The journey on a high-speed train, reaching speeds of up to 350 kilometres (km) per hour, was hardly felt as it covered the 295 km from Guangzhou to Guilin, with stops at various stations, including Foshanxi and Hezhou, before finally disembarking at Yangshou station.
From the train’s panoramic windows, passengers could observe agricultural landscapes, featuring rice padi, ponds, windmills, and ongoing construction projects.
Occasionally, the train would traverse dark tunnels, emerging to reveal clusters of modestly coloured multi-story houses framed by picturesque hills.
After two hours of travel, the media team finally arrived in Guilin, a city in southern China, where they were welcomed by three female officers from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Roy Shawn, 24, Li Qinyi, 30, and Chen Bilan, 38.
Although the day was drawing to a close, the 45-minute drive to the hotel showcased Guilin's magnificent landscape, with towering karst hills resembling stone pillars.
Chen noted that this breathtaking scenery is a significant draw for Malaysian tourists, with over 50,000 visitors from Malaysia arriving in Guilin during the first six months of this year.
“Hopefully, more tourists from Malaysia, especially from Sabah, will come to Guilin, as the city plans to establish a Sister City relationship with Kota Kinabalu.
“The overall population of Guilin is about 5.4 million, with around 900,000 residing in the downtown area. Key activities here include organic farming and the pharmaceutical sector. Additionally, in Guilin, no buildings are permitted to exceed the height of the surrounding hills," Chen staid.
GUILIN POSSESSES THE 'MOST EXPENSIVE' LANDSCAPE
Meanwhile, Sabah Minister of Tourism, Culture, and Environment, Datuk Christine Liew, said that promoting Sabah's uniqueness through the Sister City programme is an excellent initiative.
Liew noted that although China is a vast country with many provinces, there is a strong interest in Sabah, with plans to send students to study there and learn about its culture.
“As the tourism minister, I personally fully support this Sister City programme," Liew said.
Guilin, located in the Guangxi region, is renowned for its breathtaking natural scenery and unique topography, shaped by the geological formations known as karst.
The area is surrounded by distinctive limestone hills, clear rivers such as the Li River, ancient caves, and roads that have existed for millions of years. Guilin is also rich in history and culture, often serving as a stopover for visitors heading to Yangshuo and other nearby attractions.
That evening, the writer, accompanied by fellow journalist Teo Jinn Jiun from See Hua Daily News, 34, explored the night market, which is thousands of years old, on Zhengyang Road.
After about 30 minutes, we arrived at Xiaoyao Tower, where we encountered several statues of notable figures from the Tang Dynasty along the way. We also came across the ancient city wall and gate located outside the Jingjiang Princes Palace.
At Xiaoyao Tower, many female visitors were seen showcasing traditional attire rented from boutiques in the nearby alley, posing for photos with photographers against the backdrop of the tower illuminated by yellow lights.
The 29,200-square-metre pedestrian walkway is divided into several sections, featuring traditional cultural areas with historic buildings, rest areas, restaurants, cinemas, souvenir stalls, night markets, and clothing shops.
Beneath the surface, there is also a shopping mall that includes boutiques, restaurants, and entertainment facilities, functioning as a pedestrian bridge. Business hours are similar to those in Malaysia, with most shopping centres closing by 10 pm, leaving only a few vendors still open for business.
ELEPHANT TRUNK HILL
Before departing, Chen humorously reminded the media to wear seat belts while on the bus, as the warning sound is very loud, and passengers could face fines for noncompliance.
At 8.30 am, despite the hot weather, the media visited Elephant Trunk Hill in the Xiangshan district.
From the banks of the Li River, the hill resembles an elephant drinking water, with its shape distinctly showing the head, trunk, and back of the creature.
"Everyone...welcome to Guilin. This is Elephant Trunk Hill, the symbol of Guilin City. It looks like an elephant drinking from the Li River," said Shawn, translating the explanation provided by a staff member from the tourism centre.
With a packed schedule, the Sabah media team next visited Jingjiang Princes Palace, the residence of 14 princes during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), covering an area of nearly 200,000 sq km.
Today, the palace is part of the Guangxi Normal University campus and serves as a popular tourist attraction. The site features four halls, four pavilions, and 40 smaller buildings, surrounded by a 1,500-metre-long city wall constructed of beautiful blue flagstones.
During the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912), the palace was repurposed as the 'Guangxi Examination House' for final exams, which were exclusively for men seeking appointment as government officials.
MEDIA 'SITS' FOR EXAMS
In heavy rain, the media was given the opportunity to experience what it was like to take the exams by answering questions on a paper in a small examination room.
Afterward, the media was taken to a room, where each person was given a sheet of paper inserted into a printer engraved with the Chinese character 'Fu,' meaning 'blessing,' before red powder was applied using silk cloth.
Guilin’s coloured inscription rubbing process mainly includes three steps: cleaning the tools, applying the paper, and coloring.
According to the Chinese community, the word 'Fu' symbolises blessings and prosperity, and the media was allowed to take the paper home.
MUSHROOMS, SNOW PEOPLE IN A CAVE
After completing the 'exams,' the media visited the Reed Flute Cave, also known as 'the palace of natural arts,' which was formed 180 million years ago.
Entering the cave feels like stepping into a fantasy world, with various rock formations resulting from stalactite and stalagmite processes that create stone pillars, stone curtains, birds, plants, animals, and human-like shapes, all illuminated by colourful lights.
The rocks have names such as pines in the snow, snowman, transparent rock, mushroom hill, dragon pagoda, sky-scraping twin, virgin forests, and red curtain, each shape telling its own story.
Inside the cave, there are 77 ink inscriptions of poems and travelogues, indicating its popularity in ancient times, with the oldest dating back to the Tang Dynasty (792 AD).
With temperatures ranging from 17 to 19 degrees Celsius, the atmosphere is somewhat dark, and the tour guide uses a flashlight to point out each formation within the cave.
The cave is located five km northwest of downtown Guilin, illuminated by coloured lights, and the fantastic spectacle can be seen in various forms along 250 metres in depth and 500 metres in length.
Tourists enter the cave and then take a U-shaped sightseeing route to view different spots, exiting through another cave quite near the entrance.
Before leaving the cave, the media was also treated to a song about the mountains, performed by the staff of the tourism centre.
In conjunction with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Malaysia and China, the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Kota Kinabalu organised a media tour for Sabah journalists to Guangzhou in Guangdong and Guilin in Guangxi. This article is the second of a three-part report on the tour from the perspective of a Bernama journalist.
Translated by Salbiah Said
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