Li River (Xingping)

Rivers & StreamsGuangxi,China

The bend of river and pointed limestone peaks China printed on its 20-yuan note, drifted through on bamboo rafts past cormorant fishermen at dawn.

September·Peaking now

Sep–Nov

Autumn is the river's finest window: rainfall drops to 65–80mm, the air clears, and the widening day-to-night gap thickens the dawn mist that mirrors the peaks. Days stay mild, the hills hold their green, and rafts and cruises all run.

Year-round The karst peaks and bamboo rafts of the Li River, the view printed on the Chinese banknote, are here year-round. At dawn the mist and the still water give the scene the look of an ink painting, and spring and autumn are the best seasons for it.

The Li River at Xingping, in the Guangxi region of southern China, is the bend of water and pointed limestone peaks that the country printed on the back of its 20-yuan note, and it is drifted through on bamboo rafts in the still hour after dawn, when mist gathers at the foot of the karst and the river lies flat enough to mirror the hills, past the last of the cormorant fishermen. The peaks are fenglin karst, limestone towers that rise alone from a flat plain rather than in linked clusters, hundreds of them along the river between Guilin and Yangshuo in pointed cones and humps with trees on top, and Xingping sits on the finest stretch; the rafts, motorised now and made of plastic pipes in the shape of the old bamboo ones, leave from the town and run upriver past the peaks and back, and at the bend north of town the hills on the back of the banknote line up exactly with the hills across the water, so that almost every Chinese visitor holds a note up and takes the same photograph. The flawless reflection comes from one spot, the Yellow Cloth Shoal, named for a broad yellowish rock lying flat beneath the water like a sheet of cloth. A few kilometres upriver a cliff of 400 metres called Nine-Horse Fresco Hill carries stains and hollows that locals read as nine horses in different poses, and counting all nine is said to mark a scholar. Xingping's straw-hatted fishermen once sent trained cormorants diving for the catch, a snare at the throat keeping the birds from swallowing the fish, and a few old men still go out on rafts with their birds and lanterns at dusk, for the photographers now rather than the fish. The town itself was settled more than 1,700 years ago, in the Three Kingdoms era, and its stone lanes and old houses lead down to the river. The Li at Xingping is the view on the money, and the river at dawn is better than the note.

Worth knowing

Good to know

Xianggong Hill rewards the climb; the banknote bend doesn't — Xianggong is a short uphill hike where tripods crowd the dawn deck, while the ¥20 frame north of Xingping is a flat, easy riverside walk.
Autumn brings the clearest air — September to November has the sharpest light and the strongest dawn mist, driven by the wide day-to-night temperature gap; summer turns humid and hazy.
Ride the raft ahead of the crowds — the bamboo rafts share the river with tour boats and day-trippers by mid-morning; going out at first light leaves the quiet water and the peaks nearly to yourself.

Things to do

1
Glide among the misty peaks on a bamboo raft
Board a traditional bamboo raft and slip over the silent river among the karst hills. From water level the peaks rise steeply on both sides, and in the first hours after dawn the mist lies low between them, so often only their upper halves show above it.
2
Line up the ¥20 banknote view
Hold a 20-yuan note up at the river bend north of town: the hills on its back line up exactly with the hills across the water, and almost every Chinese visitor takes the same photograph. For the grander version, cross the river to Xianggong Hill before first light, where photographers line the deck above the bend. As the sun climbs, mist lifts off the peaks and the water shifts from grey to silver to gold while the valley of towers emerges from the haze.
3
Meet the cormorant fishermen
Xingping's straw-hatted cormorant fishermen once sent trained birds diving for the catch, a snare at the throat keeping the fish from being swallowed. The fishing has faded now, and the two most famous brothers, in their eighties, pose on their rafts for a few yuan a photo. At dusk they stand in silhouette against the bright water with the birds on their poles, which makes the best-known picture on the river. It is worth knowing that the trade itself has already ended, and is kept going here only for visitors.
4
Wander the ancient town of Xingping
Walk the stone lanes of Xingping, first settled more than 1,700 years ago in the Three Kingdoms era. Old brick shophouses, tea stalls and the river jetty sit beneath a backdrop of karst peaks, and the town stays a working riverside settlement rather than a restored showpiece.