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.

Pagoda Hill

A few minutes down from the Elephant Hill on the west bank is a small hill topped with a pagoda. The hexagonal pagoda is called Longevity Buddha Pagoda (Shoufo Ta) dating from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It is said the second floor has stone Buddha figurines on display and the hill is compassed in Chuanshan Park. In autumn, the hill illuminated with red maples is very charming.

Daxu Town

Perching on the northern bank of Li River, the ancient town keeps in its antique style from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). A flagging street, lined with old residences, shops and stalls, runs two kilometers along the river bank through the town. Some well-preserved residences hidden behind the street door may give you surprises you when you occasionally explore further into a shop. These are quarters for businessmen in the past times. Have a try on various dumping snacks on the stalls or peddle cars along the street. Some will surprise you with both its taste and cheap price. People in the town are very kind to tourists. Further to south, there is a single-arched bridge in the town named Longevity Bridge.

The town is really a sight off-the-beaten track. Opposite the town on the other side of the river, a millstone-like rock with the running waters creates the scene of Grinding Grain.

Crown Cave (Guanyan)

A crown-like crag earns the hill its name. What makes the hill a worthy stop for both river cruise tourists and those arrive from Guilin City by bus tour is its twelve kilometer long water-eroded cave. It is a wonderland of various stalactite, stone pillars and rock formations in the cave. Since it is open to tourists in 1995, illuminating lights, sound control tour guide system and escalators are equipped in the scenic area and sightseeing cars and boats enable visitors to tour inside the cave. The government plan to build this site as an all-round tourist area including cave visiting, country sightseeing and ethnic minority exploration. It is estimated to become an important excursion site along the Li River. Tourists can stay in the hotels and villas in the scenic area.

Half-Side Ferry (Ban Bian Du)

Not very far from the Crown Cave on the western bank, a huge rock descends into the river and cuts off a footpath by the water edge. Villagers have to take a ferry to reach the other side and continue the way. So, this spot gets its name Half-Side Ferry (for usually ferry means to transport people by boat across a body of water and reach the opposite bank)

From Yangdi to Xingpin

Down stream from Yangdi to Xingpin, the river passes an endless procession of distinct peaks and bamboo groves and the stunning landscape. This part is the highlight of the cruise. Pinnacled peaks pop up and surprise visitors at each bend of the river. Water buffalos patrol on the fields; ducks paddle in the waters; peasants reap paddies in front of village houses; fishermen use the cormorants to catch the fish and return them to the boat and kids go home singing songs. All these create an idyllic and beautiful scene of the life removed from concrete cities.

A reputed attraction is Mural Hill, a 100-meter-high cliff face, which has been weathered and has stratified rock surface in various shades of colors. It is rumored that the colors present nine horses and a person who can identify them out is considered smart. Legendary stories are given to hill rocks and peaks and it is a delightful experience to appreciate the stunning landscape while listening to tour guide's interpretation of the stories behind it.

Fisherman and cormorants

Cormorants are good sized birds who enjoy diving underwater in search of fish. Fishermen use the cormorants to catch the fish and return them to the boat. The picture shows a cormorant fishergirl. But I think the girl is just a model for shots. Usually fishermen seem to be more sun-tanned. The fisherman drive the birds into the water where they dive below the surface in search of fish. When the birds catch a fish they return to the boat and the fisherman removes the fish from their throat and places it in the basket. The secret is that the fisherman places a cord around the bird's neck to keep the bird from swallowing the fish.

Water Buffalo

You will see buffalos gazing along the river bank or patrolling on the fields. They seem to be indispensable friends of peasants, especially for kids.

Yellow Cloth Shoal

Boating downstream southward from the Mural Hill about 500 meters, peaks become steep and the river become wide and quiet. A huge yellow flagstone lying under the limpid waters can easily be seen. It is like a cloth piece and people called it Yellow Cloth Shoal. There are seven green peaks standing nearby. A legend goes that the seven peaks are fairy girls from the heaven who took baths in the river. Enthralled by the charming scene, they stayed here and become into the peaks. With verdant bamboos, the green peaks under the blue sky reflected on the quiet waters create a spectacular scene. Sometimes, people doubt they see boats floating on hill tops. Many Chinese paintings and poems present this charming scene and tourists run out of their films for it.

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).