Xingping Ancient Town

Xingping is a riverside town on a bend of the Li River, roughly an hour from Yangshuo, with more than 1,700 years of history behind its cobbled lanes. Weathered wooden shopfronts and old courtyard houses sit beneath some of the most photographed karst peaks in China. Most travelers come for one specific view, but the sleepy town around it rewards anyone who lingers past the first photo.

The 20-yuan-note view

A short walk south of the old town leads to Yellow Cloth Shoal, the bend in the Li River framed by karst peaks that appears on the back of the 20-yuan banknote. It costs nothing to reach on foot, and plenty of visitors photograph it while holding up the note to match the scene. Arrive close to sunrise for soft light, mist over the water, and far fewer people; spring and autumn tend to give the clearest, calmest mornings. A short bamboo-raft ride from the waterfront lets you float out among the peaks for a closer look, or you can book a full Yangdi-to-Xingping river cruise in advance if you are coming down from Guilin rather than up from Yangshuo.

Exploring the old town

The town itself is compact, and a leisurely walk through it takes about an hour. Wander the old street past tea houses and small Ming and Qing shopfronts, then step down to the waterfront where bamboo rafts and cruise boats come and go. Look out for the old opera stage and the centuries-old banyan trees along the river. Xingping feels noticeably quieter and more lived-in than Yangshuo's West Street, and that slower pace is a large part of its charm.

Getting there and practical tips

A local bus from Yangshuo's bus station is the cheapest way in, running roughly every half hour to an hour for a trip of under an hour; a taxi or Didi is faster and more direct if you would rather not wait. If you are arriving by high-speed train from elsewhere in China, note that the station signed "Yangshuo Railway Station" sits in Xingping itself, not in Yangshuo town, so a short local bus or taxi from the station drops you straight into the old town. Both the old town and the banknote viewpoint are free to enter, so budget your cash for snacks and short raft rides instead, wear comfortable shoes for the uneven stone lanes, and start early to beat the heat and the midday tour groups arriving off the cruise boats.

Beyond the viewpoint

Xingping has more to offer than a single photograph. From the waterfront you can look toward Nine Horses Fresco Hill, a sheer cliff whose patterns are said to hide the shapes of nine horses; legend has it that the more you can pick out, the sharper your eye. A short trip along the river, Xianggong Hill is the area's best-known sunrise viewpoint, a paved half-hour climb to a 360-degree lookout over the Li River that draws crowds of photographers on clear autumn mornings; it charges its own entrance fee, separate from Xingping town. The town has long been associated with cormorant fishing, and at dawn or dusk you may see a fisherman pose with his birds on a bamboo raft; be aware that this is a staged photo scene rather than working fishing today, and the fisherman will expect a posing fee if you want pictures, so agree on it before you start shooting. The surrounding hills also hold quiet hiking trails, and the riverside path toward the viewpoint passes farm plots and water buffalo. Give yourself half a day rather than a rushed hour and Xingping reveals itself as one of the most atmospheric corners of the whole Yangshuo region.

A note on timing

Midday is the busiest stretch in Xingping, when cruise boats from Guilin unload waves of day-trippers who walk the same lane and take the same photo before turning back. Staying overnight changes the town completely: by late afternoon the tour buses thin out, and at dawn you can have the cobbled street and the river viewpoint almost to yourself. The town and its peaks have appeared in Chinese films, paintings, and postcards for generations, so even on a crowded day it is easy to see why this scene was chosen for the national banknote.