China Home Land Tour July 2011: Guilin to Yangshuo

After breakfast at the Sheraton Guilin (fantastic!), we headed to the Li River to board a boat for a 4 ½ hour cruise to Yangshuo. The scenery was incredible! Due to the summer heat, the haze softened the landscape somewhat. I had previously seen the scenery in the cooler month of October, 1987, when the air was clearer and the impressions more sharp. Nontheless, the landscape is very beautiful and lush and romantic. Along the river we saw local fisherman in their conical hats, fishing with the help of the trained flightless cormorants, tethered to the fisherman’s boat. The cormorants dive into the river and return with fish in their beaks. We also saw water baffalos either grazing along the riverbanks or taking lazy afternoon swims. Local merchants in small motorized rafts would hitch themselves to our small cruise boat to sell fruit and other items. It was all so picturesque!!

We landed at Yangshuo, a small town of about 150,000, set among the karst mountain scenery. This is a tourist town, with five 5-star hotels ( the same number as in Guilin, a city of 1.5MM). After looking at the various shops, we went on a small golf cart (a little bigger than the U.S. version), to visit a local farmer, and the beautiful rice paddies. Yangshuo is populated by several of the minority ethnic groups that live on China’s southern border with Vietnam – the Zhuang, the Dong, the Yao, the Miao, and the Tong, all with colorful dress and customs. These people look and dress differently than the majority Han people who make up 85% of the Chinese population. Many of the minority youth have left this region, to make their fortunes in the biggest cities in China (including the largest city in China (and the world), Chongqing, with 33 million people!) The population is largely composed of older people. At the 600 year-old farmouse we visited, several generations of older people were resident - a 65-year old man and his wife (churning tofu from its bean base), and their 85+ old parents. The family had lived in this farmhouse for six hundred years!! On the walls were pictures of Mao Tse Tung, his Red Army soldiers, and pictures and portraits of the previous generations. The farmhouse was very spare and basic. But, it had its wok, small refrigerator and 1960’s era TV!!

Then on to view the rice paddies. The miles and miles of rice paddies are seeded by hand with individual seedlings. There are two plantings a year. The rice is then cut by hand, or with water buffalo and plow, and then shelled. What back-breaking work. China is the largest rice-producer in the world, and is self-sufficient.

That night Ginger, myself and girls stayed in Yangshuo to attend the colorful Liu Sanjie Impression Show. The rest of our tour group headed back to Guilin, and we exchanged addresses and said our goodbyes. The Liu SanJie Impression show was created and directed by the Chinese filmmaker, Zhang Yimou, the creator and director of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The show depicts the tale of Liu, the third daughter in a fairy tale of a minority ethnic family - it is meant to show aspects of her life and is acted/depicted by a cast of 600 minority people against the lit background of several of the karst mountains overlooking the Li River. It is held outdoors. It is very colorful and dramatic, and, except for the extreme heat, and constant talking of the audience, very beautiful. We all enjoyed it, but we were practically melted by the end of the performance. Then home to bed.