Merrily, down the river

China Daily photographer Wu Zhiyi captures the natural beauty and historic legacy of Wuxi county, east of Chongqing and part of the Three Gorges reservoir.

In Wuxi, one of the most pleasant things you can do is to drift lazily downstream on bamboo rafts, taking in the scenic beauty on both banks as you lie back and relax. This is a brand-new tourist attraction: The county launched bamboo raft tours on the Daning River from Aug 10.

The rafts, made by hand from native bamboo, have a classic simplicity that tourists can enjoy for about 120 minutes on the water.

Travelers are fanned by fresh air and gentle zephyrs as a panorama of picturesque scenery and ancient architecture unfurls before them like a Chinese watercolor painting.

There are thrills but no spills along the 12-km route. Sometimes, stimulated by the relaxing scenes, boatmen may voluntarily burst into songs, the folk tunes of the region familiar to the residents along the river.

For thousands of years, nature and history have existed hand-in-hand in the tranquility of Wuxi, 550 km from bustling downtown Chongqing.

Forests cover more than 40 percent of its 4,030-sq-km mountainous terrain along the route and a total of 15 rivers run through it - an inviting environment for dozens of potential forest parks and bamboo-raft drifting resorts.

Wuxi itself has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age. Once a strategic military post, it has been shaped by time into a place of tranquility and historic legacy to be enjoyed in peaceful times.

Old folk buildings, precarious planked roads built on the cliffs, cliff coffins, the salt and tea trail and some of China's most ancient temples await exploration by the modern traveler.

The county now offers seven scenic regions: Daning River, Yintiao Hills, Hongchiba Forest Park, Ningguang Ancient Town, Daguan Hills, Chao

yang Stone Forest and Tuancheng Canyon are all sites of cultural and natural importance.

(China Daily 09/19/2010 page16)