Guilin  

cctv.com 03-24-2005 16:30

Chinese people say that Guilin has the most beautiful scenery on earth. I’ve known of its beauty for a long time. I start exploring from the famous Reed Flute Cave.

The building you see in the main square is the Li Waterfall Hotel. This hotel stages what the Guinness Book of Records recognizes as the world's largest man-made waterfall,

Guilin is an ancient cultural city with a history of more than 2100 years. Traveling here, you feel you are traveling in a big park with mountains and lakes. There are two rivers and four lakes. They’re the best destinations for a night visit. I can’t wait to visit this romantic spot. I am so excited as I also have a beautiful guide, Miss Qing, to accompany me.

Overlooking Guilin at night, you can lose yourself in it. It’s like a splendid stage. Miss Qing suggests going to a bar for a drink. I’m pleased to agree. All the bars are crowded; mostly with young people. We order beer in drafts to toast our meeting.

The next morning I find a fleet of caravans parked outside the hotel. Twenty people, mainly from Germany, own these vehicles. They invite me to join in their morning exercises.

The scenery is what brings tourists from all over the world to Guilin. The guide tells me there are 10 million tourists a year. I wish I could shoot all the scenery. No visit to Guilin is complete without visiting the Li River. Here I meet many artists from other parts of China. They come here to sketch.

Li River represents Guilin. During the boat trip, I suddenly find that the landscape alongside the Li River is like a Chinese wash-painting. Wave-subduing Hill Mountain is a famous scene, half of it is in the water, and half on the earth. I go into Huanzhu cave. Its mouth is surrounded by trees. It’s very special. Besides the stalactites, there are many inscriptions on the precipice, and Buddhist bas-relief art, which dates from the Tang and Song dynasties.

In the Huanzhu cave, I meet a paper-cut craftsman. He can cut paper without much effort; it astonishes me.

The perfect combination of humans and nature alongside the Li River moves me. Even the ospreys on the bamboo poles look leisurely at the visitors. Viewed from the top, the Li River is calm. Then I notice some people are swimming in it.

The Seven-Star Park, which is located on the east bank of the Li River, is the biggest park in Guilin. It boasts the most visitors and the longest history. The Qixia Temple is a famous Buddhism temple. The guide tells me that many believers come here every year. I also make a vow.

Little Dong River, a branch of the Li River crosses through the Seven Star Park. Like the Chinese say, where there is water, there are clouds. Alongside the river, the fisher-folk and the osprey relax together. Visitors can take a photo with them. There are no barrier between people and animals here, even the proud peacock can wander about freely. At the Light of Chinese People Square, I am attracted by a huge ancient cooking vessel. This park is one of the parks where people and nature intertwine. US president Bill Clinton visited here in 1998 to give a speech on environmental protection. I also get to meet the world's oldest Panda, Mai Mai, in the park's zoo.

Here is Camel Hill in Seven Star Park. It gets its name from its shape. Heaven, earth and people are the eternal themes of Guilin. Guilin is full of human culture, just like the huge figure of Buddha. The Forest of Steles is the most important sight of Seven Star Park. There are over two thousand intact inscriptions on the precipices. It’s known as the ancient handwriting forest. From the Forest of Steles we go to Folded Brocade Hill. I’ve told that the Folded Brocade Hill was a resort in the Tang Dynasty. There were more Buddhist bas-reliefs on the precipices during the Song and Yuan dynasties, and many calligraphers and artists got together here in the Ming and Qing dynasties. Just getting to the top with the gear is a struggle because of the huge throng of visitors - maybe they all want to get an over-view of Guilin City. The stunning view from the top - spanning the city, the fishermen, ferries and pleasure boats on the Li River and the amazing limestone peaks - is worth the hassle.

I love nature. The more natural, the better. So I take a lot of photos here. The mountain and water landscape of the Li River is as beautiful as a picture. Here you can experience the charm of a Chinese water village. Boats and bamboo rafts speckle the river, and the fisher-folk have converted them from vehicles of transportation to tourist cruises. When we go down the hill, I hear someone singing Peking Opera. Following the song, I find some fans of Chinese Opera at the mouth of Wood Dragon Cave.

