Yangshuo
Greetings from sunny Yangshuo, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where I find myself this morning. I recently attended a two-day conference for work in nearby Guilin, and so I've come with my two colleagues to chill out in Yangshuo for a couple of days.
Except....Yangshuo isn't really chill anymore. When I came here two years ago, I stayed and relaxed a week; a perfect antidote to a hectic and oft-difficult stay in Vietnam. Now, though, things have changed; several of the laid-back cafes have been transformed into raging discos with scantily-clad Chinese dancing girls and ubiquitous games of dice. The number of beggars and hawkers have multiplied, too. So have the number of travelers; early November is off-season, yet Yangshuo is much more crowded than when I visited in the height of summer.
One thing, though, hasn't changed: the magnificent karst scenery. Jutting from the ground like chocolate chips on a cookie, the karst mountains are justifiably famous and feature in many tourist videos of China. Guilin itself has long been a scenic destination for the Chinese masses, yet in truth it remains a rather ordinary, ugly city plopped in the middle of a stunning landscape. Although we were there for business and mostly remained in a hotel, the rapacious taxi drivers and brothel activity indicated a city desperately dependent on tourism.
The province of Guangxi is still among China's poorest, though times are changing. A lot of manufacturers have relocated here from neighboring Guangdong (the "Factory of the World") to capitalize on cheap labor. In the southeast of the province, the Chinese government has established a major logistics center designed to facilitate trade with booming Vietnam, with which Guangxi shares a border. Tourism too will remain important. In addition to Guilin/Yangshuo, the Guangxi government promotes the southern city of Beihai as a beach resort destination.
Yangshuo used to be something of a backpacker's secret. For many years, Chinese tour groups steered clear of the city and remained in the far larger Guilin, and as a result Yangshuo always had a sleepy feel to it. No more. 西街, or "Western Street", reminds me more of Bangkok's Khao San Road than anyplace else.
Tomorrow I continue my trip, accompanying my bosses to Guangzhou (for a stopover) and then Shenzhen, where we have a few meetings. After over four years in China, I will be going to Guangdong for the first time, and will see whether the engine of the Chinese economic miracle still hums as before.
