Guilin, a city whose name comes from its forests of laurels and their beautiful flowers, is famous for its natural beauty. The city is also distinguished for its sturdy character. There are tens of thousands of caves and stone hills as well as hundreds of lakes and ponds.

Autumn is approaching. A tour of Guilin will amaze you with the beautiful mountains, rivers and fragrant laurels.

Lijiang River

Lijiang River begins at the Mao'er Mountain in Xing'an County in the northeast of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, flowing pass Guilin, Yangshuo, to the Gongcheng River iningle County. The total length is 437 kilometers.

The part of Lijiang River between Guilin and Yangshuo is 83 kilometers long, like a green ribbon flowing among the mountains. This part of Lijiang River can be divided into three parts for visiting. The first part is from Guilin to Yangdi, 46 kilometers long. Xiangbi Hill and Tashan Mountain line the riverbank. Then, from Yangdi to Xingping, is 17 kilometers. The scenes along the river here are the most beautiful. The famous Banbian Ferry, Erlang Gorge, and Hua Mountain are all along the river. The last part is from Xingping to Yangshuo, which is 20 kilometers long.

The charm of visiting Lijiang River is that you don't have to be worry about the weather. The river has a different character depending on the time of year, and each is worth the trip. When it is sunny, you can see the inverted reflections of the mountains when it is cloudy, the mountains hide in the clouds and fog; when it is rainy, you can enjoy looking at the scene through the teardrops of a rain mist.

Xiangbi Hill (Elephant Hill)

Xiangbi Hill at the confluence of Lijiang River and Taohuajiang River perfectly captures all that the guidebooks lead you to expect in Guilin, and is thus the symbol of the city. The hill is named Xiangbi Hill (Elephant Hill) because it looks like an elephant drinking water with its trunk from the Lijiang River.