I’m a tourist and I love to explore and discover, and have new experiences. Reed Flute Cave is located on the northwest outskirts of Guilin, 5 kilometers from the downtown area. It’s called a natural art palace. Inside the dark cave, the guide tells me to stand still and she will give me a surprise. What will it be?

The Reed Flute Cave contains the most attractive natural art. The development of humanity cannot surpass the power of nature. All the scenery of Guilin is the dab hand of nature. For the five-hour trip we get on a craft catering for Chinese passengers. I ask to ride on a bamboo raft; I feel myself floating on the river and it is seems that the ducks and buffalos go along with me.

I later discover there are 200 of these river boats on the Li River, and as we set off down the river we are in a convoy of some six or seven vessels. The landscape is splendid and each bend produces another scenic wonder. The director has organized a girl to dress in the typical costume of the Zhuang minority group and sing a welcome song for me. I’m intoxicated by the charming scenery.

Though I am tuneless and toneless, I am welcomed as a film star by the visitors. At the end of the Li River is the city of Yangshuo. The west street of Yangshuo is over 1000m long and Yangshuo has more than 1400 years history. It’s a famous global village. Here the eastern and western cultures have mixed together like a snug family.

Almost all Yangshuo people can speak English. I get my face painted on a T-shirt by a colourful character known as the Chinese Picasso and have to walk around town wearing it, feeling an idiot.

At Yangshuo, besides spending leisure time in a bar, you can also ride a bicycle or go rock climbing. For many young people rock climbing is the first choice.

There is an underwater river named Fengyu Cave that is rich in Oil Fish. It crosses nine mountains and is 5.3km long. The big halls of the cave connect with little ones and it has been called the first cave in Asia. Tourists can visit this interesting cave by boat.

A rare natural ecology resort, LongSheng Dragon’s Backbone Terrace Field, is 80km from Guilin. With over 650 years history, it is in the lead of terracing in the world. Dragon’s Backbone is a geographic term. The name is from a legend that says it’s the backbone of a dragon. From the foot to the top of the mountain, the terraces are finely divided. The main local people are Zhuang minority. They live in the Wood Columns Supporting Buildings that depend on the mountain.

I’ve come about two hours north of Guilin. I’m here in heart of the mountainous Longsheng District. This is Ping’an, which is the home to the Zhuang minority tribe. This area is known as the ‘Dragon’s Backbone’. For thousands of terrace of rice fields which literally cover the mountains around here, some of them dating back hundreds of years. The best place to get a view of those, is right up there on top of that mountain. That’s just where I’m headed.

Longsheng County has many minorities, and they are all good at singing and dancing. The two singers are teachers at the local school, they sing to show their respect to a guest. At the top of Longsheng terrace, a little girl has been my star.

Standing on the top of Dragon’s Backbone, the view of the sparse wood roofs is so warm that it reminds me of my home. My dears, how are you?

This is the view you get down to Ping’an village, which is one of the 13 Zhuang villages on the Longsheng area. You can see the Dragon’s Backbone. This amazing series of rice terrace fields just literally covering every single hillside around. These terrace fields date back to the Yuan Dynasty, which is 600 years ago. The human endeavors that had gone into them are quite astonishing. I really can’t comprehend the amount of efforts that gone into just hand carving and sculpturing all these hills. The fields you can see, some of them are fairly large, but not all of them, the smallest ones, literally are no bigger than that.

We stayed in a wooden guesthouse overnight in Ping’an village. The next morning I get up early with the local folk and have a walk in the village. They don’t pay any special attention to me, we say hello to each other as if I’m a local.

There are many different minority peoples at Longsheng, they all have their own culture, but they are all simple and hospitable. Now what I enjoy is the Zhuang minority convention of welcoming guests with wine.

Red Yao is a Minority with unique features. The women and girls wear red dresses and costumes they make themselves. They are known as the Red Yao. A group of women of Red Yao want to sell a silver bracelet to me, I don’t know why and I almost can’t say no.

My tour in Guilin is going to end. Accompanied by the playing of the Red Yao women, I’m off to start the next journey.

Editor:Hu Hang  Source:CCTV.com