#77 Teaching at Taizhou Teachers College, China (Guilin and a Li River Cruise)

In a new China, GUILIN is among the first of a multitude of blossoming cities. With spectacular historical and natural attractions these continue to host millions of perplexed and enchanted visitors, from every corner of the world, daily. China's doors and windows have been opened wide, and the winds of change are strong. Could any of them ever be closed to the world again?

To help keep them from closing, tens of thousands of the world's business-(wo)men are visible in the mega-cities of the PRC, and they are settling down for the long-term, while hords of the world's trourists venture and adventure into an exotic, stunning, and thriving culture.

These will return to their homes in foreign lands, witness to China's great changes, whose effects show in the face and pride of every Chinese woman and man I meet. Each face reflects true hope for success and a better future, and each believes in its coming.

The most numerous and most fervent tourists throughout the land are the "ever-more" affluent, modern Chinese themselves, who make up more than 90 percent of all the travellers. New planes, modern trains, fleets of busses, and speedy water-transport are filled to capacity to meet the transport needs of 1.4 billion people. They all run on "German" time.

All these curious and adventurous travelers navigate a country with 5,000 years of history, and all are provoked by a quickly emerging, culturally diverse, yet still enigmatic, awakening giant, flaunting a palet of unsurpassed natural beauty.

Of all the natural wonders to which the world will bear witness, none can compare in charm and in a natural beauty to that of Guilin, Guanxi Province in the South of China.

It is not a large city as cities go in China. But it is a city steeped in history, where lovers loose their hearts along the romantic banks of the River Li, where poets still cannot find the words to paint the landscape in their lines, where dozens of China's most colorful minorities share their pride in fabulous festivals and traditions, here nature has created one of the worlds great natural wonders and tapestries.

I have visited this beautiful city three times, and my friends, who welcome me into their homes, make each of my journeys to Guilin memorable, and always make me want to return. I dedicate this blog-entry to them.

Guilin is known for its natural scenery and story-book settings, for which China is remembered in the great water-color-paintings and scrolls, sold to tourist daily by the thousands. Once visited and experienced, this area of China will be remembered. A few days here will remain as a spiritual experience, difficult to share with those, who have yet to undertake this journey to Guanxi Province.

It's the 'karst peaks', also understood as weathered limestone formations, most under 700 feet or some 200 meters, that have given the city and the surroundings its lure. They have inspired man's words and colors since the time of the Qin Emperors in the 5th and 6th Century, and have been the homes of hidden cultures for thousands of years.

These tall and elegant pinnacles, formed by water and natural erosion, appear as closely packed stone forests. In and around the city of Guilin, they often take shapes, that paint such names as: Elephant Trunk Hill, Fish Tail Peak, Nine Horse Fresco Hill, Five Fingers Hill, Snail Hill, Penholder Peak, and Dragon Head Hill.

Thousands of passengers on the Li River emerse and delight among such a fantasy setting, and a thriving industry has spawned, offering visitors the opportunity to glance nature at its best. A never-ending caravan of ships, spanning from Guilin to Yangshou, transport astonished faces of every color and nationality along an inspiring journey.

As they stand on the decks, few seem to mind the trail of exhaust fumes from the ships in front of them,or behind them, or passing them. They realize that it is they, the tourist invasion, that is creating this environmental excess, but none are willing to deny themselves this experience.

The 6 hour Li River Cruises, heading South to the village of Yangshuo, transport herds of tourist, and deposit them daily in the village among the peaks. Here they are offered to an experienced onslaught of vendors, who at times seem to out-number the visitors.

Every street becomes a bazaar, and for busses and cars and bikes and mopeds and scooters and pedestrians to navigate the narrow roads of Yangshuo becomes a cat-and-mouse adventure.

But for me, the thrill was not this visit to Yangshuo, but the 6 hour river experience. Our bus brought us to the pier at Zhu Jiang, where a fleet of flat-bottom boats laid in waiting for their human cargo. All these flat-bottom boats are constructed similarly, with spewing, fuel-powered engines.

The River Li can become shallow and unpredictable during the various seasons and rains, but as on all the roads of China, the rivers too are game for whom-ever is the fastest, the most daring, and can pass the others most often.

Arriving passengers at embarkation are assigned numbered seats at one of the tables in the large glass cabin. Once a ship has steered into the line among the caravan of boats, passengers will begin to roam the upper decks, where the passing scenery can best be appreciated. The view is obstructed only by bad weather or by the exhaust fumes of the ships.

Hundreds of cameras are made ready, and the throats are cleared for the coming "ooohs and aaahs"

In the mean-time lunch is prepared in an open kitchen at the rear of each ship. Hours into the journey it is served to skeptical passengers, who note that others, who are willing to pay to up-grade the humble and spartan offering of food, are treated to a more substantial feast. We, the peasants, must be satisfied with a miniature plate of airline-food cut in half.

The crew of each ship rarely glances at the passing scenic wonders, for which passengers have paid a tidy fare. They are in the business of transport, and to collect a steady pay-check at the end of each month. I think they smile more when they stand in line for their pay, then when they great the daily lines of strange faces and pushy bodies.

But this journey is not about the food, it is not about the fumes, it is not about the crew. It is about each traveller's personal experience with a natural wonder, where words are limited to a "wow", and only the eyes and facial expressios, and the pointing and waving of astonished hands become the means of admiring nature's wonder, the karst peaks surrounding Guilin the Beautiful.

(Three pages of 47 photos do not do justice to this beautiful part of South China. Enlarge them for the better details, and let me know your thoughts and encouragements.)

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