Huangyao town offers all the charms of Guilin but none of its tourist kitsch and clamor.
Huangyao, a 1,000-year-old town nestled in the mountains of southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, is attracting increasing attention from travelers. They come to enjoy its well-preserved local culture, natural beauty and tranquil rustic life. But day-trippers to Huangyao may be disappointed. It does not take long to cover the 1.1 sq km town. And at first sight, it is very much like other parts of the region such as Yangshuo, in Guilin, already a must-see destination for international tourists.
Only if visitors stay for a night or two will they discover the charm of this ancient town. It looks even better on rainy days when the surrounding mountains are shrouded in mists.
Luckily enough, we arrived on a rainy day, and stayed for several days.
This landlocked place borders the most remote parts of Guangdong and Hunan provinces, and used to be a business hub in ancient times.
Located some 200 km from Guilin, Huangyao is in Zhaoping county, Hezhou.
The most impressive features of the town’s rain-soaked landscape are the banyan trees. They are everywhere, their umbrella-like branches reaching into the numerous streets and narrow lanes.
The other attraction is the almost intact Ming and Qing-style architecture giving the town a poetic feel with its small bridges, canals and wooden houses.
A typical mountainous area of karst formations, Huangyao boasts more than 300 ancient complexes.
Unlike the water towns of East China, Huangyao is surrounded by hills, protecting it from a tourist onslaught.
Even today, people are up with the sun and retire at sundown, much like their ancestors did. There are no pubs and KTV bars blasting loud music.
At night, visitors will only hear the sound of rain and wind, and the occasional bark of a dog.
A walk in the morning is an intensely pleasant experience as you weave your way through age-old houses, temples, shops, theaters and archways. Moon-shaped bridges straddle crystal clear rivers, and the old streets are paved with beautiful blue flagstones, typically associated with 14th century European castles.
All along these flagstone paths we saw the locals, especially women in twos and threes, washing clothes by 3-meter deep wells fed by mountain springs, whose waters ran into nearby rivers.
Reflecting the wisdom of yore, the drinking water is kept separate from that meant for washing vegetables, which, in turn, is separate from the water for cleaning farm tools.
“Although every household has access to tap water, we prefer fresh spring water,” says Pan Yuying, who has lived in Huangyao for 50 years.
Mountain spring water has all the minerals the body needs, she says.
She would know – she is 97.
Huangyao used to be a business hub in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. A number of shops from those times stand to this day.
Mo Xianjia, 53, runs a wine shop selling home-made products such as sweet wine and sealwort wine. Sealwort is a perennial herb with medicinal value.
A complex process is involved in the making of this wine, Mo says, adding that every family in this ancient town has its own secret recipe.
Twenty years ago, the price of sealwort was just 2 yuan per kg. Now, it fetches 100 yuan a kg.
For lunch one day, we tried another Huangyao specialty – fermented black beans.
Along with sealwort wine, Huangyao fermented black bean has been sold in places as far away as the Southeast Asian countries for 60 years. We were told that some of the trademarks for these products are centuries old.
In a 10-square-meter workshop, we saw a huge 1-meter-high cask. A row of dustpans was piled high on its wooden frame.
“We still follow the traditional method that involves steaming the beans in the cask for hours and then soaking it for 20 minutes in spring water,” the workshop owner says.
The beans are then laid out on the dustpans to be cooled before being returned to the workshop for fermentation.
Controlling the humidity and temperature in the workshop is not easy and is central to the whole process.
Today, the town’s annual bean production stands at around 200,000 kg.
Huangyao has abundant tourist resources but like the local wine and tea, it takes time to appreciate the beauty of this ancient town.

