China Traveling

The highlights of the Li River can be seen along the 84km waterway from Guilin to Yangshuo. Pinnacles covered in deep foliage (shrouded in mist on rainy days), clear water, deep ponds, dangerous shoals, and vistas of idyllic countryside can be seen along the river banks. The scenery varies according to the weather and season. On sunny days the Li River looks like a bright landscape painting, with clear reflections of green peaks rising straight out of the water. On foggy and rainy days, the Li River is shrouded in mist and appears mysterious and magical.

Attractions:

Langshi Village and spectacular mountains

Each turn of the river holds new surprises. In the green forests on the left bank lies a village named Langshi Village, where the houses are built with black bricks and red tiles. Mountains such as Dahuang Mount, Wenbi Mount, Bijia Mount and Lion Mount line the right banks of the river; whereas Guanyin Mount, White Rabbit Mount, and Gold Cock Peak line the left banks. The origins of these names have been lost in history.

The Fresco Hill – The Nine Horse Mount

Nine Horse Mount is 61km from Guilin and 4km from Xinping(a small fishing village on the river bank). The cliff face has images of what appeared to be a group of horses. Variegated in yellow and white, dark and light, the horses assume a variety of poses: some seem to be running, some just lying there and others playing. These images have been present on the mountain side for centuries

The number of horses there depends on your imagination. Legend has it that the horses came from heaven. They escaped to earth when the Monkey King was not watching closely. When they were drinking by the Li River, a painter saw them and wanted to draw them. But the horses became startled, escaped into the hills and stayed there forever. This unusual cliff view has attracted many poets, painters, scholars and tourists over the years.

Yellow Cloth Reflection

The most famous of the reflections of the mountain scenery along the Li River is Huangbu beach. The clear water reveals a yellow rock board at the bottom of the river for about 100 meters. The rock resembles a piece of yellow cloth spreading over the river bed; hence its Chinese name. On the bank near the beach, a group of seven peaks are named “seven fairy sisters”. Legend has it that these sisters descended from the heavenly palace one day to tour the Li River. They were so taken by its scenic beauty that they forgot to return. When the King of Heaven found out, he ordered them to come back, but the sisters chose to remain on earth. They changed themselves into stone peaks by blowing gusts of miracle air.

Some 25 kilometers southeast of the city of Guilin lies Ancient Daxu (”Big Market”) Town. The city, situated on the east bank of the Li River, has been a busy center of trade ever since the Qin (BCE 221-207) Dynasty period, when, under the reign (BCE 246 – 210)* of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the Ling Canal, which connects the Xiang River of the Yangtze River watershed with the Li River of the Pearl River watershed, was dug.

Ancient Daxu’s strategic placement on the banks of a river that had “spokes” leading to the Yangtze River system as well as to the Pearl River system made it a natural transit hub for trade between merchants far away and the upland population within a very large radius of the city of Daxu, since, for these areas, there was little alternative to the prosperous city on the banks of the Li River. Thirteen of the old town’s shipping docks remain to this day, spread out along the city’s 2 1/2-kilometer-long main street, and they bear witness to the town’s former high degree of prosperity.

By the time of the Northern Song (CE 960-1127) Dynasty, Daxu had achieved the status of the richest and most influential of ancient cities of what is present-day Guangxi Province, which was no mean achievement for the period. But it was during the Ming (CE 1368-1644) Dynasty that Daxu reached its pinnacle of commercial success; Wanshou Bridge, a handsome single-arched stone bridge that was built during the period, spans the Li River, while the streets of Ancient Daxu Town were – still are – paved with naturally-occurring dark-green limestone blocks, now worn to a shiny patina, thanks to centuries of use.

As is so often the case in general, Daxu’s particular “claim to fame” – its strategic location on the banks of a busy waterway, with “spokes” radiating out to China’s greatest centers of commerce, making Daxu a natural trade and traffic hub – has also proven to be the ancient city’s Achilles’ Heel, for during the 1930s, waterways ceded their position of prominence to railways and highways, and Daxu’s commerce declined rapidly thereafter. Just as many towns and villages along the Silk Road had rapidly blossomed into important centers of commerce, then shrank with almost equal rapidity when the overland Silk Road gave way to the “Silk Road” by sea route, the burgeoning ancient town of Daxu fell into decline once its trump card, as it were, had been played out.

