Cadmium from an upstream spill in January 2012 threatened the water supply for Liuzhou’s 3 million people, and in June 2025 antimony levels rose after a tailings-site collapse in Rongshui as residents again bought up bottled water.
二零一二年一月,上游的镉污染威胁到柳州三百万人的饮水安全;二零二五年六月,融水一处尾矿区塌陷导致锑浓度异常,市民又一次抢购桶装水。
The Tang writer Liu Zongyuan was posted to Liuzhou as prefect in 815 and died there in 819, and the Liuhou Temple commemorates him.
唐代文学家柳宗元八一五年被贬为柳州刺史,八一九年死于任上,柳侯祠便是为纪念他而建。
Liuzhou is Guangxi’s industrial centre, making cars, steel and machinery, and it is the home of luosifen, river-snail rice noodles.
柳州是广西的工业中心,生产汽车、钢铁和机械,也是螺蛳粉的故乡。
Two Scares on the Liu
柳江上的两次水质警报
On 15 January 2012, cadmium concentrations in the Longjiang River, which flows into the Liujiang upstream of Liuzhou, were found to be about 80 times the surface-water standard at the Lalang hydropower station. The spill threatened the drinking water of the city’s 3.7 million people and set off panic buying of bottled water, according to Chinese Wikipedia.
据中文维基百科介绍,二零一二年一月十五日,在汇入柳江的龙江上,拉浪水电站处镉含量被检出超过地表水标准约八十倍,威胁到柳州三百七十万人的饮水安全,引发市民抢购瓶装水。
Liuzhou was told on 18 January, and the public heard on 23 January, when the drinking-water emergency plan began; the mayor admitted that backup groundwater would last only 10 hours, according to Radio Free Asia. Experts estimated 20 tonnes of cadmium, according to Greenpeace, and the emergency response was lifted on 23 February, according to Chinese Wikipedia.
据自由亚洲电台报道,柳州市一月十八日接到通报,一月二十三日才启动饮用水预案并向市民公布;市长承认备用地下水只能支撑十个小时。据绿色和平介绍,专家估算镉污染量约二十吨;据中文维基百科介绍,二月二十三日应急响应解除。
On 21 June 2025 monitoring found abnormal water quality in the Jialong and Rong rivers in Rongshui after a drainage channel at a tailings site partially collapsed following heavy rain, and antimony concentrations were found to be abnormal in the Duliu, Rong and Liu rivers. Liuzhou’s environment bureau said on 24 June that treated water in the city met drinking standards, according to its announcements, but supermarkets sold out of bottled water, according to Xiaoxiang Morning News. The Liu’s urban reach was forecast to peak at about 83.2 metres that week, according to China News Service.
据柳州市生态环境局通报,二零二五年六月二十一日监测发现融水县甲龙河、融江水质异常,原因是一处尾矿库堆放区的排洪沟在暴雨冲刷后局部塌陷,都柳江、融江、柳江的锑浓度出现异常;六月二十四日该局称,柳州城区水厂出水水质达到生活饮用水标准。据《潇湘晨报》报道,不少超市的桶装水被抢购一空。据中新网报道,当周柳江柳州城区河段预计出现约八十三点二米的洪峰水位。
Cars, Steel and Snail Noodles
汽车、钢铁与螺蛳粉
Cars, steel and machinery made ¥261.49 billion of output in 2024, 70.6 percent of Liuzhou’s industry, and cumulative output of new-energy vehicles passed 2.5 million, according to People’s Daily. Luosifen’s whole chain earned more than ¥75 billion in 2024, up 13.4 percent, according to the same source.
据《人民日报》报道,二零二四年柳州汽车、钢铁、机械三大支柱产业完成产值二千六百一十四点九亿元,占全市工业的百分之七十点六,新能源汽车产量累计突破二百五十万辆;柳州螺蛳粉全产业链销售收入超过七百五十亿元,增长百分之十三点四。
According to Liuzhou’s 2025 statistical communiqué, GDP reached ¥309.69 billion, up 6.2 percent after 1.5 percent in 2024, with the secondary sector up 7.7 percent and car-making value added up 14.8 percent. The city produced 973,700 vehicles and 10.93 million tonnes of crude steel in 2023, according to its 2023 communiqué.
据柳州市二零二五年统计公报,全年生产总值三千零九十六点九一亿元,增长百分之六点二,上年为百分之一点五,其中第二产业增长百分之七点七,汽车制造业增加值增长百分之十四点八。据二零二三年统计公报,当年全市生产汽车九十七点三七万辆,粗钢一千零九十三点三八万吨。
The resident population was 4.1258 million at the end of 2025, down 20,200, and the registered population was 3.99 million, according to the same communiqué. In 2018 the fastest train from Nanning took 59 minutes, according to China Radio International.
据同一份公报,二零二五年末全市常住人口四百一十二点五八万人,比上年末减少二点零二万人,户籍总人口三百九十九万人。据国际在线报道,二零一八年南宁至柳州最快的高铁用时五十九分钟。
A Skull from 1958 and an Airfield
一九五八年的头骨与一座机场
On 24 September 1958 Pan Dingfang, digging saltpetre earth on the Xinxing farm, found a skull in a side cave at Tongtianyan, and the 17 limb and trunk bones recovered later came from a man of about 40, according to The Paper. Earlier estimates placed the remains at 67,000 years old or considerably older, but a 2024 study published in Nature Communications placed them at approximately 33,000 to 23,000 years old, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
据澎湃新闻报道,一九五八年九月二十四日,新兴农场职工潘定芳在通天岩洞的一个支洞里挖硝泥时发现一个头骨,后来又清理出十七件颅后骨骼,属于一位约四十岁的男性。据中国科学院介绍,此前的年代估计从六点七万年前到更早不等,但二零二四年发表于《自然—通讯》的一项研究将其年代重新确定为约三点三万至二点三万年前。
Liuzhou’s airfield was used by the Chinese air force, Soviet volunteers and the Flying Tigers and was bombed 43 times by Japan, according to Chinese Wikipedia. Japanese troops took it on 9 November 1944, according to an account of the bombing, and the city fell on 11 November, with Chinese forces retaking it on 30 June 1945, according to the Resistance War memorial site.
据中文维基百科介绍,柳州机场曾由中国空军、苏联志愿队和飞虎队使用,先后遭日军轰炸四十三次。据一份关于日机轰炸柳州的资料,日军一九四四年十一月九日占领机场;据抗日战争纪念网介绍,柳州十一月十一日失陷,中国军队一九四五年六月三十日收复。
The old airfield at Maohe in Liunan district, with several Flying Tigers sites, was listed as a national heritage site in 2013, though poorly preserved, according to Chinese Wikipedia.
据中文维基百科介绍,位于柳南区帽合村的柳州旧机场,含多处飞虎队遗址,二零一三年被列为全国重点文物保护单位,但保护状况不佳。
