2017 Guilin International Marathon, Running in Guilin

On November 19, 2017, Guilin International Marathon has achieved a great success. There were 20,000 runners from 14 different countries participating in this competition.     

In order to meet the different needs of different running mates, the contest organizers set up 4 competing events in this marathon - Full Marathon, Half Marathon, 10-K Marathon and 5-K Mini Marathon. And Armed Police Force and Specialized Medical Emergency Team guarded the whole runners all the time, until the competition is completed.

8:00 a.m., all the runners started the marathon race from Guilin Finest Under Heaven Square (Jia Tian Xia Square), passed through the Lijiang River Bridge, the golden tourist channel of Guilin and Yangshuo – Guiyang Road, Guangxi Normal University campus and other wonderful places. The route type is point to point, and the terrain is very flat, there is no substantial slope. It is a good route for all runners to enjoy the picturesque scenery such as Crystal Rivers, strangely-shaped karst peaks along the way.

He Zhaoling, 62 years old, it was his 66th full marathon competition. He said, “I have taken part in marathon in 55 cities and 22 countries. And I found that marathon was actuary a unique way of travel.”

Besides, 2017 Guilin International Marathon also set up Wheelchair Marathon for the first time, and 19 disabled athletes completed 5-K Mini Marathon successfully.

The contest organizers integrated the characteristics of Guilin landscape and the national fitness wave to spread the beauty of sports to the citizens, the people who travel to Guilin, and advocate a healthy lifestyle.

Guilin is world-renowned for its beautiful natural landscape and colorful culture. If you have interest in taking close look at the natural beauty of Guilin, we would like to recommend several Guilin Tour Packages for you: https://www.easytourchina.com/tours-from-guilin 

Beijing Forbidden City Tour Itinerary for US President

On Nov. 8, 2017, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump toured the Forbidden City in Beijing with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife, Peng Liyuan. If you are planning to explore the Forbidden City, one of the most important historical and cultural sites in China, the President’s special itinerary may give you some inspiration about which spots to visit. 

Recommended Beijing Tour with Forbidden City: 

5-Day Beijing Highlights Tour

   

Tea Break at the Century-old Baoyun Building

The two state leaders had afternoon tea at the century-old Baoyun Building – a hall of hidden treasures, which is the only western-style building in the imperial palace. 

Baoyun Building, also known as the Hall of Embodied Treasures, lies between the Hall of Martial Valor (Wuying Dian) and the West Prosperity Gate (Xihua Men). It was built in 1915 to store cultural relics which had been transported to Beijing from the Shenyang Imperial Palace and the Chengde Mountain Resort. After a properly comprehensive renovation in 2013, it has now been transformed into a wonderful museum to show the history and historical evolution of the Palace Museum.

Visit Three Main Halls

Then the Trumps visited three main halls, respectively are the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony. These three halls are all in the outer court of the Forbidden City, also known as Palace Museum.

The Hall of Supreme Harmony rises some 30 meters above the level of the surrounding square, which is heart of the Forbidden City palace complex. It is the largest surviving wooden structure in China, covering 2,377sq m (25,586sq ft.). It is also the most important building of the nation and the ceremonial center of imperial power. In history, the Emperor came to the hall to receive congratulations from the civil and military officials.

The Hall of Central Harmony is the smallest hall of the three, covering a total area of 580 square meters. It is a square structure built like a pavilion, each side of which is five bays long, measuring 24.15m. It was used as a preparation room for the emperor before he attended sacrifices or other rituals.

The Hall of Preserving Harmony was used for many functions throughout history, for example, it was used for rehearsing ceremonies, holding royal weddings, Chinese New Year banquets, and was also the site of the final stage of the Imperial examination.

These three main halls, all with the Chinese character ”he” (meaning peace and harmony) in the middle of their names, symbolize the idea of the pursuit of peace and harmony.

Watch Restoration of Relics

The Trumps visited the Cultural Relics Hospital at the Palace Museum and watched craftsmen repairing historical artifacts there. This hospital covers 13,000 square meters and boasts the nation's most-advanced restoration workshops, which is the largest cultural heritage conservation center in China. As spiritual and cultural symbols of Chinese civilization, cultural relics reflects national memory, thus protecting cultural relics is protecting the county's history.