The Drum and Bell towers are situated at the northern end of the central axis of the Beijing Inner City to the north of Di’ anmen Street.
The Drum Tower was built in 1272 during the reign of Kublai Khan, at which time it stood at eh very heart of the Yuan capital Dadu. At that time it was known as the Tower of Orderly Administration (Qizhenglou). In 1420, under the Ming Emperor Yongle, the building was reconstructed to the east f the original site and in 1800 under the Qing Emperor Jiaqing, large-scale renovations were carried out. In 1924, the name of the building was changed to the Tower of Realizing Shamefulness (Mingchilou) and objects related tot eh Eight-Power Allied Forces’ invasion of Beijing and later the May 30th Massacre of 1925 were put on display. Nowadays, the upper story of the building serves as the People’s Cultural Hall of the East City District.
The first level of the Drum Tower is a solid square terrace four meters high, 55.6 meters long and 30 meters wide. The front and rear of the terrace are pierced with three arched openings and the two sides with one opening each. The broad, squat multi-eaved wooden structure built atop the terrace is impressive with its red wall and yellow glazed roof. In ancient days, the Drum Tower was the time keeping center for the whole city and was equipped with bronze clepsydras (water clocks) and drums that were beaten to mark the hours.
The four bronze clepsydras, which once functioned in the Drum Tower, were reputed to date from the Song Dynasty. Set between these four devices was a large bronze gong, which through a series of mechanical devices was linked to the water clocks and sounded each quarter of an hour. When the system of telling time with incense coils, which burned for hours were introduced, the clepsydras fell into disuse.
In ancient times the upper story of the building housed 24 drums, of which only one survives. Its head is made of an entire ox hide and is 1.5 meters in diameter. A sword score on the side of the drum is a souvenir of the Eight-Power Allied Forces’ invasion of Beijing in 1900.
In the Qing Dynasty, the hours were marked at night beginning at 7:00 p.m., a procedure that was popularly called “setting the watch.” At this hour, the drums were sounded 13 times. After the watch had been “set” in this fashion, each subsequent two-hour interval was marked by a single drum beat. Civil and military officials oriented their lives around these time signals. At the sounding of the third watch (1:00 a.m.) officials attending the morning court audience rose from there beds and at the fourth (3:00 a.m.) assembled outside the Meridian Gate (Wumen). At the sounding of the fifth watch (5:00 a.m.) they entered the Imperial Palace and knelt on the Sea of Flagstones (Haimen) before the Hall of Supreme Harmony (Taihedian) to await instructions from the emperor.
Close behind the Drum Tower stands the Bell Tower, a 33-meter-high edifice with gray walls and a green glazed roof. Each face of the base of the building is pierced with an arched opening and each side of the Bell Pavilion, which stands on the platform, has an arched gateway as well. The Bell Tower first came into use during the reign of the Ming Emperor Yongle, which it was converted, from the main hall of the former Temple of Eternal Peace (Wanningsi), which had been built during the Yuan Dynasty. The new Bell Tower was destroyed by fire after only a brief existence and it was not until 1747 that Emperor Qianlong undertook the reconstruction of an attractive durable stone structure. This building was so sturdy that he only damage that it suffered during the Tangshan earthquake of 1976 was the loss of a single stone animal head decorating the roof.
The Bell Tower originally housed a huge iron bell. But because its tolling was not loud enough, this was replaced by a massive cast bronze bell over 10 inches thick that is in perfect condition today. The iron bell was moved to the back of the Drum Tower where it has remained for over 500 years. As recently as 1924, the bronze bell could be heard ringing out the 7:00 p.m. chime from a distance of over 20 kilometers.
According to legend, an official named Deng tried unsuccessfully for over a year to cast the bell. On the eve of the final casting, his daughter, fearing that further delays and loss of working time would bring blame on her father, decided to sacrifice her life in order to move the gods to bring about a perfect casting, and threw herself into the molten bronze. Her panic-stricken father could only recover a single embroidered slipper from the flames. The casting was a success and the emperor, moved by the young girl’s spirit of sacrifice, named her the “Goddess of the Golden Furnace” and built a temple in her honor near the foundry. By the ordinary people she was remembered as the “Goddess Who Cast the Bell.”
After the bell was installed, the chimes could be heard clearly and resonantly all across the city. But on stormy evenings, the bell would emit a desolate moaning sound similar to the word xie, which means “shoe” in Chinese. Recalling the old legend, mothers would comfort their children with: “Go to sleep! The Bell Tower is tolling. The Goddess Who Cast the Bell wants her embroidered slipper back.”

