Lijiang River (not to be confused with the Lijiang of Yunnan) is the subsidiary of the Pearl River system in the west. It is the upper reaches to the Guijiang River. From its origin in Xingan County’s high mountain of Mao’er Shan in the northeast, Lijiang meanders a long 164 kilometers throughout the Guangxi Province through its deep valleys.

The Lijiang River is the lifeline of Guilin, and that is no understatement. Going as far back as the Qin dynasty, the water transportation enabled by Lijiang River was considered one factor that favored the unification of China by the ancient emperors. It was always an important waterway that supported transportation between southern China and the central plains. Lijiang’s role as a key transport waterway has receded in the 1920s to 1930s, when the nation began its modernization efforts by building nationwide railway networks.

As a scenic river, Lijiang will forever be the main driver of tourism in Guilin. The Lijiang River scenic area runs between Guilin City and Yangshuo, with many options for boat tours in this most beautiful section of the river.

The Yulong River

The Yulong River is a subsidiary river flowing out of the Lijiang River. The 46 km-long river originates at the Lingui District of the Guilin Municipality. With its beautiful scenery, Yulong River has earned the moniker of “little Lijiang,” and that is no small compliment.

The bamboo rafts of Yulong River are a famous sightseeing activity in Yangshuo. A number of famous bridges, such as Fuli Qiao Bridge and Gongnong Qiao Bridge, epitomizes the beauty of Guilin’s scenery — where human footprints are fused in one with the natural landscape.

The downstream areas of the Yulong River are known to be exceptionally beautiful. Another option for river cruise is to do the boat tour in Yangshuo proper. I have seen photographs of Yulong River before. That was the reason why I had not signed up for a Lijiang River cruise in Yangshuo for my family trip this time. I thought a boat ride on Yulong River would serve the purpose of seeing the best of Yangshuo.

Yet Xiaohuang took us to a part of Yulong River that was disappointing in terms of views, but surprisingly good in terms of activities. The main reason being that, the standard Yulong bamboo rafts for two persons in one raft would not take seniors above the age 60. With safety in mind, we chose a part of Yulong River that was elderly-friendly.

A Fun Bamboo Rafting Experience

I understood the concerns with safety when I saw the bamboo raft that would take us. It came as a covered cubicle with a large seating area for a dozen people. One raftsman used a long bamboo stilt to navigate.

Approaching the boat was a woman of the Zhuang minority, who are traditionally the residents of this area in Yangshuo. She sang beautiful songs in a full voice. This created an ambience that I had not expected. Mountain singing is very common in all indigenous regions in China and Taiwan. Amidst the river scenery, in a slightly overcast day, the mountain songs lifted the mood and reverberated afar. No photograph would do justice to this aspect of the tour.

She sang some classic love songs, and she was expecting us to be able to play the part of the male singer in duet songs. We had no idea what the lyrics were. She learned that we were from Hong Kong, and then she started singing cantopop in Cantonese. We fully appreciated her ability to entertain.

Perhaps the part that was most fun was the raftsman letting us navigate the raft with his bamboo pole.

I was surprised to feel the riverbed with the stilt. That made sense to me. When the raft approached and seeing that a mere stilt was used to navigate, I wondered how he would be able to motion the boat with a dozen of people on board. The stilt was not a paddle. When I did the navigation, I understood that the boat was moved by the stilt being extended to the riverbed. The power to go forward did not depend on paddling the water to create motion by the river flow per se.

The Cormorant Show

I have discussed cormorant fishing as a thousand-year-old fishing technique for certain parts of China and Asia in my entry on Xingping. In the standard boat ride in Xingping, you will not be shown how a cormorant catches a fish. In this bamboo raft of the Yulong River, we witnessed how a cormorant caught a fish from the river. I thought that was quite an experience, because the scene was one that was distinctly different from my imagination.

When I think of birds catching fish, the thought evokes the sight of a bird gliding in midair, spotting the fish in the river and dashing into the water to catch it. That was apparently not how the cormorant catches fish.

When the show began, the two cormorants were actually swimming in the water. From afar, they could have been mistaken as ducks. They simply dipped into the river and caught the fish. It was interesting to see that it was not the dramatic hunting game that I had expected. Then quickly the fisherman takes the cormorant out of the water and take the fish out of its beak.

We were at this tour in the very late afternoon. Our raftsman told us that this would be the very last show of the day because the cormorants were tired. Perhaps this is an obvious point, but it is worth mentioning here. Cormorant fishing is a way to leverage the instincts of animals to benefit human needs. The cormorant catches fish when they are hungry, but the fisherman ties a loose snare at the base their throats to prevent them from swallowing large fish. They can swallow small fish. Once they have been fed for the day, they would lose the instinct to catch more.

As far as I could observe, however, as long as the show cormorant catches a fish, the fisherman reaches into its throat to grab it for the purpose of demonstration to the tourists. It is likely that the cormorant actually doesn’t get to swallow any fish, large or small.

This observation might suggest a deviation from the otherwise more “humane” way in which the fishermen made use of the cormorant throughout history. Sure enough, however, that the fisherman will take care of the cormorant’s needs to keep it alive for more shows.

As I said above, the scenery in this part of the Yulong River was vastly disappointing. In terms of views of karst peak, there was maybe just one karst peak in sight. As compared to what I had seen in other boat tours, this surely fell below the mark.

We opted for this option because we had the elderly with us. Safety was assured in the raft that we took, and that was the most important. Sure enough, all the other people on this tour were the older crowd. Even at this low season for traveling in Guilin, there was a queue before we managed to get on the raft. Big tour groups do select this option.

Sources

ChinaWiki on Lijiang River.

The Wikipedia on Yulong River (Chin).