Guilin has always been famous in China for its breathtaking scenery and has been inspiration for countless literary works, poems, and paintings over the centuries. It is one of China's most beautiful, green cities. The town center is surrounded by two rivers and four lakes and studded with sheer vertical karst mountains. As might be expected for a region with such bountiful natural attributes, the main industry in the city is tourism so the city is kept much cleaner than most other places in China. Nearby is the Li River, where visitors can float by the picturesque limestone mountains and formations of the kind made famous in misty traditional Chinese paintings.

Right in the center of Guilin is Solitary Beauty Peak. The climb up is steep, but it sits at just the right height to be an excellent vantage point for great views of the city, the Li River, and the surrounding hills.

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The Chinese have always known Guilin as one of the major draws for international tourism to China. Propaganda signs like the one below used to be ubiquitous throughout the area (the photo below was taken in 1997 well before China's modernization).

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The western bank of the Li River and Thousand Buddha Cave.

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One of the highlights of this area of China is a cruise down the Li River. The waterway was made famous by a poet who wrote over a thousand years ago that "the river forms a green gauze belt and the mountains are like blue jade hairpins." The 50-mile stretch of river between Guilin and Yangshuo is famous for its extraordinary peaks and picturesque villages.

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Chinese vendors ply the river and approach passing boats to sell all sorts of goods.

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Some more shots of the amazing scenery on the Li River cruise.

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Away from the river, the rice fields offer up some spectacular views of the countryside.

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Some of the most eye-catching scenery Guilin has to offer is underground at the Reed Flute Cave. One grotto, the Crystal Palace of the Dragon King, can comfortably hold about 1000 people, though many more were crammed in here when the cave was used as a bomb shelter in WWII.