Address: Gulou Xidajie, Dongcheng District;

The Jiankou Great Wall (Arrow Lock) is located in Huairou County, 73 km north from Beijing City.
It connects with the Mutianyu Great Wall 10 km to the east, and with the Huanghuacheng Great Wall to the west.
This section was built in 1368 during the period of the Ming Dynasty.It is built of large white hill rocks which makes it very prominent from a distance.
The major section of this Great Wall is built along a mountain ridge with tall cliffs on each side, and as a result of the lack of repairs, it is now one of the most dangerous sections of the entire Great Wall.

Far away from the smog and crowds of China’s east coast cities is Yunnan Province. Though it has a few cities of its own, the southwestern province is geographically diverse, with the Tibetan plateau rising in the north and west, and subtropical lowlands steaming to the south.
Edging towards the northwest of the province is Three Parallel Rivers National Park. Here, southern Asia, eastern Asia and the Tibetan Plateau smash together in a dramatic riot of deep, near-sunless gorges, mighty rivers and craggy snow-capped peaks. The spectacular terrain has historically meant tough travel, and the subsequent isolation experienced by its inhabitants has preserved its cultural diversity. The park is home to the Naxi people, as well as the Li, Nisu and a handful of others.
The park encompasses the near-meeting points of three of Asia’s – and the world’s — great rivers: the Jinsha, Lancang and Nu, which eventually become the Yangtze, Mekong and Salween respectively. Although the mouths and headwaters of these rivers are all quite distant, for a brief period they gravitate towards each other and then run parallel for roughly 100 miles before diverging into different seas. Their relatively short run alongside each other happens to be in one of the most biologically diverse and geographically varied temperate zones in the world, which earned it a Unesco World Heritage Site status in 2003.

Trekking
The most well-known area of the park is Tiger Leaping Gorge, arguably the deepest gorge in the world and the site of one of China’s most popular treks. The trail snakes along vertical cliffs and through small villages, while the Jinsha rushes far below. Visitors usually take two days to hike the upper path, stopping to sleep in one of the villages along the way and using Lijiang or Shangri-la as a base.
When trekking through this region, you often feel as though time is standing still. A group of small goats clang by, herded by a man carrying a walking stick. Women carry woven baskets on their backs, peddling food to travellers or carrying goods home. As the sun rises, the light filters through the jagged teeth of the mountaintops, while pure streams rush down from glaciers.
It is easy to organize your own trek through Tiger Leaping Gorge, as it is a well-travelled trail. Tour operators in Lijiang and Shangri-la can help organise more remote treks. Consider WildChina for upscale, customized trips or Yunnan Adventure for a more basic approach.

Travel Tips
To visit Three Parallel Rivers National Park, start in Kunming, Yunnan’s capital city. From there you can fly, take a train or bus to Lijiang, another UNESCO protected site. Buses and planes also run to Shangri-la, further west. From these two cities, buses and minivans depart regularly for Qiaotou, at one end of Tiger Leaping Gorge.

Unlike the Chinese gardens in Suzhou which are appreciated for their architecture, Shenyuan Garden in Shaoxing, a water town in Zhejiang province is sought by tourists who want to bask in the aura of an 800-year-old love story.
Lu You was the famous Song Dynasty poet. He was separated from and forced to divorce his wife Tang Wan by his mother. Shenyuan Garden is the special spot where the two star-crossed lovers reencountered each other.
Although they had both remarried, their love for each other was never extinguished. So close and yet so far apart from the love of his life, a heartbroken Lu You unleashed his anguish and sorrow into a poem which he carved onto a stone wall in Shenyuan Garden.
When Tang Wang saw her ex-husband’s poem, Tang Wan was overcome by despair and fell ill. Shortly before her death, she wrote a poem echoing Lu You’s.
In his mourning, Lu You revisited the Shenyuan Garden several times and his stay in Shenyuan yielded a number of poems which have been memorized by generations of people.
Shenyuan Garden was built by the rich Shen family in the Song Dynasty. It was restored in the 1980s. Besides the delicate southern style pavilions, fish ponds and rockery, the garden also has a small museum about the life and works of Lu You.

