Baijiu region
Guangxi
广西Guǎngxī
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region · Karst caves and the home of rice aroma baijiu
- Province
- Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region
- Climate
- Mild, subtropical
- Aroma type
- rice aroma
- Key city
- Guilin
- Distillery
- Guilin Sanhua
Guangxi, in southern China on the border with Vietnam, is the home of rice aroma baijiu, the softest and most approachable of the great baijiu styles. Its capital of the style is Guilin, famous worldwide for its landscape of limestone peaks along the Li River, where Guilin Sanhua has been making rice spirits for generations. The same karst landscape gives Guangxi a unique resource: natural caves with constant temperatures, used to age baijiu inside the mountains.
Rice, not sorghum
Most baijiu is made from sorghum, but in the warm, humid south the traditional grain is rice. Guangxi is a major grain-producing region, which ensures a steady supply of rice for its distilleries. Rice aroma baijiu is made with xiaoqu, the 'small qu' of southern China, and gives soft, clean spirits with notes of honey and flowers.
Guilin
The spring water and mild climate of the Li River area provide the conditions for rice aroma baijiu. Guilin Sanhua, the reference producer, ages its best spirit inside Elephant Trunk Hill, the city's symbol.
Cave-aged sauce aroma
Guangxi is not only rice aroma. In Nandan County, in Hechi, Danquan makes sauce aroma baijiu, the style of Moutai, and ages it in karst caverns. It has become one of the best-known sauce aroma producers outside Guizhou. Unlike rice, the premium sorghum needed for sauce aroma baijiu is mostly brought in from Guizhou and Sichuan.
History
Tang–Song dynasty
Guilin's tradition of rice spirits takes shape; sources date its origins to the Tang or Song dynasty.
1952
Guilin Sanhua is founded from several smaller distilleries.
1957
Guilin Sanhua is ranked first among China's small-qu spirits.
1980s
The Xiangshan cellar inside Elephant Trunk Hill begins opening to the public for one week before Chinese New Year.
Climate & soils
- Climate
- Mild, subtropical
Sub-regions
Guilin桂林
On the Li River; home of Guilin Sanhua and rice aroma baijiu.
Nandan (Hechi)南丹 · 河池
Home of Danquan, a sauce aroma producer that ages its baijiu in karst caves.
Producers
Visit
In Guilin, the Guilin Sanhua Wine Culture Museum and cellar are inside Elephant Trunk Hill Park, one of the city's most famous sights. The cellar opens to the public for one week before Chinese New Year, with music, rituals and a lion dance at the foot of the hill.
Combine a visit to Elephant Trunk Hill with a Li River cruise. If you travel around Chinese New Year, check the dates of the Xiangshan cellar opening.
Sources
- Guangxi liquor, beverage and tea manufacturing — Faxian Gongchang
- Guilin Sanhua — The Oxford Companion to Spirits & Cocktails
- Guilin's Xiangshan Wine Cellar opens for new year celebrations — China Daily, 2026
- Every sip is a new journey – Guilin Sanhua wine — CGTN, 2019