Guangxi

The sub-tropical geographical location endows this region with numerous delicious fruits as the Shatian grapefruit, lychee and mango.

Other than the mouthwatering fruits, there are many unique products which represent the local ethnic minority cultures. Among them, the most famous are the Zhuang brocade, Yao embroidery, shell carvings, paper umbrellas and folding screens decorated with hand painting.

1)Sha Tian Pomeloes

　　They are named after Sha Tian county, the growing area and are renown 2,000 years ago and gradually introduced to Guilin, Liuzhou and other places. The size of the fruit is medium, and its weight ranges from 750 to 2,500 grams, its rind thick, its inner peel of the fruit thin and the pulp white and light red. It is sweet, juicy and nourishment. Sha Tiao pomeloes have always enjoyed the reputation of "Natural Canned Fruit". The pulp is good for lung, blood circulation, intestines, blood-enriching growth of muscles, the prevention of scurvy bowl movement and athletes foot. Guilin Sha Tian pomeloes stand the first place in company and appraising quality of the national fruits and are well-received at home and abroad.

2)Water Chestnuts

　　Its growing areas are in Lin Gui, Ling Chuan, Yang shuo, Xinan county. Its suburb growing area such as Wei Jia Du. Wang Jia Village and Yao Tou are more famous with the planting history of more than 170 years. The output amounts to 2,000 to 3,000 tons per year. The size of water chestnut is big and the bigget one is 35 gram. Its peel is thin and pulp is thick. They are sweet, crisp and fresh. Guilin Water Chestnuts are well-known at home and abroad and exported to Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast countries. They can be eaten raw or cooked. Water chestnuts starch, water chestnuts sweet, water chestnuts in syrup, water chestnuts wine, water chestnuts noodles are made from water chestnuts. Water chestnuts are delicate fragrance, soft and crisp, transparent and sweet with the original flavour of water chestnuts. Water chestnuts are white fine and soft with the good effectiveness of strengthening the spleen, reducing phlegm and quenching thirst, they are also good for digestion and stomach jaundice Guilin Water Chestnuts starch, Guei zian lotus root starch, Long zhou betel palm starch and Ping Le lily starch are know as the four Guangxi special local sweetmeats. The water chestnuts cakes are well-received in hotel and restaurant.

3)Tangerines

　　They are reverse oval with peel orange and pulp light yellow and can be eaten raw. Juice can be extracted from tangerines. Tangerines sweet meat, tinned tangerines and tangerines cakes are made from the fruits. The producing areas are in Yang Shuo, Li Pu, Gong Cheng counties, Guilin in which the tangerines grown in Bai Sha, YangShuo is big, crisp tasty, with thick pulp. Containing nutrients such as ;carbonhy drate (18%-20%) Vitamin C1, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin P1, calcium iron, pand phosphorus, etc, tangerines are well-received. In some place miniature tangerine tree on orange fruit hanging heavy symbolizes vast panorama of bumper harvest year of rich fruit.

4)Wu Tang Sugar Cane
　　It is one of the most famous fruits in Guangxi and named after Wu Tong, LingGui county, the growing area. It is collected in November and December or with 150cm or 180cm length, and 2.5cm or 3.5cm diameter. Containing carbon hydrate (5%-8%), it is people's favorite "fruit" in autumn or in winter. Its rind is thin, green and pulp white. It is crisp, juicy, sweet. Cutting the grease of a rich meal and relieving alcohol, it is well-received by families in Spring Festival.

5)Mangosteen
　　It is named after its root, with oval and ball shape, with light yellow hair on its rind. Guilin city and its nearby counties are the main growing areas, of which Yong Fu and Ling Gui Counties are more famous with the planting history of more than 100 years. Mangosteen, from which condiments and cool drinks can be made and ingredients of valuable Chinese medicines can be extracted, is a precious specialty of Guilin. It is nutritive and has special good effectiveness of clearing -heat, promoting blood circulation, relaxing muscles, bowl movement, reducing phlegm, relieving cough, promoting the secretion of body fluid and quenching thirst. It also can cure chronic browchitis, pharyngitis, whooping cough, constipation, acute tonsillitis and asthma, etc. diabetic can drink it. All kinds of cakes, candies and biscuits are made from Mango steen. In additon to expoiting dry fruits. Fruit syrup, cough syrup and jam are made from Mangosteen.