Travel Tips:
Shenyuan Garden is located within ten minutes’ walk to the former residence of Lu Xun, one of the major Chinese writers of the 20th century.
The best time to visit Shenyuan Garden is in spring when the plum trees are in full blossom. Ticket price for the garden is 40 yuan per person.

“Get a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live.” That’s a quote by famous American writer Mark Twain, which aptly applies to Beijing, where most of its roads have designated cycling paths. The traffic lights in the city even have bikers in mind!
Apart from cycling to tourist destinations such as the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square, also go on the unbeaten paths to explore the hutongs (old alleys).
When tired, cyclists can easily find a place to park their wheels particularly outside subway stations.
Then, find a place for a cuppa or tease your taste buds at shops or restaurants, which are easily available throughout the city.
During summer, cyclists could consider riding in the evenings when the sun has set and traffic slows down. Evenings are the best time to explore Beijing’s Olympic Forest Park, to be one with nature.
For first-time riders, the Olympic Forest Park provides good training as it is less physically challenging than other long-distance routes.
A good place to stop for a panoramic view is at the crossing of Kehui Nanlu and Hujing Donglu, where one could soak in the iconic architectural achievements in the Olympic Park area such as the National Aquatics Center, also known as Water Cube, and the National Stadium or Bird’s Nest, which sparkles in the dark.
Cycling should be encouraged to reduce traffic congestions and air pollution in the city.

Travel tips:
Recommended cycling route: Aolin Xilu – Aolin Bridge – Aolin Donglu – Beichen Donglu – Kehui Nanlu – Beichen Xilu – Aolin Xilu
Estimated duration: For cycling rookies and those who are not familiar with the route, the gentle 8.2 km journey will cost them 15 minutes.
Best time to cycle: Summer as most places are shaded and cycling can actually ward off summer heat.
Bicycle rental: Bicycle rentals are available near subway exits at the city’s CBD area in Chaoyang district.
You will be able to use the bikes for free for half an hour after paying a 300-yuan ($48) refundable deposit. Pay 0.5 yuan if you need the bike for between 30 minutes and an hour, and one yuan per hour to use the bikes from one to 48 hours.
Reminder: Ride slower when approaching the slopes upon reaching Aolin West Bridge and at the turn to Aolin Donglu. Do bring a flashlight if riding at night along Aolin Donglu as there is no street light.

The best way to know Guangzhou is by cycling and one will be pleasantly surprised by the offerings of this metropolitan city.

Newcomers must cycle to the biggest manmade lake in Guangzhou, Luhu Lake, to be one with nature and be dazzled by the flora and fauna surrounding it. The lake is surrounded by dense trees, which provide shades on hot days.

But this is a place for all seasons as the large thermal mass of the lake moderates temperatures, causing cooler summers and warmer winters. It is also a beautiful sight during spring with pink and white bauhinia as well as fiery kapok flowers in full bloom.

After indulging the senses with beautiful sights and fresh flower fragrance, cyclists could sip Chinese tea and tease their tastebuds with local delicacies of dimsum and roast geese at the restaurant by the lake.

Another lake worth visiting is in Liwanhu Park. Not as big as Luhu Lake, the main attraction of this park is Cantonese Opera singing, which could be heard from all corners. Interested cyclists could soak in the atmosphere or learn how to throw their voices from the locals, who would gladly impart their skills and share their passion about the art of Cantonese Opera.

From Liwanhu Park, cycle across the Longjin Bridge to the compound of Xiguan ancient mansions, which date back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). But go slow, as the alleys are narrow and the continuous rolls of black-brick walls and redwood gate, though intriguing, give the illusion of a maze.

Not too far from the vicinity is the Chen Clan Academy, famous for its Lingnan-style architecture. The unique design harmoniously combines the carving of wood, stone and brick. The academy also houses Guangdong Folk Art Museum.

