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Guilin
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Guilin (桂林) means in English "a forest of cassia trees", or "a
forest of sweet acanthus". Many varieties of cassia trees grow here
and there and in autumn the city is filled with fragrance of their yellow,
white and red blossoms.
Guilin is a small city with a history of
over 2,000 years. It is about
150 meters above the sea level and covers an area of 565 square
kilometers. Guilin used to be the capital city of Guangxi Province in
1911 and in 1949 the capital city was changed to Nanning.
Topographically, Guilin is a good example
of karst formation. According to geological surveys, Guilin was originally an
expanse
of sea. About 300 million years ago, large quantities of limestone
were deposited here at the bottom of the sea. About 200 million
years ago, because of the upheaval of the earth's crust, which was
"Guangxi Movement", the seabed rose and became land. As a result of long years
of weathering and erosion by water, beautiful
and weird peaks, caverns and underground channels were formed.
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Guilin has a temperate climate and plentiful
rainfall. The annual average temperature is about 19 degree centigrade
with 36-37 degree the hottest and
1-2 degree the coldest. It seldom snows in winter and flowers blossom in all
seasons. |
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Guilin
not only has beautiful scenery, it also has lots of historical relics. There
are many stone images of Buddha and
slab inscriptions reflecting the
political, cultural and economic situations of the times. So there is an old
saying," To look at
the mountains is to enjoy pictures; to
tour the mountains is to study history." |
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Before
1949, Guilin had only four small factories with a little over 200 workers. In
the street you could find only one bus,
shabby houses and muddy roads. Great changes
have taken place in Guilin, especially since 1976. |
Since1985, Guilin has been among the top ten tourist cities in China.
Millions of visitors have been to Guilin. The city is
highly praised: "Guilin leads the world in
beauty." "I'd rather be a resident of Guilin than be a celestial being." |
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Gallery |
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Click here to see Gallery Page1
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| Major attractions |
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Three mountains:
The Elephant Hill , The Fubo Hill
and The Diecai Hill
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Two Caves: The
Reed Flute Cave , The Seven Star
Cave
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One River: The
Li River
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Yangshuo County: Mountains and waters |
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Longsheng County: Ethnic
minorities
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| Xing'an
County: Qin Dynasty Canal |
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Imperial
Palace
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Population: |
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1,220,000 |
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| Nationalities of the
Inhabitants of Guilin
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31 nationalities including:
Han Nationality:
1,120,000 91.00%
Zhuang Nationality:
61,300 5.00%
Yao
Nationality:
21,000 1.70%
Hui
Nationality: 10,000 1.00% |
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| Transportation |
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The city has more than 700 enterprises with 120,000 workers. The major
industries are rubber, radio, electronic, textile,
brewery, medicine, arts and
crafts. The city has over 30,000 vehicles (among them over 2,000 taxis). There
are over 30 bus
routes. About 5 bus routes
provide city transportation service free of charge.
The Guilin International Airport has flights to all major cities in China
including Hong Kong and Macao. It also has direct
flights to Japan and Korea,
and will open more flights to more countries and regions.
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| Tele-Communication |
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There are numerous telephone service stands where long distance calls can be
made. Collect calls can be dialed in
most of the hotels. Post
offices have multi-function. They have tele-communication service, service of
subscription to
magazines and
newspapers, money remittance, mail service of parcels and letters and saving
service. |
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| Major Banks |
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Bank of China
Agricultural Bank of China
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China
Construction Bank of China
Bank
of Communications |
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| Exchange rate: |
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Cash: USD1=Y8.07
Traveller's check: USD1=Y8.27 |
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Local flavors |
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Chilly Sauce
Fermented Beancurd
Three Dimples Liquor
Rice Noodles
Sour Fish Hot pot
Beer
Fish
Pomelo |
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Information ] |
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