The earliest traces of human habitation in Guilin date back to the Qin Dynasty (B.C.221- B.C.214). Since then, Guilin had become the political, economic and cultural centre of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, local civilization lived prosperously leaving many historic relics still intact today. Among the innumerable historic relics, there are some distinguished representatives including Jingjiang Prince Villa epigraph (of the Ming Dynasty), which is the largest of all the epigraphs in Guilin. Besides, Guilin’s Ling Canal, located in Xin’an County, ranks as one of the three greatest Water Conservancies in Ancient China. It was built in the Qin Dynasty and is still fully functional today. Owning such an abundance of historic relics and epigraphs, Guilin became part of China’s first batch of National Historic and Cultural Cities in 1982.