Video: New thrills in old Yangshuo
Yangshuo, an ancient town just south of Guilin, China, has used its position on the Li River to build a burgeoning tourist trade. In little over a day there, my family took a cooking class, saw an epic show on the riverbanks, browsed an ancient shop
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For generations, Yangshuo has been a handy starting and stopping point for boaters along China’s beloved Li River. But in recent years -- as this video shows -- the city has nearly burst with tourism-fueled growth.
When I visited with my family in 2013, we had scarcely 24 hours in the town, which is close to larger Guilin. But that was time enough for several adventures.
We browsed touristy West Street, which is barely 500 yards long but is said to date back 1,400 years.
We stopped by a gallery for a brushwork class.
We spent several hours at a hands-on cooking school in the countryside.
And we went to a presentation of “Sanjie Liu Impression,” a visually stunning outdoor production that involves a cast of 600, many of them in boats. It’s been running since 2004.
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