Guilin in southern China 19-22 May 2015 - Longji Terraced Fields 19-20 May

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Guilin in southern China 19-22 May 2015

Guilin is a city in North Guangxi in southern China. Guilin is a scenic town and one of the best-known tourist destinations in China. There are many scenic places within short travelling distance of Guilin. These include Longsheng with its famous Longji rice terraces; the Li River, a scene of which is printed on the back of ¥20 (Yuan is the Chinese currency) bank note, a small county downstream from Guilin. This made Guilin an excellent base for exploring the northern end of Guangxi Province.

Guilin is a beautiful city. The town centre is surrounded by two rivers and four lakes and studded with sheer sided karst mountains. Outside the city centre, the buildings are less well kept. The main industry in the city is tourism so the city is much cleaner than other Chinese cities.

Guilin itself is like most other medium size Chinese cities, other than that it has a large number of western-style hotels, tourists and is relatively free of air pollution. Many Chinese domestic tourists also flock to this area. What makes it special is its proximity to many picturesque limestone mountains and formations.

Separated from the centre of China and the Yangtze River basin by the Nan Mountains, Guangxi has always been distinct from the rest of China. The Han Chinese Empire first expanded into Guangxi in the 2nd century BC. The Ling Canal was cut around the time, allowing small boats to transit from the Yangtze to the south flowing Xi River via the Xiang River.

Trade grew along the canal and river routes. Guilin was founded as a trading post in the 1st century BC on the West bank of the Kuei River. During the Ming dynasty, a garrison was set up in Guilin and the surrounding area gradually civilised with the development of farmland. The city had a population of over two million at the time of the Second World War, but was utterly destroyed during the war. The population slowly recovered with post-war construction of several factories for the production of paper, chemicals and agricultural equipment. However, market forces have caused several of these industries to relocate out of Guilin.

Guangxi and Guilin are home to 12 different ethnic minorities besides the Han Chinese. Guangxi is an autonomous region for the Zhuang ethnic group, rather than a province. Various other minorities, such as the Dong, are also found in the area.

We arrived in Guilin airport at about 5.00pm after the 2 hour flight. As there were only 8 of us, we hopped on a mini bus and drove to the Longji Terraced Field. We drove to the local bus stop because our van wasn’t allowed to drive up the mountain. We repacked our suitcases to only take an overnight bag and leave the big bags down the bottom of the mountain.



We boarded the local bus and quickly learned our bus driver was a mad-man. It was a heck of a winding road up the hill and he was taking the corners as if there were none!!! How we made it safely up there I will never know. At the bus stop, we then had to hike to our hotel, climbing many steep steps. It was very slow going for one couple who had slight physical disabilities, but they coped well.



Our hotel had 5 levels, built hugging the mountain. The rooms had everything we needed and beds were comfortable. A local family owned the hotel.



After settling in we went for a walk further up the mountain to see a very special sight....the Longji Terraced Field. The terraces look like ribbons as they wind from the foot to the top of the mountain. This ingenious construction makes best use of the scarce arable land and water resources in the mountainous area. There are about 66 square kilometres of terraced fields in the district.



Only 3 of our group (including me) of 8 walked up to the very top to look down of the terraces. The setting sun (as it was almost 7.00pm) was catching the water in the terraces. It was absolutely spectacular. I hope the photos do the views I saw, justice.



We got back to the hotel by 7.30pm, had a shower and a very cold beer, which was fantastic. We then had a wonderful, tasty Chinese meal made with all food that was very fresh and full of flavour. We had great conversations with the 2 Malaysian couples, who were related and have lived in Australia for 10 & 20 years. The 3^rd couple was from Brisbane.



Zhuang and Yao minority villages dot the area and feature traditional unique architecture where no nails are used in construction. The women only cut their hair once in their lives, at the age of 18. They wrap their hair up in towel-like fabric.



Our guide Michael is excellent, with great English and very knowledgeable. He joined our post-dinner chat and talked frankly about the political developments in China. The region we were in was one of the 5 Autonomous Regions as it has its population based on the minority groups.

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