Yizhou district

An aerial image of Hechi's Yizhou district. [Photo/Hechi Daily]

Yizhou district is located in the east of Hechi. It covers an area of 3,869 square kilometers, accounting for 11.7 percent of the city's total area.

The district is home to around 668,600 people from 30 ethnic groups including Zhuang, Yao, Miao, Mulam, Sui and Maonan.

Yizhou is famous for its traditional culture and folk customs. The district's Liuhe village is the hometown of Liu Sanjie, a well-known folk singer from the Zhuang ethnic group. A travel festival themed around Liu Sanjie has been hosted every year since 2010, and Liusanjie Ballad was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2006.

The district is also home to many people with long life spans, with more than 70 residents over 100 years old, making it a famous "longevity city". Indeed, legend has it that one man who lived during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) made it to 146.

Yizhou has beautiful scenery, breathtaking mountains and water. There are four national 4A-level scenic spots: Liu Sanjie's hometown, Huixian Mountain, Huaiyuan Ancient Town and Lalang Scenic Spot. There are also two national 3A-level scenic spots. Yizhou was included in the list of the national tourism demonstration zones in 2016.

In 2023, Yizhou district's GDP increased by 4.4 percent for the whole year, the total output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fisheries increased by 5.7 percent, general public budget revenue reached 826 million yuan ($114 million), up by 32.7 percent, fixed asset investment grew by 8.7 percent, and per capita disposable income for urban and rural residents rose by 3.5 percent and 6.3 percent respectively.