A hundred thousand Chinese can't be wrong (Guilin)

Member Name: MykReeve

Product:	Guilin
Date:	07/12/00 (193 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful scenery in the area, Reed Flute Caves

Disadvantages: Tourist exploitation, can get very crowded

Guilin is considered by the Chinese people to be the most beautiful place in the world. Not only will they tell you this, but they'll prove it by all going there, in their hundreds of thousands, on holiday. In fact, because of the Communist system in China, they all end up taking their holidays at the same time, with the inevitable result that the place is absolutely packed for about two or three weeks per year. Fortunately, I wasn't there during a Chinese national holiday – if I'd been there just two weeks later, it would have been heaving. As it was, the place was just gearing itself up for the influx of tourists.

The centre of the city consists mainly of roads full of hotels and restaurants prepared for the tourist invasion, some of which even have English menus. There are quite a few things for tourists to do in the area, not the least of which, is travelling an hour south to the beautiful and more welcoming town of Yangshuo (see other opinion). Watch, though, for prices being put up for the Western tourist – entrance fees are often hiked up, as are prices for meals in the restaurants. Also, Chinese students who seem unduly keen to practice their English on you will almost certainly offer to show you round their exhibition of art – and you'll be strongly encouraged to part with your cash.

The city dates back to the Qin dynasty, developing as a transport centre with the construction of a great canal, connecting the Yangtze and Pearl rivers, passing through it. Under the Ming dynasty, Guilin was the provincial capital of Guangxi. However in 1914, the capital moved to Nanning. In the Second World War, the region was a Communist stronghold, and its population swelled to over a million. Nowadays, the population is about 600,000.

Our guide to Guilin, another Geoff if I recall correctly, told us that the men of Guilin are well known for their singing ability, and demonstrated this by singing a Chinese folk so
ng to us. It was bearable. Just. When we parted company with the tour guide, he said goodbye, before adding "And now we are such good friends, I will sing for you a song in English – 'My Heart Will Go On'". And he did. The temptation to burst out laughing was very nearly too great to resist.

The main tourist attraction in Guilin itself is probably the Reed Flute Caves, about twenty minutes drive from the centre of town. These offer arguably the most impressive sights in the town of Guilin, resembling the set of a 50s B-movie. The caves contain some stunningly impressive rock formations, inexplicably illuminated with primary-coloured neon tubes. The illuminations are controlled by discretely positioned switches, which only the Chinese tour guides can control. This inevitably means that if you want to see the rock formations, you have to follow a Chinese tour group round. The rock formations have been named after what they are supposed to look like, though you need a pretty good imagination to see formations like "Lion Looking Over A Midsummer Sunrise". Some of the formations only resemble what they have been named after because of the creative lighting. The largest grotto of the caves, The Crystal Palace of the Dragon King, can hold over 1,000 people. There are two stories as to the origin of the caves' name – firstly, some of the stalactites in the cave are thought to resemble reed flutes, and secondly, the entrance to the caves was once surrounded by reeds which were used by local people to make flutes. Entrance to the Reed Flute Caves is a whopping 44 yuan (just over £4) for tourists – locals get in for a third of that! The Reed Flute Caves are well worth a look, but the experience is spoiled somewhat by the garish neon lights all over the place.

Another of the popular tourist attractions in Guilin is the wild animal centre just outside the city. I didn't visit it, but it was pointed out by th
e Chinese and English tour guides. Both were very damning of the place, saying that although they have a lot of animals there, the conditions the animals are kept in are quite deplorable, and the daily show of throwing live pigs to the tigers is particularly unpleasant.

I flew into Guilin from Chongqing on China Southwest. Guilin airport is a large, quite modern airport, as you might expect given the number of tourists that it has to serve! I left Guilin by train for Guangzhou. Guilin train station is quite large, and served by a large collection of stalls in front of it, offering a goodly selection of food and beverages for the train journey.

Overall, the stunning scenery surrounding Guilin impressed me, but I wasn't that taken with the city itself. I dread to think what it's like there when the tourists are out in force!

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