Cultural relic "doctors" showed their skills in repairing damaged ancient pieces including clocks, pottery, textiles, metal containers, wooden items, calligraphy, paintings and so on. The two presidents even tried their own hands at repairing a relic facsimile and then watched an exhibition of treasury relics together.

Watch Peking Opera at the Pavilion of Cheerful Melodies

The two presidential couples watched a Peking Opera performance at the Pavilion of Cheerful Melodies. Peking Opera is regarded as one of the cultural treasures of China. It is the largest Chinese opera form with a history of 160 years. It is also extolled as “Oriental Opera”.

The actors performed several scenes from three classic operas, such as Meihouwang (The Monkey King), which is the main character in the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West, features stunning action sequences; and Guifei Zuijiu (The Tipsy Beauty), a classic Peking Opera that describes Yang Yuhuan – a beloved concubine of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, who danced with beautiful steps after getting drunk. The beauty of art broke through language barriers and culture differences, just stroked the soul directly.

What is also worth mentioning is that the Pavilion of Cheerful Melodies will gradually restore the performance of palace opera gradually in the future. The Pavilion of Cheerful Melodies is a three-story wooden opera house, being used for the emperor and empress watched the opera in history. It has been quiet for 100 years and without any performing, but after all-round renovation, it will be not only a house for collecting opera artifacts and clothing, but also a real opera stage, which can let general visitors enjoy the royal feeling during the tour in the near future.

Explore Xinjiang’s 400 Years Old Hidden Village Darya Boyi

In the depths of the Taklamakan Desert, there lies an ancient village - Darya Boyi Village, which is about 400 years old. It is not only China’s largest village (more than 2,000 square kilometers), but also one of the most inaccessible areas of China. And you cannot even find it on the current map.   

A century ago, the world knew nothing about this village of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. If you want to get here, you will have to cross the real desert. That is definitely a tough but interesting experience.     

While you pass through reed marshes, climb sand dunes, watch the sunrise & sunset, and admire the ice-covered Kunlun Mountain, you will see the very different western customs. If you bold enough, you may walk into the no-man’s zone, which is absolutely no map instruction. I bet that it will leave you an extraordinary memory of Taklamakan Desert adventure.   

Through all this, you are able to reach the Darya Boyi Village. This mysterious hidden village is 245 kilometers deep in the heart of China’s largest “Dead Sea” - Taklimakan Desert. It is an oasis like paradise, and also one of the loneliest places in the world, because of the isolation.   

The people who live here are called Keriya. This original village is surrounded by several hundred kilometers of desert. And there’re no roads. Keriya have been living here for thousands of years. That is to say, this large village is completely isolated from the rest of the world for a very long time. Many locals haven’t been out of the village in their lives. And they refuse to move away, because they believe that they belong to the Taklimakan Desert, they are children of the desert.    

Darya Boyi Village may be not so easy to access, and some unexpected situation may crop up in the desert tour, but it doesn’t cut people’s passion for exploring it. The oddly-shaped populus euphratica forest, the mysterious desert landscape, and the primitive tribal culture & custom have already attracted so many people from all over the world.  

If you have the desire to travel to Xinjiang and explore this hidden village, simply contact us for details, and we can tailor-made a Xinjiang tour just for you.     

Top 10 Reasons to Visit Guizhou in Winter, Travel to Guizhou

Guizhou has always been considered to be a popular summer resort in China. Some people may think that there’s no fun to travel to Guizhou in winter, then they are absolutely wrong. If you read this article about “10 Reasons to Visit Guizhou in Winter”, you will be surprised to find that traveling to Guizhou in winter is so exciting and wonderful.

Reason 1 Join Joyous Miao New Year

Miao village is the most representative landscape of Guizhou. Each year during the eleventh month of the lunar calendar, the Miao people will embrace their biggest and the liveliest festival – Miao New Year. It will last a few days. During these big days, the locals usually kill chickens, slaughtered sheep, buy meat, make wine, pound sticky rice and make other delicious food to celebrate. After enjoying the feast, they will stay-up late or all night on New Year’s Eve, and set off firecrackers. At this time, no matter which Miao village you want to visit, you will be warmly welcomed by watching the beautiful Miao girls dancing the graceful Lusheng dance. Usually, they will bring out their fine wine to greet the guests from afar. All in all, travel to Guizhou in winter for a unique Miao New Year will be very interesting. I bet that the lovely local people and varies of New Year activities can make you linger.

