Guilin
The boundaries of the city of
Guilin are now much larger. The new
city, composed of former city of Guilin
and the Guilin Prefecture, encompasses
27,797 square kilometres. It has a population
of 4.79 million. Undeniably, to live in
Guilln is to be a lover of mountains
and rivers. Which is not to say that all
the city residents spend this leisure hours
gallivanting among the hills and forests
of the high country.
The establishment of the new
city, approved by the State Council in 1999,
will further to strengthen Guilin's status
as a tourist attraction, and promote' construction
and economic development in the whole area.
The new government gives top priority to
tourism and make better use of rich resources
to develop its economy. The expansion provides
better opportunity for the city to optimize
tourism structure and improve tourism services.
Guilin, one of China's
most popular scenic cities, played host
to 10.97 million tourists in 2002, up 8.7
per cent from 2001. The city ranked in a
record 4.99 billion yuan (USS 601 million)
in earnings from tourism. With a history
of more then 2,000 years, Guilin is renowned
for its green mountains, clear water and
strangely shaped rock formations.
Most of the sights in Guilin
are scenic. Although the mountains are the
usual peaked mountains, they are rounded
at the top and there are tons of them, very
picturesque. They look almost fake and the
ones in the background fade to grey more
than the nearer, darker ones. A popular
Chinese saying goes: The scenery in Gui[in
is the finest, but Yangshuo's is still better.
The well known poet Hah Yu (768-820) in
the Tang Dynasty (618-907) described Guilin's
landscape: "The river forms a green gauze
belt, the mountains are like blue jade hairpins."
/ "The river resembles a green ribbon, while
the hills are emerald hairpins."
About 30 ethnic groups like
Zh,ang, Hni, Miao, Yao, and Dong inhabit
in the city. Gui[in is reputed as a city
with "the most beautiful hills and rivers
on earth. Its fantastic scenery and cultural
heritage attract millions of tourists each
year from both home and abroad.
It is said that since ancient
times the landscape of Guilin has
been second to none under Heaven (the scenery
in Guilin is the best under Heaven). Great
poet Fan Chengda (1126-1193) of the Southern
Song Dynasty (1127-1279) said," The strange
sight of Gui Mountain should be ranked first
under Heaven. "Li Zengbo of the Southern
Song Dynasty acclaimed," The mountains and
streams of Guilin ave second to none under
Heaven. "Till the Qing Dynasty when poets
changed the word" stream "into" waters,
"hence the popular saying:" The mountains
and waters of Guilin are second to nolle
under Heaven, "or rather," The landscape
of Guilin is second to none under
Heaven.' It is said that Guilin is
unique in four aspects : verdant mountains
(enchanting hills) , lovely waters (limpid
water) , strange eaves (fantastic caverns)
, and charming rocks (wonderful rocks) ,
and in addition there are four excellent
views : deep ponds , dangerous shoals ,
flowing springs , and torrential waterfalls
. It takes years to appreciate each of these
features. Besides the four uniquenesses
and the four excellences, the four seasons
should also be taken into consideration.
The landscape in Gui[in changes in four
seasons.
The city boasts 9 international
exhibition centres, 34 universities and
in.stitutlons and a high-tech business incubator.
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