For more than two thousand years, from the Song to the Qing Dynasty, Guilin has been the political, economic, and cultural center of Guangxi, formerly a province and now an autonomous region. Located in the northeastern part of Guangxi, Guilin has long laid claim to having the most beautiful scenery in China. With its mild subtropical climate, it is a pleasant place to visit at any time of the year. In autumn, when the sweet osmanthus is in bloom, the fragrance of the blossoms pervades the air. The shrub grows everywhere in and around the city; the name Guilin, in fact, means "forest of sweet osmanthus."
The area around Guilin is dotted with weirdly shaped karst pinnacles that appear to have spring up straight from the ground. They look like elephants, camels, horses, lions, lotus, bamboo shoots, and even emerald hairpins.
The city itself abounds in fantastic hills with spectacular caves. The best known of these are Reed Flute Cave (Ludiyan) and Seven Star Cave (Qixingyan), with their stalagmites and stalagmites of stroking shapes and colors.
Guilin has many waterways. The Lijiang River and the Peach Blossom Rive (Taohuajiang) wind their way through the hills. An attractive park surrounds two glistening lakes -- Banyan Lake (Ronghu) and Fire Tree Lake (Shanhu). The boat ride from Guilin down the Lijiang to Yangshuo is one of the highlights of a visit to this beautiful area; the river is so clear that the astonishing peaks along its banks are reflected in the water as in a mirror.
Guilin has excellent transportation facilities, with railway links to all parts of the country and air flights to Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Changsha, Guangzhou, Guiyang, Chongqing, and Kunming. There is also a direct air route between Guilin and Hong Kong. Special boats for touring the Lijiang are available and there are bus excursions to various scenic spots. Taxis are also available.
Solitary Beauty Hill (Duxiufeng)
This is a majestic, solitary peak, steep and precipitous, rising at the very centre of the city. It has been called the "pillar of the Southern Sky." In the haze of dawn or the glow of sunset the peak is purple or gold. A climb up the 306 stone steps to the top is rewarded by a panoramic view of the city.
Elephant Trunk Hill (Xiangbishan)
This peak is located at the confluence of the Yangjiang River and the Lijiang. The entire hill looks like a drinking elephant with its long trunk and the body of the elephant is a big cave called Water Moon Cave (Shuiyuedong), below which is a deep pool that connects with the Lijiang and on which pleasure boats can cruise when water is abundant. Here the quality of the water is so good that the famed Guilin wines are made from it. The cave looks like a full moon floating on the surface of the water with the moonlight reflected on the waves. The so-called "elephant hill and water moon" are a famous sight in Guilin.
Ripple Riding Hill (Fuboshan)
In the northeast of the city with the Lijiang to the east and an arc peak touching the ground in the west, Ripple Riding Hill has a cave, which retains water and forms a pond. The cave contains stone carvings on rock faces and ceilings -- more than two hundred statues of Buddha from the Tang Dynasty and over a hundred poems and other compositions by scholars and poets of the Tang and Song dynasties. The hill was said to be a Buddhist shrine in the Tang Dynasty. Another cave, called Return the Pearl (Huanzhudong), is brightly lit in the glow of the morning sun, looking very much like a crystal place. A folktale says that once a fisherman entered the cave and saw an old man sleeping with a pearly by his side. The fisherman stole the pearl and took it home. Someone told him that the pearl belonged to the Dragon king got angry. Hence the cave is called Return the Pearly Cave. By the river is a rock on which legend says the emperor tested his swords for sharpness and so cleft the rock.
