Guilin---The Li River Cruise, Xingping Village and the town of Yangshuo.

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I finally did it.

One of the first things on my bucket list, to cruise down the Li River on a bamboo raft, is checked off.

And I can't even begin to describe the overall feeling of the experience. I just can't put it into words. But let's just say...I loved it so much, I went down the river twice.

The first time down the river, I shared a bamboo raft with Josh, Dan and Charlie. With their comedic personalities, they made the trip fun.

However, the second time down the river was perhaps more meaningful for me. And, as I said in previous blogs, it's all because of the locals. This is perhaps the best advice I can give to any serious traveler: if you really want to learn about a culture, and about yourself, travel solo.

I decided to board a bamboo raft seated by locals. If anything, I figured I could at least practice some Chinese with them. But, the three girls turned out to be some of the sweetest people I have ever met.

Especially "Shirley" (as she called herself). Shirley taught me so much about Guilin culture. More specifically, she told me about the legends of the Li River, and what it means to the people of Guilin. Which made being there even more special.

She explained to me that the Li River itself holds much symbolic meaning to the Chinese people, specifically for minorities. Here's why:
"Liu Sanjie (The Third Sister of the Liu Family) is a legend of the Zhuang people. Zhuang is one of the 56 ethnic groups in China and, with a population of 15 million, is second only to the Han people, who account for more than 91 percent of the nation’s total population of 1.3 billion.
The story is about Liu Sanjie who lived in the city of Liuzhou (2 hours from Guilin), during the Tang Dynasty. There, she worked in the fields. Liu Sanjie was well-known in Liuzhou for her great singing voice. She would always sing while she worked. Most of her songs were about the repression felt by her and the farmers from the local landlords who over-taxed them. She had to leave Liuzhou for her own safety and came to Yangshuo on a bamboo raft and settled here. Yangshuo's farmers also had problems with their landlord and Liu Sanjie took up singing against them. The local landlord had her kidnapped, but she escaped after the local farmers staged an uprising against the landlord. The locals agreed with the landlord that they did not have to pay taxes if they could sing better than the landlord, something that they always did.
The Zuang people believe that the legendary Liu Sanjie actually existed. Some claim that they still possess some of her relics, such as a shoulder pole in the crevice of a cliff, a spot she frequented to do her laundry , and a site where she purportedly beat the local despot and his hired singers in a dramatic song contest.
The legend of Liu Sanjie was originally an oral tradition and later found itself in romance, drama scripts, and county annals in Guangxi. Studies show that the legend is not exclusively of the Zhuang people. Its spread turns out to be more ethnically and geographically diversified. Similar stories can be found among the Miao, Yao, Buyi, Mulao and Han ethnic populations in Guangdong, Hunan, Yuannan and Guizhou provinces as well."

And as Shirley told me, that is also why going by bamboo raft, as opposed to going by the larger tour boats, has greater meaning in the minds of the Chinese.

Going down the river is more than just a great way to spend an afternoon to the Chinese. It's more than just beautiful scenery. It is a cultural construct of Guilin. It has shaped the way people in the area think. The continuation of Liu Sanjie's story is by no means an accident. By going down the river, Guilin culture is kept alive, and thus it serves a functional purpose. By going down the river, the Chinese recreate Liu Sanjie's story in their minds, and feel what she felt.

And...what it means to be Chinese. Because by going down the river, one feels for the "poor man." It, in a way, solicitates solidarity.

I highly doubt the Chinese realize this themselves; however, this is the whole point of anthropology.

I believe southern Chinese people's psyche is culturally constructed by: China's divergence between classes, and the implications that follow. Perhaps, this links with China's food culture. That China's history was full of inequity, corruption and starvation. How food is so prevalent in the structural organization of the mental lexicon, that greetings are commonly phrased as "have you eaten yet?".

It is also an emotional journey. Because, China's history is both triumphant and grand...and sorrowful.

The cruise took about three hours. Once docked, we took a small (and very old) jeep to the city of Xingping. Along the way, I saw the most beautiful scenic areas. "Wild China," as they call it, is filled with the romanticized images that many people (including me) imagine when thinking of China.

Xingping was a great village. We only spent about twenty minutes there for a bathroom break, but from what I saw, it was very beautiful! And, people were eating bamboo from right to left!

We then took a bus to Yangshuo. Yangshuo was...very tourist-y. Almost disappointing. My travelbook calls it a "village."

Really? There were people setting up tourist stalls on every corner...buildings were in the midst of growing taller...tourists themselves filled the streets...and I think I saw three McDonald's there.

Sigh. I should have gotten off the bus at one of the remote villages...

The first time I was in Yangshuo, I climbed Yueliang Shan (or Moon Crescent Mountain) with Jake, Fred and Anna. The second time, I walked through Xi Jie (or West Street), and climbed Xilang Shan (or Man Mountain).

Believe me, both peaks offered amazing panoramic views of Yangshuo...and of course, karst mountains.

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Photos

The Li River.
Peace!

Yangshuo.
The top offered a wonderful panoramic view of everything.

Yangshuo.
Oh, this ol' fellow's name is "Very Fine." We sat down together in a park and sung songs in Chinese and English!

Yangshuo.
The famous arch.

The Li River.
Without the locals' help, I never would have spotted this!

The Li River.
This is the famous scenic view: the 20 yuan has the exact same image on the back.

The Li River.
It was so awesome, seeing that!

Yangshuo.
Made a random friend along the side of the road!

Yangshuo.
So, riding back, the bus was so packed that Fred, Jake and I had to sit on baby seats in the aisle. It was so awesome! I met so many locals that way!

The Li River.
Me and Shirley.

The Li River.
SItting on the front of the raft. My pants got so wet!

Yangshuo.
A tiny town with many scenic views.

The Li River.
I had to use D-lighting, since my camera decided it wanted to take a really dark picture.

The Li River.
Standing on the front.

Yangshuo.
Climbing up Crescent Moon Mountain.

The Li River.
About to take off, the second time around.

The Li River.
Standing on the front.

The Li River.
Docking. On our way to Xingping Village.

Comments

[henk]

thanks Lindsay
Thanks for sharing these pictures, i will see them in may when we go there to visit Yangshuo and Guilin and Longchen.