From ancient architecture, cycle down Kangwang Lu and Liu’ersan Lu, cross a pedestrian bridge into Shamian Island and be wowed by the European-style buildings. The territory used to be under the concessions of the United Kingdom and France.

Shamian Island is also the ideal place to put the tired feet up after a day of cycling. There are restaurants and bars along the Pearl River in Shamian Park, where one could enjoy some local delicacies and beer, while gazing at the glittering buildings across the river.

Travel tips

Recommended cycling route: Luhu Park — Liwanhu Park — Lichee Bay — Chen Clan Academy — Shamian Island

Estimated duration: Six hours of leisure cycling.

Best time for cycling: April and May, when it’s sunny and warm.

Bicycle rental: There are four bicycle rental stations. Rent a bicycle at 3 yuan (48 US cents) per hour, plus a 200 yuan refundable deposit.

Once in a while, city dwellers long to escape from life’s hustle and bustle, traffic jams and pollution. If there is only one place where city folks have time for, visit Yangshuo, a small rustic city surrounded by scenic mountains, rivers and caves.

The best way to see the precinct is by cycling along the country roads. Start the journey from Yangshuo city and cycle for 20 minutes to “meet the dragon” – the literal meaning of Yulong River in Chinese. Along the river, one can spot women washing clothes, ducks swimming and people on bamboo rafts.

For the more adventurous, cycle further for about 1 km to the famous rock climbing site of Moon Hill. The limestone pinnacle got its name because of a moon-shaped hole at the foot of the hill.

The Moon Village is not far away and it provides hostels for visitors who wish to rest a night. In fact, from the village, the Moon Hill looks even more magnificent.

A short distance away lies Yan Village, where visitors could immerse themselves with more of nature’s stunning mountains, crystal water, bridges and caves.

From there, head down to Tianjia River which is one of China’s largest rivers. It is an ideal place to get off the bicycle to soak in the splendid view of the panoramic vicinity until the sun goes down.

Travel tips:

Recommended cycling routes: Yang Shuo – Gongnong Bridge – Big Banyan – Moon Hill – Moon Village – Fushan Temple – Yan Village – Tianjia River – Yang Shuo

Estimated duration: Four hours of cycling, not including rest time in between.
Best time for cycling: May to October.

Bicycle rental: Yangshuo has many bicycle rental shops. A refundable deposit of 200-500 yuan ($32-79) is required when renting a bicycle.

The price for ordinary bicycle rental service is 5 yuan per day, 10 yuan for tandem bike and variable speed bike with shock absorber.
Reminder: During peak holiday periods, rental of bicycle could increase to between 25 and 35 yuan.

Xi Jie and Xianqian Jie are pedestrian-only streets where vehicles are forbidden.

If you plan to go Yangshuo in May, bring sunscreen and an extra coat.

Bamei Village, often called “the last Shangri-La”, is located in the Guangnan County of Yunnan province. The beautiful and magical views here have attracted a large number of tourists. The only way to enter the village is to pass a big cave waterway. After drifting slowly in the dark for around 10 minutes, the pass is suddenly opened and the view is enlightened with a peaceful view of water valleys, green bamboos, running water and waterweels. To the locals living in the Bamei Village, what is described in the poem of Tao Yuanming, a famous poet in the Jin Dynasty, about the “Shangri-La world” is their home.

Weizhou Island, located in Beihai city in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, is China’s largest albeit youngest volcanic island. The island faces Hainan island to the north, but it is not as well known among tourists as its neighbor.

The island has a warm and humid climate all year round, with turquoise sea water and sandy beaches. Because it is less visited, the natural resources on Weizhou Island are very well preserved.

Local specialties on the island include tropical fruit such as bananas and pineapple as well as marine food products.

Tourism on the island is not fully developed. There are no umbrellas to be seen on the beaches and locals still make a living by fishing in small rusty boats.

Visitors to the island usually stay at the nearby city of Beihai where hotels and restaurants are prosperous. There are regular ferries departing from Beihai International Harbor to Weizhou Island. It’s a 70-minute boat trip to reach the island. Ferry tickets to Weizhou Island are priced at 90 yuan per person.