Seven-Star Cave (Qixingyan)
A visit to Guilin would not be complete without a visit to this cave and Reed Flute Cave -- the two largest, most fascinating, and best-known caves in China. Seven-Star Cave is more than one and a half kilometers long. It penetrates several main peaks of Putuo Mountain and can accommodate tens of thousands of people. About a million years ago, it was an underground river channel, which, with the movement of the earth's crust, rose above the surface to become a cavern. The cave is divided into three rock strata. The top stratum is eight to twelve meters higher than the middle stratum, with traces still somewhat visible. The lower stratum is an underground river, course, ten to fifteen meters lower than the bottom of the middle stratum. It is this middle stratum that has become a tourist attraction -- an underground gallery of stalactites and stalagmites in formations suggestive of forests or animals. The tunnel is 814 meters long, 43 meters at its widest point, and 27 meters at its highest. In-cave temperature is about 20 oC. The cave has been a sightseeing spot since the Sui and Tang dynasties more than 1,300 years ago. Over the centuries many poems and other inscriptions have been left behind on its walls by visitors.
Reed Flute Cave (Ludiyan)
Located at the northwestern part of Guilin, Reed Flute Cave is the largest and perhaps the most spectacular of the karst caverns in the city. Hidden half way up a mountain, it received its name from the reed that grows near the entrance and makes excellent flutes.
The cave is known as a "palace of natural art." Along its zigzag path are unusual stalactites and stalagmites which, under colored lighting, look like coral, agate, amber, or jade -- a wonderland of formations resembling orchards, gardens, or whatever else you care to imagine.
South Creek Hill (Nanxishan)
This hill by the river in the southern suburb of the city has two towering peaks, one east and the other west. The rosy clouds and purple mists that float above the valley after a morning rain are an unforgettable sight.
Legend says that more than a thousand years ago a Taoist named Liu Jing concocted pills of immortality in a hillside cavern here. The stories told about the many caves in the hill relate mostly to Liu the Immortal. There is a park at the northern foot of the hill with groves of bamboo, pine, and cypress. "Dragon Spring" is found here, whose fine spring-water was sent as a tribute to the Imperial Court in ancient times.
Crescent Hill (Yueyashan)
Located in the eastern part of the city, this hill is formed by three southern peaks of Seven-Star Hill. Its name comes from the crescent-shaped cave halfway up the hill. There is a park at the foot of the hill with a forest of sweet osmanthus.
Banyan Lake (Ronghu) and Fir Tree Lake (Shanhu)
These two lakes are part of a beautiful park in the central district of the city. They are connected with each other but divided by a bridge. Shanhu Lake named for the fir trees that used to be planted along its banks is east of the bridge. Ronghu Lake, where ancient banyans grew, is west of the bridge.
Lijiang Scenery
An eighty-three-kilometer boat ride down the Lijiang River from Guilin south to Yangshuo is like a trip through a natural art gallery. Near the town of Qifengzhen, a forest of peaks hidden in the mists are reflected in the blue water. The boat then passes other scenic spots, such as the Immortal's Rock (Xianrenshi), Gong and Drum Rapids (Luogutan), Rooster Comb Rock (Guanyan) and Embroidery Hill (Xiushan).
Sailing further down the river, one will find particularly interesting a spot called Mural Hill (Huashan), a sheer cliff rising abruptly out of the water. On its variegated face are the extraordinary likenesses of nine horses all in different positions, one galloping, another bending to drink, another lying down.
Farther south, the boat passes Yellow Cloth Rapids (Huangbutan), where a huge slab of yellow roc can be seen under the blue water. Seven peaks on both sides of the river resemble girls looking at their reflections in the water.
After passengers have seen the scenery at Xingping, a town bordered with hills, the boat reaches Yangshuo, its final destination.
Yangshuo
Located at the lower reaches of the Lijiang River, Yangshuo is known for having the most beautiful scenery in Guilin. The biggest attraction is Green Lotus Hill (Bilianfeng), where a dozen peaks seeming to burst open like the petals of a lotus flower. Yangshuo is located at the center of the "green Hill." The scenery around Yangshuo -- the miles of river and mountains stretching from Rooster Comb Rock to Xingping -- is one of the most enchanting landscapes in China.
