Turn off the highway halfway between Guilin and Yangshuo and you enter a landscape that looks familiar, yet like nothing you have ever seen. The misty mountains made famous by countless Chinese paintings provide the backdrop for a vast collection of modern sculpture spread over 60 hectares. Art and nature appear to have merged.
This is Yuzi Paradise, a centre for contemporary art developed over the past decade by Taiwanese tycoon Rhy Chang Tsao. At last count there were more than 200 sculptures here, created by 140 artists from 47 countries.
'Yuzi Paradise comes from a dreamer - my father,' said his son Guang T. Tsao, who runs the park.
As the owner of one of 'the largest and most beautiful cemeteries' in Taipei, Rhy Chang Tsao became convinced that 'there is no eternity in this world except culture and art'. This belief, coupled with a love of modern art (sculpture in particular), lies behind an investment of more than 300 million yuan in Yuzi Paradise.
The younger Mr Tsao recalled how his father was inspired by his first visit to China in 1986 to invest in 'the dynamic power of 5,000 years of history, culture and art'. His mission sent him on a quest to find land to set up a sculpture park in China. A 10-year search brought the Tsaos to a spread of 600hectares of land in a neglected corner of Guangxi province.
Guilin's fame and artistic tradition played a part in the choice, as did the opportunity to provide employment in a county where land was too poor to farm. Today, more than 500 people work at Yuzi Paradise.
