Gongcheng Persimmon Loaded With Felicity

Autumn is a celebration of the bounteous harvest. In Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County of Guilin City, Guangxi, glowing red persimmons are full of branches all over the mountains and plains, forming a fabulous landscape painting every October, so Yao people hold a Persimmons Festival to express their joy of the bumper harvest. Tasting Gongcheng persimmons and autumn are a perfect match! Come to Gongcheng, you can escape the hurly-burly of urban life, view the engrossing scenery formed by ripe persimmons with aroma of fruits, and enjoy splendid cultural custom of Yao ethnic group.

A Yao ethnic enclave with long history

Among counties of Guilin City, time-honored history and distinctive ethnic customs enable Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County to be a shining tourist spot in Guangxi. Over 1,300 years of history leaves over certain cultural relics and historical sites in Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County, like the renowned and magnificent ancient architectural complex, “three temples and one hall”. Three temples refer to Wen Temple, Wu Temple and Zhouwei Temple, respectively, while one hall refers to Hunan Guild Hall. Those ancient constructions of Gongcheng preserve the atmosphere of primitive simplicity and heavy sense of history, presenting the unique charm of a Lingnan ancient county.

Except strong historical flavor, minority folk-custom is another attractive point of Gongcheng. Yao people are the main habitants, yet there are other 11 ethnic groups, including Han, Zhuang, Miao, Dong and Hui. After continuous migrations, Yao people have experienced the fusion and adaption to make them be expansive and enthusiastic when they live with other ethnic groups, thus, Gongcheng becomes a cultural container displaying fascinating customs of Chinese ethnic minorities.

The hometown of tasted persimmons

Gongcheng Yao Autonomous County is known as “the hometown of Chinese persimmons” with an over-400-year history of planting persimmons. According to historical records, persimmon trees were introduced from Shao’an of Fujian Province to Gongcheng in the Ming Dynasty governed by Emperor Zhu Yijun (1563-1620). In 1937, the persimmon formally became a popular local specialty because its annual yield reached around 150 thousand kilograms being worth RMB 40,000 yuan. 

Gongcheng persimmon owns beautiful appearance and bright color with a crispy and delicious taste. Because of being rich in tannins, vitamins, dietary fiber and potassium, Gongcheng persimmon is a nutritious fruit that improves human immunity and the permeability of blood vessel, as well as lowering blood pressure for preventing cardiovascular diseases. Those benefits allow Gongcheng persimmon to appear in people’s daily life frequently in a variety of forms. 

The geographical advantages of Gongcheng provide a proper environment for planting persimmons, and through thousands of years of natural evolution and growers’ painstaking efforts, a series of related productions, such as dried persimmon, persimmon pie, persimmon leaf tea and persimmon wine, obtain a higher market recognition, ultimately, Gongcheng becomes the largest national persimmon production base. Planting persimmon is not only a vital source of growers’ incomes, but also a booster who advances the growth of agriculture, manufacturing industry and cultural tourism.

Currently, the land used for planting persimmon trees achieves 195,800 mu with the yield of 515,800 ton, meanwhile, many fresh fruits and related products have been exported to the overseas market. That proves the persimmon has weighed overwhelmingly heavy on people’s life and turns into a cultural icon of Gongcheng.

Lively Gongcheng Persimmons Festival conveying the blessing

Persimmon is considered as a mascot who brings wealth and happiness to Gongcheng residents, hence, the locals held the Gongcheng Persimmons Festival for expressing the joy of harvest and delivering their blessing. Held in every October, Gongcheng Persimmons Festival provides opportunities for Yao people who show their talents of singing and dancing.

During the Festival, diverse celebrations organized by the indigenous, for example, dragon and lion dances, characteristic art shows performed in the community, acrobatic performances and cultural creation competition, embody gorgeous folk art and their cultural identities, strengthening cultural pride and social cohesion of the public. Those events are indulgences for Gongcheng people and also witness that the locals work hard to create a felicitous life with their own physical labors. In recent years, Gongcheng Persimmons Festival becomes a channel by which local residents can output tasted fruits, enchanting scenery and fascinating ethnic customs, and comers can have compelling travelling to realize different regional cultures and customs. That is why the cultural tourism of Gongcheng has experienced great improvement.

Over the past 15 years, Gongcheng has been an ideal sightseeing spot in autumn due to the enormous influence of Gongcheng Persimmons Festival. The rapid progress of high-speed train enables tourists to conveniently join in the Festival where visitors can interact with local people and explore the Yao culture deeply. It is undoubted that Gongcheng persimmon is deemed as a postman delivering fortune and happiness to Yao people, who in turn convey the blessing and expectation by dint of every sweet persimmon.