The World Expo 2010 Shanghai will be held from May 1, 2010 to Oct. 31, 2010 in Shanghai, China, with an expected number of 70 million visitors. China Highlights will keep focusing on the Expo 2010 Shanghai and assist you in visiting the Expo by providing high-quality travel services.

The Front and back of an Expo ticket

China Highlights gives a helping hand on your Shanghai Expo Tour

Shanghai’s Yufo Chan Si, or Jade Buddha Temple (literally “Jade Buddha Chan Temple”, the “Chan” (aka Zen) being a reference to the Chan Buddhism sect of Mahayana Buddhism, the other Mahayana sect being Shin (”Pure Land”) Buddhism, not to be confused with Shinto, or the ancient religion of Japan that predates Buddhism’s spread to Japan, though the name itself is a composite term – Shin (”Way of the Gods”) and to (”to do”), i.e., “to follow the path of the gods” – borrowed from written Chinese), was built during the reign (CE 1875-1908) of Emperor Guang Xu of the Qing (CE 1644-1911) Dynasty. Jade Buddha Temple is currently located at 170 Anyuan Road in the Putuo District of the city, though the temple was originally constructed on a different site in northern Shanghai.

The original temple, whose two exquisite buddha figures in white jade – one a sitting Buddha at 1.95 meters and weighing 3 tonnes and the other a small, 96-centimeter-long reclining Buddha (which, in Buddhism, is a symbol of Buddha in death, just prior to his transcendence) – were donated to the temple by a Chinese devotee living in Burma (they were transported by sea to Shanghai). How the temple came into being, and how it got its first two Buddha figures, is an interesting story in itself…

A monk – an abbot, in fact – from Mount Putuo, situated on one of the islands of the Zhoushan Island group located about 100 nautical miles off the coastal waters of Hangzhou Bay, Zhejiang Province, and one of the Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism, decided to make a pilgrimmage to what is present-day Burma, via a route that would take him past another two of the Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism, Mount Wutai in present-day Shanxi Province and Mount Emei in present-day Sichuan Province (the fourth sacred Buddhist mountain is Mount Jiuhua in present-day Anhui Province), then across parts of present-day Tibet and into present-day Burma.

Located 5 kilometers northwest of Guilin city, the Reed Flute Cave is located highway up the Guangming Hill (Bright Hill). It gets the name from the reeds used for making flutes and pipes that grow at its entrance. The cave is regarded as the largest and most impressive cave in Guilin The cave is 240 meters long, and the length of the tour is about 550 meters offering a magic land of stalactites, stalagmites, stone pillars, stone curtains, birds, plants and animals in fantastic shapes and colors. One grotto called the Crystal Palace of the Dragon King can hold about 1000 people.

During the World War Two, the grotto once served as an air-raid shelter. Over 70 wall inscriptions from the Tang dynasty (618-907) have been found on the walls proving that the cave has been used extensively for many hundreds of years. The highlight of this cave is a great slab of white rock hanging from a ledge like a cataract, with a human-shaped stalactite opposite it. A legend says that visiting scholar tried to write a poem depicting the beauty of the cave. It took him so much time to find the right words that he finally turned to stone. Another story goes that the slab originally was the Dragon King’s needle. The Monkey King used it as a weapon to defeat the dragon’s army and left it in the cave. The cave was opened to public in 1962. Famed as the Palace of Natural Art, the cave is now equipped with artificial lighting system to emphasize the visual effect.

The city of Guilin, former capital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (or “Guangxi”), is considered by the Chinese themselves as China’s most picturesque city. Guilin also ranks second on the “Ten Best” list of Chinese tourist destinations, i.e., second only to Beijing itself. Guilin is situated in the northeastern quadrant of Guangxi, almost due west of Hong Kong, from which it can be reached by air in an hour’s time. The city’s name means “forest of Sweet Osmanthus” (”gui” means “osmanthus tree” while “lin” means “forest”, Osmanthus fragrans, or sweet osmanthus, being a bushy, evergreen shrub common to China, Japan, the U.S. and the Middle East, whose white, scented blossoms – called “cinnamon flowers”, or “cassia flowers” – are used to flavor certain teas). Guilin also has an interesting history as an imperial Chinese military outpost and as a military headquarters for one of the armies of the Republic of China, which was formed after the collapse of China’s last imperial dynasty, the Qing (CE 1644-1911) Dynasty. It also has an interesting prehistory.