, is now surrounded by a sea of skyscrapers.

Many years ago, Reed Flute Cave was a very famous attraction (online image) ↓

My most recent visit to Liuzhou before this was during the National Day holiday in 2009. On my way from Foshan to the Longsheng Rice Terraces, I made a point of stopping in Liuzhou to visit my retired uncle and aunt. It happened that my uncle's two sons had also returned to Liuzhou from Shanghai and Kunming to visit their parents, and we had a joyful family reunion. The two sons inherited their parents' excellent genes and are both top students. They completed their undergraduate studies at Wuhan University and Xi'an Jiaotong University respectively, then pursued graduate studies or studied abroad. Today, one is a well-known lawyer and the other a senior executive at a renowned company. A few years ago, at a college reunion, my husband learned that his classmate from Liuzhou was actually my uncle's student. Based on our own knowledge and the classmate's introduction, Liuzhou Railway No. 1 Middle School is a prestigious key high school in Liuzhou and even in Guangxi. My uncle was a nationally outstanding teacher, and the graduating classes he led achieved remarkable results, earning great renown at the time. This New Year's holiday, taking the opportunity of a trip to Guangxi for some business, I came to Liuzhou again to visit my uncle and aunt, whom I hadn't seen in years, and also to explore the city and savor its cuisine. ↓

When you mention Liuzhou, most people's first reaction is luosifen (snail noodles). It's only in recent years that enjoying luosifen at street-side eateries became common, and it became a viral sensation not long ago. During the pandemic lockdowns, instant luosifen products were in such high demand that they were hard to find. Online orders required prepayment, and due to limited production capacity, shipments took up to two months. A few years ago, when my uncle and aunt visited relatives in Guangdong, they brought us various brands and flavors of instant luosifen. That was when we learned that this 'heavily scented' food also comes in instant noodle-like packs. Liuzhou is an internet-famous city with a sour and pungent aroma floating in the air all year round, the true home of luosifen. The people of Liuzhou not only slurp noodles citywide but have also successfully spread the luosifen craze nationwide, turning this 'strong-flavored' dish into a viral sensation and a thriving sunrise industry. It's said that in 2020, the output value of Liuzhou luosifen exceeded 20 billion yuan. ↓

Even the quality hotel we stayed at in Liuzhou, with its subtly fragrant lobby, didn't shy away from prominently displaying and promoting 'strong-flavored' instant luosifen packages. ↓

Liuzhou has many 'strong-flavored' stories. Before modern times, Liuzhou's coffin-making was actually the national industry benchmark, renowned for its superior quality and exquisite craftsmanship. There's an old saying: 'Eat in Guangzhou, dress in Suzhou, play in Hangzhou, and die in Liuzhou.' (In the Liuzhou Industrial Museum, clay figurines depict craftsmen making coffins ↓)

Instant luosifen has been a sales champion on a certain online marketplace as early as 2018, frequently selling out. If you come to Liuzhou, you're in for a treat. Freshly cooked luosifen comes in at least three styles: soup noodles, dry-tossed, and stir-fried. A bowl of luosifen is only authentic if it's thoroughly 'stinky,' and that unique aroma mostly comes from the ingredient pickled bamboo shoots. It's said that this has even given rise to a peculiar profession in Liuzhou—smell masters, who use their noses to judge the aroma of pickled bamboo shoots. With luosifen shops lining the streets, a random pick would probably be excellent. But on the recommendation of the pretty receptionist at our hotel, we went to a local favorite called 'Chaosi Muxiang' (Day and Night Longing) to personally test the 'odor.' ↓

Classic snail meat luosifen ↓

Innovative clam luosifen ↓

Beyond luosifen, there are other delicacies derived from snails, such as duck foot and snail claypot, boiled snails, and more. The duck foot and snail claypot is touted as one of Guangxi's ten classic dishes. Mainly made with river snails and duck feet, it's slow-cooked with pickled bamboo shoots, ginger, garlic, chili, sand ginger, star anise, black cardamom, vanilla, white pepper, and other spices. Once you lift the lid, you can't help but salivate: the snail meat is firm and savory, the duck feet tender and springy, while the taro, pickled bamboo shoots, tofu puffs, quail eggs, and other sides soak up the fragrant, spicy, and thick broth. This was our late-night delivery from the hotel—barbecue-focused fare of outstanding quality, featuring duck foot and snail claypot, stir-fried snails, as well as grilled fish, lamb skewers, grilled stinky tofu, grilled chicken knee cartilage, beef skewers... washed down with Liquan beer, pure bliss. ↓

