While in Liuzhou, I wandered around its Jiangbin Park one morning, and truth be told, my expectations were low. Yet there was that river, those karst mountain in the background, a gorgeous bridge… and then all these blooming trees everywhere! It turned out to be one of those parks you keep stopping to admire because it’s just so nice to look at.
That plus the fact that the park is long (it follows the Liujiang River) meant I ended up walking a lot farther than expected, from one pavilion to the next. When I was there they were all in bloom, so it realy added something to the entire experience. From the entrance garden to the riverside promenades to that bridge that popped up in all of my views, here’s a walk-through of what I saw.
What to See at Jiangbin Park
Jiangbin Park
It’s along one of the major street (and has a big palm-lined walkway leading up to it, plus a stone sign marking the entrance). On this weekday morning, it wasn’t too busy, just a handful of locals was out doing their morning exercise. Overall, the layout is fairly easy to follow without a map: you follow the river and branch off into various garden as you move through the park.
There are various patches of flowering shrubs as you walk around, and I took one of the major walking trails that criss-crossed some of them. Near the entryway there’s an info board if you’d like to orient yourself, but I just wandered without much of a plan. The park had nice paved pathways, bench every now and again, and overall it was very well-kept, making it easy for me to relax and stroll at whatever pace I wanted.
I was more surprised than I thought to find some of the details interesting, like these carved dragon motifs in the stone railing, and this totally enormous banyan tree growing just outside the river. Its roots has taken over everything, and I hung out under it for a while staring out over the river and all the traffic crossing on the other side.
The park is full of these stone tablets, which are typically inscribed with some sort of seal or calligraphy. These don’t realy interest me that much; I didn’t spend too much time looking around them, but they do give the park an extra dose of tradition.
I mostly spent my time in the riverside part. It has flowering trees (which happened to be in full bloom) surrounding an amphitheater section with steps going down into the water. I rested on the steps for a bit and admired the view.
The flowering tree, which I believe are bauhinias, framed the Liujiang River and the cityscape across from it. From nearly everywhere, you can catch a glimpse of the bridge in the background. Another place to relax and observe passing river traffic is a pavilion located near the amphitheater.
This angular golden building is Liuzhou’s arts center across the river. I couldn’t stop noticing it as I walked around the riverside; it dominates the skyline here. The moddern architecture stand out from the surrounding residential blocks and is pretty eye-catching.
The closer I got to it, however, the more the bridge took center stage. A double-arch design, combined with the backdrop of those karst mountains behind it, well, it’s postcard-perfect. As I moved along, I spotted other vantage points (some from nearby pavilions), others from open plazas.
It connect two banks of the river and handles a decent volume of traffic. From the park side, it simply appears as a graceful span across the mountains.
There are also some more classic pavilions along the water front, constructed on rock right near the bank of the river. I wandered out to one and just stood there looking at the boats going by and the current for awhile. They are nicely situated for viewing the river from, and those classic pavilion design with the upturned roof corners look great.
It is a good combination of traditional and contemporary in an urban park setting.
Continuing further on, I came to another view which provided the complete panorama, from the city’s skyline to the river and the bridge with a pagoda atop of one of the hills in the distance. When I visited, it had a tour boat passing by, chugging across the river. Wherever you’re standing on the promenade, the view is constantly shifting.
When I was there, the bauhinia trees were also in full bloom… A sea of flowers on every branch. I followed the waterfront promenade, past old-fashioned lamps lining the path and all the way back to the bridge.
There aren’t many people around, so it isn’t busy. It makes for a nice stroll with wide open spaces, benches to sit down if needed, and views of the bridge at all times.
Along the way is a little fan-shaped installation in a decorative garden area. A little kitschy but no harm done. This sort of decoration appear throughout the park.
Just down from this area are some bronzes of musicians playing instruments. The statues are life-sized and scattered casually across the path. It is one of those odd quirks that seems to delight Chinese city parks.
After that I made my way closer to some other flower trees and a pavilion wall with mosaics. There are also some statues, bridges, and other human-made things in the park which add to the overall balance of manmade and natural features. The park sits right on the river but is backed by those mountains (those karst peaks), and it plays off all that beauty without being too dramatic or wild.
It is just a good urban park design that uses its setting on a river and against those peaks. If you’re in Liuzhou and want to see something nice, I’d suggest checking out Jiangbin Park (especially when it’s in bloom). You can spend an hour or two strolling around without feeling like you have to rush anywhere, and there are much nicer views of the river and bridge then I imagined.
The park didn’t try TOO hard, as I always appreciate. It had lots of riverside scenery, some greenery, and a good walk. Do you know of other small city riverside parks that really impressed you?
