A Less Touched Place In Yangshuo China

For those who have visited Yangshuo in Guilin of China's central Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the words to describe this world-renowned county would be fairy-tale landscape of limestone peaks and mirror-like Li River.

Once go ahead those might also recall the biggest "English Corner"-the West Street. But just located in such a famous county there is a tranquil place without tourists crowding into, it is the Ancient Stone City in Putao Town.

The Putao Ancient Stone City was built in lofty mountains and steep hills, covering an area of approximately ten square kilometers.

Simple and unsophisticated folk custom and tour du lịch quế lâm atmosphere of quietness and peacefulness make the place as if it were a retreat away from the world. In the east, south, kynghidongduong.vn west and north four directions lay the main city gates, it is said that there were other twenty four small city gates, among which eighteen are still existed; there were General Appointment Stand, Camps of Principal Force, etc.

in the town, but only ruins left now; moreover, under the stone city two ancient temples are preserved from the original four...Accompanied by friends we visited the stone city in a sunny summer.

Walking on the steep and winding stone path we found the west gate suddenly appeared in front of us, this is the one nearest to the inside of the ancient stone city.

The gate is placed between two high mountains, completely built with big stones the weights of which are two hundred kilograms or above. The west city gate of Putao Ancient Stone City is divided into two parts: the outer and inner doors. The former is an arched one with the height of 2.4 meters and width of 1.6 meters, while the latter is flatly framed by two large slates with the height and width of 0.3 and 0.4 meters respectively more than the former.

One of the two large slates is 4 meters long and 1.1 meters wide, even after hundreds years of winds and rains there is no crevice on it thus it is reputed as the largest and hardest stone in the region. Stone grooves were chiseled in the inner door, they are said to be one part of military defense system for erecting thick logs to close the city gate.

The ancient city wall on both sides of the gate is about 4 meters high, extends to steep mountains and abruptly stops, as a military fortress.

For traffic in ancient times mainly relied on shipping the east city gate adjacent to Li River was the most important and popular place in Putao Ancient Stone City.
It is larger and more majestic than other gates, with the height of 3.28 meters and width of 2.92 meters. It stands on the shoulder of two mountains, and the terrain is precipitous, the ancient path of it steps down the slopes. Mountains on both sides of the city gate penetrate into the clouds, and the city wall climbs to the peaks like dragon setting in array, it may be said to be a place one man can hold out against ten thousand.



Architectural style of the south and north as well as other small city gates is roughly the same as the above-mentioned west and east ones. To reach the furthest gate it needs climbing mountains for about one hour.

Since no historical datum has been found, when and why the stone city in Yangshuo was constructed and who built it is still a mystery.

From the design of the city gates and walls the legend which goes that it was a subsidiary architecture to Jingjiang Princes' City and a strategic point for quartering forces and hoarding up grains may more closely tell the truth of the ancient stone city.

Putao Ancient Stone City is not only featured with those city gates and city walls as well as the ruins.

Passing the west city gate and walking through a mountain road for around twenty minutes there is a small village in which the houses were built with stones. The wall of these residential buildings, the thresholds, water jars and toilets were all built by piling up stones.
Totally more than thirty stone houses were erected, without plastering mortar and rendering. Paths crisscross the village, and the surfaces are paved with big slates, going well with the properly distributed houses.

Nowadays the ancient stones houses, city gates and city walls as well as other historical sites in Putao Town become precious material culture heritages.

Combined with the picturesque natural sceneries, the ancient stone city in Yangshuo is quite an ideal for information about more attractions in Yangshuo or all over China.