Liuzhou's streets are also packed with many other noodle shops. Sometimes, out of a row of eight or ten storefronts, four or five are noodle joints: mutton noodle soup, horse meat noodles, donkey meat noodles, Guilin rice noodles, Laoyou noodles... Coming across this 'Butcher's Meat-Cutting Noodles' shop, I instantly felt like I was in a horror movie.

Besides noodle shops, what you see even more of in Liuzhou are Wuling Baojun mini electric vehicles. Troops of them, all dolled up, parade through the streets. They don't look like cars solving transportation needs, but more like tail-wagging pets acting cute. ↓

A Baojun E200, labeled by a Liuzhou female driver as 'for picking up the kids' and 'for grocery shopping' ↓

Special parking spaces for mini EVs are common along streets and sidewalks—horizontal or vertical, since the cars are about the same length and width. ↓

Of course, there are also shared mini EV rental points ↓

The Wuling Baojun mini EV E200 on display at the Liuzhou Industrial Museum. Not long after New Year's, the cuter E300 was launched. ↓

We stayed at a quality hotel in Liuzhou's CBD, offering great value for money. Outside the window was the Liujiang River, where we could watch the sunset ↓

At sunset, as the lights began to twinkle ↓

As night fell, a myriad of household lights came on ↓

The Liuzhou Museum is the first comprehensive industrial museum in the country, focusing on the history of Liuzhou's industrial evolution and displaying manufactured industrial objects. Some large industrial items are exhibited in the open air. It basically carries all the memories of Liuzhou's industrial development, housing a collection of industrial relics of various sizes, including rare items like a steam train from the 1980s and major components of large vehicles. ↓

The industrial museum blends right in as an Instagram-worthy spot; heart gestures and peace signs are a must. ↓

A plump lady in red tried her best to strike a romantic, alluring pose looking back over her shoulder, but due to overexertion, she ended up looking like a railway guerrilla hero climbing onto a train. ↓

A trendy 24-hour book bar, converted from several train carriages that were made and once used by Liuzhou itself. It wasn't open due to the pandemic, but that didn't stop flocks of young women from coming to take photos. ↓

A large hydraulic press at the museum's entrance lobby ↓

Millennium-old commercial port ↓

Liuzhou's traditional sugar cane pressing industry, which made me think of the red sugarcane my uncle and aunt used to bring back to Wuhan; I couldn't help but swallow. ↓

Liuzhou's traditional Chinese medicine manufacturing ↓

Liuzhou's industry during the Republic of China era, capable of manufacturing airplanes ↓

Down to Chinese typewriters, they could produce it all ↓

After liberation, Liuzhou's industry advanced by leaps and bounds; here is the famous Harvest Brand tractor ↓

Liuzhou's steel industry ↓

The once bustling light bulb industry ↓

Exquisite machine tools with an industrial aesthetic ↓

Liuzhou's industry during that period, with slogans like 'grasp revolution, promote production' ↓

The military industry was also top-notch ↓

A trendy building converted from an old factory, with its structural framework and process piping exposed at the top, clad in a glass curtain wall, boldly showing off in the park. Can you tell that it's now a bustling restaurant? ↓

Across the street from the industrial museum is Yaobu Ancient Town. Despite its name, it's actually a newly built faux-ancient district created for tourism. ↓

The stylish RVs parked on the roadside, like the mini EVs, are dressed up brightly and look cute ↓

This place is practically a luosifen town—ads, shops, street installations, everything is related to it. ↓

Of course, there's still a touch of old Liuzhou's hometown charm ↓

Liuzhou's industry may have gone beyond the city and far away, but that hasn't hindered its lush mountains and clear waters. The hundred-mile Liujiang River has witnessed the stunning transformation of the industrial hub once dubbed the 'acid rain capital' into a city boasting the most beautiful scenery among industrial cities. It's no surprise that it ranks among China's top ten most livable cities. ↓