6)Li Pu Taro
　　It is named after Li Pi county, growing area. The red lines in the pulp can be seen, like betel palm and is known as betel palm taro. Taro is oval, and its weight ranges from 1,000 gram to 5,000 gram, the larger one is 2,500 gram Taro, with pulp white and soft is of high quality. It can be cooked and braised with meat. The slices of it can be heated in boiling water. Taro ball can be made from it. The most special dish is with taro between meat, characterized by fresh, tender, tasty, smooth.

7)Yang Shuo Chestnuts
　　The growing area is in Yang Shuo and the output per year amounts to 1,200 tons. The growing areas of the best quality are in Ping Dong Kou. Gu Ban etc. its brown rind is shiny and bright with plump and big pulp, Seventy-six grains of chestnuts amount to one kilogram, one grain of chestnut weights from 14 gram to 18 gram. Its pulp is sweet and smooth with delicate fragrance. If is one of the traditional Guangxi export products. It can be eaten raw with crisp and delicate fragrance. It can be braised with meat and boiled with eight precious rice. It also can be mixed with Zhong Zhi and the New Year cake. It is crisp when it is eaten raw. Puffed chestnuts have the special sweet and fragrance. Because of one year growing and dozens years of picking. Chestnuts are traditionally called "the crop of iron rod".

8)yangshuo Persimmon
　　It is also called persimmon blossom. The blossom will bloom in mid-April. The fruit is just gold and heart-shaped. When being ripe between early October and November, it will change into red color with no seed or a few seeds. It is produced in Guilin yangshuo, Cingui, Lipu, pingle, Gongcheng, and Changwe, Rong xian, Pingnan, yulin as well. Yangshuo is the main land to produce it, which together with Gongcheng produces more than 400 tons of it yearly. The persimmon's main superiority is that it is middle-sized, with a unit weight of 170 to 196 grams, and it is good-looking, smooth and wonderful, and its pulp is orange red, crispy, sweet, juicy and thick. Its carbonydrate rate reaches 18%. It can be eaten unprocessed or be made into persimmon cake, whose producing rate is as high as 20% to 30%. It has a high yielding of 150 to 250 kilograms rer unit plant, and 1200 kilograms for harvest ones. Persimmon cake can moisten lung, relieve thirst and benefit the intestines.

9)Gingko
　　Its popular name is "Ginkgo"(white nut), and it is also called Gong shun Tree or Duck's Foot Tree. In plants world, it has only are family, one genus and one species, therefore it is the oldest plant left alone and people always compare it to a "living fossil". It blooms in mid-April and ripens between August and September, whose fruit is of round or long-round or egg or ellipse shape. The fruit's external seed coat is pulpy, middle is bony and interior is filmy. The pit is ellipse, egg-shaped or long-ellipse. There are about 300 to 600 grains every kilogram. Food and beverages made of it can benefit the trecheas, collect vital essence of the lung, prevent from aging, ease wrinkles, lure asthma, reduce frequent urination, dilate capillary and promote blood circulatin. It is also an ideal tonic for the skin to check and ease freckles and wrinkles.
       Guilin is one of the most famous national gingko production areas, whose yearly yield is about 1500 tons to 200 tons and this yields rate can be the second one of the state. There are gingko trees all over every county of Guilin, taking Li chuan, Xinan and Quanzhou as the main production areas. There are aobut 20 thousand gingko trees in Haiyang Town of Linchuan County, which yields 400 tons every year and is the champion of ginkgo produciotn among all Nation's counties, therefore here is famed as " Hometown fo Gingko."

10)Guilin Shanhua Alcohol

　　A kind of low-yeast rice wine. Its brewing history can be traced back to Southern Song Dynasty, and it was first made by "cooks of military groups". Later it was introduced into folk people. In the late Qing Dynasty, there appeared specilized brewing lanes. During the Republic of China period, brewing lanes could be found all over Guilin. After 1949, the state collected various excellent wine-makers of folk brewing lanes to establish Guilin Wine Brewing Factory in 1952, (Later it changed to Guilin Beverages Factory, In 1987 it rechanged to Guilin Alcohol and Beverages Factory). The wine-makers of the factory continued to brew" Shanhua Alcohol" following the traditional technology. It gets its name because that during processing, it must be steamed and stewed three times, and it will be suffused with bubbles when shaking. The superior one can have levels of tiny wine bubbles. "Shanhua Alcohol" is transparent with no color, fragnant, refined continuing, tasty, soul stirring and fragnance remaining. Moderately drinking it can improve the physical condition, invigorate the circulatin of blood and beneficial to health. Its varieties include 57o, 38oand 30oseries. During 1963 and 1989, it was appraised as Nation's superior wine Appraising Fair. In 1964, it was also appraised as a famous wine of Guangxi. It always keeps being popular with all domestic cities, provinces and autonomous areas, as well as HongKong, Macau, Japan and Southeast Asia.