  

Reason 2 Lost in Admiration of the Spectacular Huangguoshu Waterfalls

The Huangguoshu Waterfalls in winter are still abundant and magnificent. As one of the most beautiful places in China, it has been named as the largest waterfall group in the world by the Guinness Book of Records. The spectacular waterfalls, natural caves, dense forests, diverse strange vegetation, stone forests, valleys and other amazing sceneries can be seen here and there. I’m sure that the classical Karst landscape here, with the roaring sound of water, will leave you a great winter memories in Huangguoshu Waterfalls.

  

Reason 3 Appreciate Plum Blossom Forests in Libo

Libo is an ethnic minority region of Shui, Yao, Miao, Han, Yao and Buyi. It will be great fun to experience minority ethic customs. What’s more, in the late January to March every year, the locals will hold a grand Plum Blossom Festival. During these months, you can enjoy spectacular area of wild plum trees blossom in cold winter. Besides, the greengage wine is worth tasting, which is made from local mill, and then you may be intoxicated in the mellow wine and the beauty of the Libo.

Reason 4 Take a Hot Spring Bath and Embrace the Nature

Guizhou, such a beautiful province, has not only colorful landscape, but also a large amount of hot springs. And each hot spring has its own characteristics, such as the famous Xifeng hot spring. You can take a hot spring bath in the mountains, relax, and appreciate the ancient primeval forests, stalagmites and extraordinary waterfall scenery around you. 

 

Reason 5 Stroll in Ancient Towns

Guizhou has many ancient towns. The most well-known ancient towns are Zhenyuan Ancient Town and Qingyan Ancient Town. The sloping roofs, widely overhanging eaves and light grey walls make the Zhenyuan Ancient Town look like a painting. While Qingyan Ancient Town is a land of Chinese and western religious culture fusion, and leaving a number of ancient Ming and Qing dynasties ancient buildings. While you walk on the stone road, appreciate the elegant architectures, understand the customs and feel the ancient life here, and you will figure out that it is a return to nature, far away from the crowd, which is a quiet and unspeakable pleasure.

Reason 6 Experience the Minority Ethnic Customs in Xijiang Miao Village

The charm of Guizhou ethnic folk custom in winter continues unabated, especially the Xijiang Miao Village - the largest ethnic village of Guizhou. It is surrounded by mountains and rivers. The huge village itself is just like a forest of Miao wooden cabins built from the foot to the mountain top. Xijiang Miao Village is also called as the Living Fossil of Miao history and culture. You will not only see their unique architectures, but also their ways of life, such as making the best Miao silver jewelry handcraft. The locals are good at producing all kinds of silverwares for their people. 

Reason 7 Visit the Caohai National Nature Reserve of Guizhou and Watching Black-necked Crane

Travel to Caohai in winter, you can not only enjoy the unique bleak scenery, but also have a chance to watch the national animal of China -the black-necked crane. While in the sunrise and sunset, you can see the black-neck cranes flying in the sky, passing through the vast areas of grass. What a peaceful beauty! A gust of wind blowing, you can smell the taste of the sea, everything here will touch your heart.

Reason 8 Enjoy Guizhou Fancy Food Feast

Winter is the best season to enjoy the Guizhou cuisine. A food tour to Guizhou is a good choice for your winter holiday. There’re so many kind of food here, such as the delicious Huajiang dog meat, Miao sour soup fish, Miao bacon, glutinous rice, Qiao crisp, rice tofu and so on. That is definitely a paradise for foodies.

Reason 9 Participate in the Celebrations of Zhaoxing Dong Village

The activities of Zhaoxing Dong Village in winter are rich and colorful. The locals will sit around the fire and chat about their daily stuff and interesting stories. During festivals and celebrations, all the people will wear their festival costumes and accessories, and participate in recreational activities such as singing, dancing, Lusheng playing and Dong opera. The bustling and cheerful scene will absolutely make your trip to Guizhou very unique and worth visiting.

Reason 10 Purify your soul in Mount Fanjing

Mount Fanjing in winter can bring visitors a holy atmosphere. The snow on the mountain creates a pure white world. It just waits quietly for visitors to take a cable car to the top of the mountain. Up there, all of the trees will covered with soft rime, and while the sun rises, the soft rime are dyed to sakura (cherry) color, which is so beautiful. All of the views around you are covered with snow and ice. A vast expanse of ice hanging under the eaves, and they are shining with fantastic luster. Such pure and simple scenery can let you forget the troubles of life, and purify your soul. Besides, The Buddhist culture of Mount Fanjing is very rich, which make it become a famous "Buddha Temple". Praying for the New Year and making wishes in the Mount Fanjing temple are good ways to make a fresh start for the New Year.

