Exploring Xingping 兴坪 and the Yucun Fishing Village 渔村

Romantic China in Guilin

Found hanging in nearly every Chinese restaurant throughout the world. The breathtaking scenes of Guilin are often viewed with traditional flutes and guzhengs played in the background. After eating your plate of General Tso Chicken and cracking open your fortune cookie, you may be inspired to visit and experience the romantic landscapes captured in the restaurants first hand.

Places such as the Great Wall and the Forbidden Palace never manage to live up to the hype. The limestone pillars and mountains of Guilin, however, is one of the few places in China that is far more beautiful in person.

While some of the temples and palaces of Beijing are often hidden behind a curtain of smog and flooded by hoards of tourists. Guilin is a place where you can truly experience the romantic side of China. With bamboo rafts, mist rolling over the mountains, and sleepy fishing villages nestled between the river and the hills. This is one of the few towns in China where you will feel as if you are stepping into a traditional Chinese painting.

Thinking about traveling north? Read about visiting the frigged city of Harbin here!

Where Am I Going Again?

The name Guilin (桂林) is often associated with the towering jagged mountains and dense jungles of Guangxi province. The truth is that Guilin is actually far from the romanticized picturesque scenes of the Li River. Guilin is a sprawling city where you will find little to no traces of nature. From this tourist hub, you will have to take a bus (or ferry) to either Yangshuo or further on to Xingping.

Yangshuo (阳朔) is a small town by Chinese standards, but for foreign travelers, you will still view it as a noisy crowded city. With tacky night markets and loads of street food, this is a jumping-off point to explore the hiking trails and river cruises in the area while still keeping tons of supermarkets and restaurants nearby.

If you are looking to get even closer to the beauty of “Guilin” you will have to travel further into the county to Xingping (兴坪). In this historic fishing village, you still won’t quite escape all of the tourist shops and restaurants, but you will be staying just a short walk away from those postcard-perfect landscapes that inspired you to travel to China in the first place.

Looking for a city more off the beaten path? You can discover Jiangyou in Sichuan here!

Country Living in Xingping

It is not only the lack of smog that separates the village of Xingping and surrounding Guilin from the historic mecca of Beijing. Xingping offers something that many travelers yearn for but often do not get the chance to experience. The opportunity to visit and explore rural China. Either on a motorcycle, bike or by foot, peaceful villages and farms are just minutes away from the tourist centers of Yangshuo and Xingping.

Although these hamlets are no strangers to tourists, the villagers haven’t been totally brainwashed by the all-powerful yen. When passing through one of these rural towns you will be able to view daily Chinese life without all the ritz and glamour of the commercial tourist traps. From rice fields to centuries-old buildings, you will discover a side of China that is dying in many parts of the country.

Not far from Guilin you will find the infamous city of Yulin. Read more on the yearly Dog Meat Festival here!

Hiking From Xingping to Yucun

One of the most breathtaking hikes you can take in Xingping is to Yucun (渔村). This makes for the perfect day trip to escape the many swarming tour groups snapping pictures of the classic 20 Yuan scene along the Li River. While you can take a ferry from Xingping to the fishing village of Yucun, this takes all sense of adventure out of hiking through the jungles of Guilin.

With the looming pillars overhead, the trek to the village should no take more than 2 hours from Xingping. Although you will find the path clearly marked for most of the journey, there may be some sections of the trail where you will be left scratching your head on where to go. Be sure to pay attention to the rocks on the sides of the path. These somewhat hidden stones will lead you off of the beaten path, but closer to the “ancient” town of Yucun.

Curious about traveling to North Korea? Start out with heading to the border in Dandong!

The Fishing Village

While you can find traditional terracotta-roofed buildings in the towns of Yangshuo and Xingping, it is the authenticity of Yucun that makes it stand apart from the nearby tourist centers. With ivy crawling up the stone walls and faded Chinese calligraphy painted over archways, this is a village that rivals Xi’an and even Beijing with its historical atmosphere. The only thing lacking is its connection to the Emperors of old.

Once visited by such high-profile figures such as American President Clinton and Sun Yat-Sen, it is both a blessing and a curse that Yucun is largely left off of the tourist map in Guilin. Thought to have been built during the Ming Dynasty and with a history stretching back 600 years, there are only a handful of residents that still call these crumbling courtyards home.

Not many people have heard of Wuhan. Be sure to make the most of your trip with my guide here!

The Hospitality of the Chinese

For some reason, the word “Chinese” is something that is either scoffed at or feared. With an evergrowing middle class, more and more people from mainland China have the ability to travel the world. And they have gained a reputation for being an unruly and rude group of tourists. Even at home, foreign travelers will write off a destination for being swarmed by Chinese tourists whose presence somehow defiles the scenic beauty.

Although there may be some truth to the unorthodox behavior of many Chinese abroad, that does no justify smearing the name of all people who call China home. After a long trek to Yucun, the sun will slowly be laid to rest behind the lean mountain peaks. With no other way home, the residents of Yucun may open up their homes to you and fill your bellies with warm food before bringing you home by way of the Li River to Xingping.

It may have been those tacky Chinese restaurant pictures that brought you to China, but it will be the people that will make you fall in love with the country.

Traveling to China’s far west? You can find my Urumqi safety guide here!

Exploring Guilin

Hiking to the Yucun fishing village just scratches the surface of all the hikes and treks to be done in Guilin. From viewing the (not so authentic) cormorant fishing show to climbing to the summit of Laozhai Mountain, you could spend a week in Xingping and only just begin to check off the major sights of Guilin off of your bucket list.

The dense smog, ceaseless crowds, and charmless tourist traps are more than enough to have travelers looking forward to leaving the Middle Kingdom behind. But once you look over the spiked mountain peaks and the sunset reflected in the Li River, you will start to sense the true soul of China found in its breathtaking nature.