11)Huaqiao Brand Pepper Sauce
　　Produced by Guilin Sauce Factory, it was a production history of about 300 years and together with "Shanhua Alcohol" and "Fermented Bean Curd" is famed as " Three Treasures of Guilin". Its main materials are fresh red chili, fermented soya beans, garlic and etc. It is particular about material choosing and production technology, which require that all fermented soya beans be specially made by the factory and red chili provided by special bases. After picking, washing and mincing the chili, mix them with other materials strictly according to the formula and then put them into jars and seal the jars. After a certain period of storing, it is OK to be eaten. Pure, hot, fragnant, even and tasty, it is a very good condiment of family and banquet with the function of invigorating the function of the spleen, whetting the appetite and promoting digest. Since it first won the superior Quality Prize of Guilin Industrial products in 1979, it wins all the same prize of Guangxi and the state for years running. It is a favorite product of domestic and foreign consumers, which finds its market all over the country and in HongKong, Macau and Southeast Asia.

12)Fermented Bean Curd

　　Produced by Guilin Fermented Bean Curd Factory and five other enterprises, its annual yield is about 100 thousand cakes. It belongs to the " Three Treasures of Guilin". There is a special set of way to make Guilin fermented bean curd: firstly, make comparatively hard bean curd of superior soybeen, then extract water from it and make it into cakes of inch size, later put it into molding box to make it go moldy. When six sides of it get yellow and white hypha (mold), mix it with Sanhua Wine, salt and other condiment and preserve it in tars or jars. One or two days later, put more first class rice win into the jars to soak all cakes. Finally seal the jars and put them in shady, cool and dry places for four to six months. Finished fermented bean curd is an inch square and 0.6 inch thick with gluey and transparent surface and golden color and thick fragnance. It can be eaten in various, ways. Guilinese usually eat it together with porridge and steamed bread; but is used more often as seasoning for making cold bean curd with sauce, cold vermicelli with sauce, cold mahogany with cauce, steamed duck, hot -fried dog meat and steamed-stewed fried pork with Lipu Taro and etc. Owing to its special and unique color, fragnance, taste and shape, it becomes a favorite local product of all tourists. Huaqiao Brand f ermented bean curd won the Nation's silver prize for superior-quality food in 1983 and 1988, the golden prize of China's First food Fair in 1988 and the golden Prize of Beijing's second International Fair in 1991. XiangshanBrand fermented bean curd won the Superior Quality Products Prize of the Ministry of Light Industry and Guangxi respectively in 1987 and 1988.

13)Dried Bean Cream in Tight Rolls

　　Being a kind of bean products, it gains its name because of taking the shape of dry bamboo branch. Produced by Guilin Fermented Bean Curd Factory and twenty other enterprises, its annual yielding is about 1000 tons. To make it, first grind super soybean into milk and then heat the milk. Finally dry the condensed bean milk Film on bamboo sticked in the sun or by the fire. Guilin has a long history to make dried bean cream in tight rolls. Because of soaking soybeans by Li River or Peach Blossom Creek water and traditional special technology, the finished products are eight yellow, bright fat, hollow, crispy and of super quality. Dried bean cream in tight rolls contain 45% protein, 25% fat with little cholesterol and saturated fat. It is called as " optimum vegetarian diet "because that all it contains is plant nutrient. As early as in the Dang Dynasty, it has been the common dish of folk people, especially the monks. It can be eaten by frying, stewing, hot -frying and boiling, and it will always be looked into good looking, delicious, fragnant and elegant meat or vegetarian dishes, no matter being main or supporting material. It has been popular with domestic cities and southeast Asia, North America, Australia, HongKong and Macau as well. "Xiangshan" Brand dried bean cream in tight rolls has won three Nation's silver Prizes for food since 1981, the Golden Prize of China's First food Fair in 1988, the Golden Prized of First Fair of the Ministry of Light Industry in 1990, and the Golden Prize of Beijing's second International Fair. "Liriver" Brand dried bean cream in tight rolls won the Superior Quality Products Prize of Guangxi in 1990.

