The steep cliffs along the Mingjiang River in Ningming County, located in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, bear the primitive paintings of the Luoyue people, ancestors of the Zhuang ethnic group. This painting collection, known as Huashan Rock Art, spans 170 meters in width, with the highest image reaching nearly 100 meters.
The imagery can be categorized into three main groups: human figures, animals and objects. Among the animal depictions, dogs are the most frequently illustrated. The object paintings primarily depict sacrificial utensils, including swords and bronze drums, totaling approximately 1,800 individual pieces. This site, featuring the most extensive array of rock art images, is regarded as the largest and best-preserved rock art collection ever discovered in China.
The rock art, which dates back to the Warring States Period (476–221 B.C.) and extends to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25 B.C.–A.D. 220), is believed to be remnants of ancient shamanistic practices in the Zuojiang River Basin. In 2016, the Huashan Rock Art cultural landscape was inscribed onto the World Heritage List of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
(Text and photos by Wei Yao)
