CHINA 5A TRAVEL
The 'hundred-li gallery' of karst that put Guilin's scenery in every Chinese pocket — the river the ¥20 note prints — run by boat from Zhujiang to Yangshuo, rafted between Yangdi and Xingping, or walked riverside through villages older than the poets who named the peaks.
The Li River is the Guangxi karst at its most lyrical: from Guilin's outskirts the river winds 83 river-kilometres south to Yangshuo between ranks of forested limestone towers — 'a hundred-li art gallery' of named peaks (Nine Horses Fresco Hill, the Yellow Cloth Shoal) that Chinese painters made the national image of landscape itself.
Three ways to read the gallery: the full-length cruise (Zhujiang or Mopanshan wharves to Yangshuo, four-plus hours, from ¥215–360 with lunch), the bamboo raft on the essence stretch between Yangdi and Xingping — where the ¥20 banknote view of Yellow Cloth Shoal lives — and the riverside walk, a half-day of quiet villages and ferry crossings on the same stretch.
The river changes costume by weather: sunny peaks mirrored whole, overcast gorges wrapped in cloud, drizzle turning the whole valley to ink-wash. The visit anchors the classic Guilin–Yangshuo pairing — morning river, afternoon Yangshuo's West Street or the Yulong bamboo floats, add Longji terraces for the 3–4 day circuit (¥498–899).
Highlights
The ¥20 Banknote View
Yellow Cloth Shoal at Xingping — photograph the note against the real thing.
Yangdi–Xingping Rafting
The motor-bamboo rafts on the river's most concentrated beauty.
Nine Horses Fresco Hill
The cliff that hides nine horses — count them like every poet-diplomat before you.
The Full Cruise
Four hours Zhujiang → Yangshuo with lunch — the whole gallery in one sitting.
Xingping Old Town
The Ming-dynasty river port at the essence bend — stay overnight for dawn mist.
Riverside Hike Yangdi–Xingping
The walker's version — ferries, fields and the peaks to yourself.
Photo Gallery
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