Yangshuo mountains |
Qing Ming
Our Spring Break coincides with two holidays: the Chinese Qing Ming Festival and the Western calendar's Easter. Qing Ming, the Tomb Sweeping Festival, is a holiday to commemorate ancestors. It is similar to the Catholic holiday, Toussaint, or All Saint's Day, when families visit grave sites with flowers and candles. In China, workers get a three day holiday to spend time with family and visit the graves of relatives. Like many Western religious holidays, it is also a time for family vacations. Tired of the the cold in Beijing, we chose to spend our spring break by heading to the warmer, Southern regions of China. Our holiday began with a three hour flight to Guilin. When we arrived in Guilin and saw the mountain terrain, Lars exclaimed: " This is the China I have been waiting to see!"
The misty mountains
After flying to Guilin, a charming "little" city in Southern China, we embarked on a four hour, leisurely boat ride down the Li river. The scenery is other worldy. One can see how the filmakers of Avatar were inspired by these mountains. The mountain terrain has long been know to inspire artists, as many of the traditional Chinese artwork is based on the landscapes of this region. Indeed, the mountain vistas are also immortalized on the 20 Yuan note. 20 Yuan note: Yangshuo mountains |
Check out their website at www.yangshuoguesthouse.com
One of our favorite villages was an old stone village around which newer, more contemporary abodes have been built. It is very common in China to tear down the old to make room for the new. In this village, the locals have preserved the ancient town center. It was quiet and still, no sign of tourism or commercialization like we saw in other villages. We meandered through the narrow, cobblestone streets, marveling at the ancient architecture. Lars, who has a new fascination with photography, followed some free range chickens.
Wo shi sui (I am ten years old) |
Bike Ride:
pit stop for some noodles! |
Bamboo rafts:
We spent a leisurely afternoon floating down the river onbamboo rafts--the Chinese version of the Venetian gondala.

Ladies were selling flower crowns on the bank |
This is definitely an area of the country to which we will return, and we highly recommend it to anyone who wants to come visit.
We are now back in Beijing, happy to return to spring time weather. We'll spend Easter weekend at home, and attend Easter Sunday at our English speaking Church service. The gray and dusty Beijing winter has faded away--in it's place budding flowers and baseball games. In this season of re-birth, we feel blessed to be experiencing our new life in China.
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