One of the most-visited Chinese cities, Guilin (pop. 630,000), located in the northeastern part of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has long been famous for its limestone karst hills. Formed more than 200 million years ago when the oceans receded from this area, the towers sprout from a patchwork of paddy fields and flowing streams, creating a dreamy, seductive landscape that leaves few souls unstirred. Time and space meet here to produce a masterpiece of nature's handiwork. Though there are a few hills in the city that can be explored, and the Li River cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo remains one of top river journeys in the world, Guilin is also being used as a base to visit the Yao, Miao, and Dong minority villages to the northwest. Unfortunately, the cost of Guilin's overwhelming popularity is a degree of unrelenting exploitation and extortion audacious even by Chinese standards; foreigners are overcharged for everything.

It seems that Guilin is on a par with Yangshuo re the exploitation of louwai in China!I'll add Guilin to Yangshuo,both places tourist haunts to be avoided by myself,a non-tourist with limited financial resources.

I spotted some negative comments re Guilin on the web not too long ago. According to some, it's expensive to live there as it's a tourist trap, not my cup of tea at all! So, I turned down an above-average job offer from a college there. As for Luizhou, never 'eard of it!