Recommended Guizhou Tour Packages:

14-day Guizhou Lunar New Year Festival Tour

8-day Southeast Guizhou Exploration

Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge Is About to Open to Traffic

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, stretching over the South China Sea, is about to open to traffic by the end of 2017. This massive structure, measuring 55 kilometers long, connecting Hong Kong, Zhuhai and Macau – three of China’s most important cities, will be the longest cross sea bridge in the world.

When the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge is opened to traffic, it will bring a lot of beneficial effects. For example, on the traffic side, it will meet the demand of passenger and freight land transport among Hong Kong, the Mainland (particularly the region of Pearl River West) and Macau, to establish a new land transport link between the east and west banks of the Pearl River. On the economic side, it will also enhance the economic and sustainable development of the three places. And on the tourism side, it will benefit a lot to Hong Kong tour, Zhuhai Tour and Macau Tour.

The construction formally began on December 15th, 2009, and the major part of the bridge was completed in July, 2017. All the roads on the bridge and in the tunnel are expected to be paved by the end of November, 2017. Then, the bridge will be ready to open to the traffic.

Among all the projects, the biggest technical difficulty is the main clusters of the 29.6 kilometers length bridge – island – tunnel project. And the tunnel is located 40 meters below the sea level and measures 6.7 kilometers in length, which will be the longest undersea tunnel in the world.

The workers used 420,000 tonnes of steel to construct this bridge, which would be enough to build 60 Eiffel Towers. But its design can withstand 8 degrees of earthquakes and 16 degrees of typhoons. What’s more, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge port will enable new intelligent facilities, such as face recognition.

After years of construction, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge will be part of the G4-Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway and the G94-Pearl River Delta Loop Highway. People can enjoy the magnificent sea view all the way. And the most important thing is that, the connection is set to cut travel time from Zhuhai to Hong Kong from 3 hours to just 30 minutes! It is definitely a kind of “1 hour life circle”.  

Recommended Zhuhai Tours:1-Day Zhuhai Tour
3-Day Zhuhai Tour with Kaiping Diaolou Watchtowers Discovery

2017 GREE UCI WorldTour - Tour of Guangxi Ended in Guilin

On Oct. 24th, 2017, the six-day “UCI WorldTour - Tour of Guangxi" has achieved a complete success. The last stage of 2017 UCI WorldTour was in the picturesque Guilin City. Authorized by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the Gree Tour of Guangxi is a top ranking race organized by the local government and China's Wanda Group. There’re 18 professional teams participating in the race. 

From Oct. 19-24th, the race was started from the seaside city of Beihai, passed Qinzhou, Nanning and Liuzhou, and eventually ended in Guilin. The total length of the route is about 944 kilometers, racing through Guangxi from the south to the north, crossing plains, hills and mountains. This Cycling Tour of Guangxi has showed the spectacular natural scenes, historical culture and ethnic customs to the world. 

Especially the Guilin Cycling Tour has given us a kind of beauty to enjoy. People say:” The scenery of Guilin has been called the finest under heaven.” The last stop of the cycling race was just like cycling in the ink painting. The cyclists went through the Guilin’s hill and mountainous area, cycled around the Lijiang River, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery all the way.

2017 GREE UCI WorldTour - Tour of Guangxi is a new event of UCI, and its success marks that China has owned its own road cycling race system with complete classes, and also shows that China has great ambitions to be a powerful nation in sports. Guangxi race opens doors to the world.

What’s more, it brings great influence to Guilin tourism, too. If you want to have a special Guilin tour, relax in the breeze and experience the unique Guilin scenery and customs at a certain speed, then discover the beauty of Guilin by bicycle is a good choice which you will never regret. 

Here is a recommended 3-day Guilin Biking Tour for you. The off-the-beaten path will definitely offers you a wonderful opportunity to view the enchanting backcountry, grotesque Crown Cave, and old villages of Guilin.   

Recommended Guilin Biking Package: 

3-day Guilin Biking Tour