Xingping Ancient Town

Xingping Ancient Town is a roughly 1,700-year-old riverside settlement on the Li River between Guilin and Yangshuo, notable for a cluster of karst peaks just outside town that appear on the reverse of the RMB 20 banknote. The old town itself covers a few narrow stone streets lined with Ming and Qing dynasty shopfronts, including the well-preserved Zhengjia Courtyard and a scattering of century-old teahouses and general stores still run by local families. A short bamboo raft or small-boat ride from the town's dock reaches the exact vantage point used for the banknote illustration, a bend in the river framed by nine distinct peaks. Visitors typically spend three to four hours in the town: an hour walking the old streets and courtyards, and the remainder on the river viewpoint trip and a stop at one of the riverside restaurants serving Yangshuo-style beer fish. The old town's stone streets are quieter and less commercialized than Yangshuo's West Street, with far fewer souvenir shops and more residents going about daily life. Fishermen using trained cormorants sometimes pole their rafts near the docks in late afternoon and will pose for photographs for a small tip. Late afternoon is the best time for the raft trip to the banknote viewpoint, when low sun brings out the layered green and grey tones of the karst peaks; mornings suit walking the old town streets before tour groups arrive from Yangshuo around midday. The town sees a steady but manageable flow of day-trippers rather than the dense crowds of central Yangshuo, and weekday visits outside the May and October holiday weeks are notably calm.