Tales from the Motherland
It’s vast, varied and right on your doorstep. HK staff members explore some of the mainland’s less-visited destinations.
PHOENIX TOWN
Why visit: Legend has it that two phoenixes once flew over Fenghuang Cheng and found it so beautiful that they hovered there, unwilling to leave. With all that H5N1 about, you may be glad they did, but take one look at this charming little town on the banks of the Tuojiang River in mountainous Hunan Province and you’ll see the attraction. This is picture-book China: stilted wooden houses overhanging a jade-green river, upturned eaves, flagstone streets and arched bridges. It’s the sort of town that attracts artists, poets and playwrights. Anyone who saw the play “Border Town” by Hong Kong’s Actors Family will recognize it as the setting for the tale of star-crossed lovers by Shen Congwen, Phoenix Town’s native son and one of the mainland’s best-known writers.
Phoenix Town dates back 1,300 years to the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.), and life still moves to an ancient rhythm. In winter, frost rimes the old houses and snowy roofs give the town a fairy-tale look. In summer, men fish the river, women beat washing on the banks beneath their houses and the aroma of pickled red peppers – a local delicacy – wafts from open windows. The narrow, flagstone streets are worn smooth by the feet of centuries, and a complicated fretwork of rickety wooden balustrades, balconies, bridges and terraces links the houses so that the whole town seems interconnected. There are lovely old gardens, elegant homes, splendid bridges and mysterious towers. In the center of town lies the poetically beautiful Rainbow Bridge, decked out in vermeil – gold over sterling silver. And there’s more silver in the markets, where distinctively dressed Miao tribeswomen haggle over trinkets and their trademark blue batiks, or pose cheesily for tourist cameras.
Make no mistake, there are plenty of tourists here, despite being tricky to reach and not being mentioned in the Lonely Planet guidebook. But block your ears from the tour guides in orange vests screeching “traditional” songs on (very short) gondola trips down the Tuojiang – or better yet, book into one of the tiny hotels overhanging the river at night – and let the charm of old-time China work its magic.
Things to see: Shen Congwen’s house. Twice nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature before his death in 1988, Shen’s former home has been listed as a cultural relic and carefully restored. Another residence worth visiting is the traditional Miao home of Xiong Xiling, the first premier of the republic: it’s an 800-square-meter house with the characteristic overhanging balconies, wooden carvings and upturned eaves. Ten kilometers out of town, and a half-hour bus ride away, is the Southern Great Wall. Discovered in 2000 and partially reconstructed, it once protected the Ming Dynasty from the Miao to the south.
Avoid: Don’t stand on the feet of the Miao girls – by tradition, trampled toes mean you have to marry. And do try not to fall off the Jumping Rock Bridge. Once the only way out of the city, it’s so narrow that it can only be crossed in single file – meet someone coming the other way and you may find yourself in the drink.
Accommodation: Most of the tiny wooden houses overhanging the Tuojiang are now charming little hotels, each charging from about RMB40-60 a night for basic accommodation. The price depends on your bargaining skills.