14)Osmanthus Wine

　　It has a long brew history with tow brands now:"Guilin" brand and "Wugang" brand. "Guilin" brand osmanthus wine, produced by Guilin Alcohol and Beverages Factory, belongs to sweet low-alcohol-degree alcoholic drink mixed with fruit juice and blossoms. It takes local osmanthus blossoms and wild grape as raw materials and is made by soaking, steaming, adjusting, brewing and filtering with an alcohol degree between 15o and 20 o. It is light yellow colored, delicately fragnant with osmanthus blossoms together with pure and mild fragnance of wild grapes, sour and sweet, tender and fragnance-ramaining. It can invigorate the function of the spleen and stomach, promote digest, invigorate the circulation of blood and benefit the trecheas. It was appraised as Supper-qualitied wine and food of Guangxi in 1984 and 1989 respectively. "wugang" Brand osmanthus wine is produced by Guilin Lingui Osmanthus Win Factory. And it is made of super rice and fresh osmanthus blossoms by double steaming and brewing technology. It is clean and transparent, pure and tasty, with features of both "Shanhua" Alcohol and osmanthus blossoms' fragnance. It is classfied into two kinds: 38o and 50 o ones.

15)Nan Candy

　　Guilin crunchy candy, Osmanthus Cuijin Candy, Osmanthus Sesame Slice, peanut crunchy candy and peanut candy share a general name "Nan Candy". They are one of Guilin famous specialities for the Spring Festival, which was first made during Emperor Qian Long's Period of Qing Dynasty. Its main materials are shelled peanuts, sesame kernel and sugar, and its special flavor is fragnant, sweet, light, crunchy and crispy. Guilin crunchy candy is the treasure of Nan Candy, which absorbs the technology of " Inner City Crunchy Candy" and " Outer City Crunchy Candy" functions and press the elaborately made powder materials into small rectangle cakes, and four cakes are put into one package. It is suitable for both young and old because it is crunchy, light, fine and smooth and moist. Osmanthus Cunjin Candy has a good name" a flower of Na Candy", which is of column-shape and is a little smaller than little finger, one inch long, hollow and crunchy, yellow with sesame skin. Osmanthus Sesame slice's shape is foursquare and it is very slight; Peanut candy and Peanut Crunchy Candy have characteristics of each own, and on one can forget them any longer after eating. Since 1985, Guilin Nan Candy has won the Superior Food Prize of Guangxi and of the Ministry of light Industry continuously. In 1989, it was thought highly of when attending the "China's Science and Technology Day" in Moscow sponsored by the National Science Committee; and in 1990, it gained the Bronze Prize of the National Light Industrial Fair. It is mainly produced by Guilin Candy Factory.

16)Maojian Tea

　　It is a famous and precious green tea created by Guilin Tea Scientific Research Institute in early 1970s. It is made of tender sprout tea leaves of excellent tea trees picked around the Mourning Festival, which are planted and cultivated by the Institute itself. It looks tight, even and orderly, tall and graceful, green and moist. After being made, it is clear, green bright, fragnant and it tastes a mouthful sweet smelling. As a result of the test made by China's Tea Testing center, it proves to be in accordance with the qualification for famous tea, and it contains selenium especially high, therefore it has unique effect on cancer prevention and curing as being a rich-selenium tea peculiar in Guangxi. It is sold far to Germany besides domestic cities. And in1985 and 1989, it was appraised as superior Tea of the Ministry of Agriculture at the National Famous Tea Fair twice successively.

17)Osmanthus Tea
　　It has long producing history, delicate processing technology and strict technical requirement. It is made of fragnant dried green tea base and superior osmanthus blossoms by damping and mixing the blossoms and base, dredging the blossoms and scattering the heat, reheating, refining the blossoms and dividing into piles and drying in the shade. After being made, it looks like golden flowers with green leaves, the tea water is golden and bright, its taste is mild and elegant, the fragnance of both the tea and blossoms is luxuriant, hence consititute the biggest characteristics of osmanthus tea. It will benefit oral inflammation, peridontia, skin's season check and husky voice. Since 1970s, it has begun to be put into the markets of Japan, HongKong and etc, and it enjoys great popularity there.