Luzhou

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The Chinese city of Luzhou 泸州 in mandarin Chinese or Lúzhōu in pinyin  was formerly known as Lu-chou or Luchow and is located in the southeast of Sichuan Province, China. It was named Jiangyang until the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589).

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Luzhou is known as the "wine city". The wine being somewhat different to wines found in western countries, this wine or Baijiu as it is known in Chinese is an extremely strong alcoholic drink and consumed by many Chinese men like water, but leaves its after effects to any that are not used to drinking this beverage.

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The city is located on the Yangtze River at the point where it is joined by the Tuo River, the location makes it an important inland port, the largest port in Sichuan province. Luzhou has a population of 4.2 million people as of the 2010 census and is an important crossing point of the Yangtze River with nearby borders to the provinces of Guizhou, Yunnan and Chongqing Municipality.

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There has been a settlement on what is today’s city of Luzhou since at least the 11th century BC, as well as being a centre for wine making (Baijiu), it has prospered through the refining of salt, the tea industry and ship building. Currently it is also an important centre for the chemical industry and machinery manufacturing.

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A Centre for Tourism!

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Luzhou receives a number of tourists, but nearly all from within China, it has some historical attractions but not enough to entice those from afar. In the city centre is the Bao’en Pagoda, it is white in colour, built in 1148 during the Southern Song Dynasty, stands 33.3 metres high, octagonal in shape with seven tiers. Inside, there is a spiral staircase with 107 steps to reach the top, there are 256 figures set inside 90 niches that can be viewed as you climb or descend your way down from the top. It has been listed as a historical and cultural relic since 1991.

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The Dragon Head Bridge spans the Nine Creeks Bend, is made of stone and dates from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It stands 5metres tall, 54 metres long and just 1.9 metres wide. It has 14 piers, the 8 piers in the centre of the bridge each has a traditionally carved auspicious beast (lions, dragons, kylins and elephants)guarding the way. It too is a cultural relic and been protected since 1996.

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The climate in Luzhou is of short mild and dry winters, with snowfall occurring very rarely. Summer is long, hot and very humid, most of the annual rainfall occurs during April through to September. It occasionally gets over 40C in the summer, with a summer average of 32C, with the record low in winter being -1.9C, the winter average being +6C.

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My thoughts on Luzhou

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I lived in and around Luzhou for about 4 years, working in four different schools from February until July 2008, then from February 2010 until July 2013. Most of these schools were in small country towns about an hour by bus away from the city itself. Generally I enjoyed my time in Luzhou, the people were friendly and I still have contact with some friends from Luzhou. My only complaint about the city was that there is no railway station, I usually had to take one or two buses to reach Luzhou’s express bus station, then catch a bus to Chongqing before being able to get a train. It would usually take half a day to get to Chongqing, longer if I had to go to Chengdu, and buses back would stop by 6pm, so not the easiest place to get to and from.