Ink Wash Poetry and Painting at Nanning Garden Expo Park

Nanning: Exploring the Poetic Dwelling of Lingnan Culture in an Ink Wash Garden Landscape

Amid the bustling capital of Guangxi lies a realm of ink and wash painting—Nanning Garden Expo Park. This is the perfect embodiment of "half the city covered in green trees, half in buildings," with 84 exhibition gardens like scattered pearls linking the millennia-old threads of Lingnan culture. Strolling through, you can encounter miniature wonders of Guilin’s landscape and exotic Southeast Asian-style gardens, as if experiencing a garden symphony crossing time and space.

💐 Treasures of the Garden
1️⃣ Luohan Pine Garden
This garden themed around century-old ancient trees houses the oldest Luohan pine cluster in Nanning. The sturdy branches bear the marks of time, and locals believe touching the trunks brings good fortune. Stone tables and benches beneath the trees often host elderly people playing chess and drinking tea, creating a vivid ink wash scene of everyday life.

2️⃣ Bronze Drum Square
At the center stands a giant bronze drum sculpture, a replica of the prized artifact from the Guangxi Museum of Nationalities. The drum’s patterns recreate the sun worship of the Zhuang ancestors. Looking closely at the relief, you’ll find the frog totem (ma guai)—the messenger of the thunder god in Zhuang culture.

3️⃣ Beside the Wind and Rain Bridge
The Dong-style Wind and Rain Bridge spanning Lingxi Lake perfectly replicates the mortise and tenon structure of the Chengyang Yongji Bridge in Sanjiang. It’s recommended to visit at dusk when the corridor bridge lights up 388 lanterns, reflecting on the lake like a golden dragon. Sitting quietly on the bridge at this time best captures the leisurely charm of "Slow Nanning."

🏨 Gujing Inn
About a 30-minute drive from the Garden Expo Park, the Baiman Hotel is a Zen-inspired retreat in the city. The lobby is perfect for photos, and transportation is convenient.
Here, after waking up in the morning, try the hotel’s special "Old Friend Rice Noodle Breakfast," which awakens your taste buds with sour bamboo shoots, fermented black beans, and tender rice noodles, embodying Nanning’s food philosophy: "Three days without sour food makes walking difficult." Also highly recommended are the noodle shop and local specialty restaurants right outside the hotel.
Weekend rest should not only relax the body but also wander the soul. Night runs by South Lake under neon lights, slurping snail noodles on Zhongshan Road, hunting for copperware in Yangmei Ancient Town... The city’s poetry always meets you unexpectedly around the corner.

Post by BR. Amber 38 | Aug 20, 2025