The place we are staying at is in Xingping. Having eaten out in the old part of town, last night, we set out to get to know it better, today. We were in for quite a surprise and discovered that the significant number of tourist coaches around here had a very good reason for stopping by.

漓江春风拂过，轻舟穿行其间；两岸奇峰耸立，似在迎送往来宾客。骏马驰骋华山，人影映入镜中——诚然，最美风光尽在兴坪。

Spring breeze on the Li River, light boats, strange peaks line both banks to welcome and bid farewell. Horses leap over Mount Hua, people gaze into the mirror, indeed, the best scenery is in Xingping.

Marshal Ye Jianying

Hardly worthy of a Wordsworth or a Keats but being a poet wasn’t the chap’s full-time job. Indeed, Marshal Ye Jianying (28 April 1897 – 22 October 1986) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary leader who served as one of the Ten Marshals of the People’s Republic of China. He is best remembered for executing the 1976 coup that overthrew the ‘Gang of Four’, effectively bringing an end to the seismic Cultural Revolution.

Quite remarkable that the 50th anniversary of Ye Jianying’s death occurs this week. As is the case for the climber Todd Skinner (see yesterday’s Day 15 blog here); 20th anniversary.

Xingping (兴坪)

• 兴 (Xīng): means prosperous or thriving.
• 坪 (Píng): means a flat piece of land or terrace

Xingping is 27 kilometres upstream from Yangshuo on the Li River.

The town was initially settled in 265 AD, and was the regional centre for Yangshuo County until Yangshuo was settled in 590 AD.

Like Yangshuo, Xingping is surrounded by incredible examples of Karst scenery, with one particularly prominent peak overlooking the town from the southern end of the shoreline against the Yi River; Wuzhi (‘Five Fingers Hill’). The names of the other surrounding hills also reflect the imagination of Xingping’s ancient ancestors: Sengni Hill in the east is said to resemble a monk and a nun quarreling with each other while the Carp Hill and Camel Hill look like said animals. 

The town is paved with old stone streets and features buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Famously, President Bill Clinton visited Xingping in July 1998, along with Hilary and their daughter, Chelsea. He was on a State visit, having been invited by China’s President Jiang Zemin. Reportedly, Clinton had asked to see the ‘real China’, and spoke glowingly of Xingping and the surrounding area.

It is good to see that they made it up the Wall, too; no mean feat, see Day X blog here.

Well, if it’s good enough for Bill!

From here is the way to the waters of Tartarean Acheron.
Here, turbid with mud, in a vast chasm a whirlpool
boils and belches all its sand into Cocytus.
A horrible ferryman keeps these waters and streams
in fearful squalor, Charon, on whose chin stand enormous,
unkempt grey whiskers, his eyes stand out in flame and
a filthy garment dangles by a knot from his shoulders.
He punts the boat with his pole, handles the sails
and carries bodies across in his murky boat; he is old now, but for a god old age is raw and green.

Charon, The Ferryman

Aeneid Book 6, lines 295 – 330

Virgil (Roman poet 70-19 BC)

Now, Virgil was a proper poet. We think Marshal Ye Jianying should have stuck to the day job. You?

But then, we get the sentiment, for the place truly is strikingly beautiful.

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Fishing with the aid of a cormorant. Isn’t that cheating?

I suppose learning from a master of the craft is a sensible strategy…

Virgil walked this Earth some 2000 years before your man, Ye Jianying, so no chance of a master-apprentice relationship there. He was, though, by all accounts an educated man. He finished top of his class at Sanbao Academy. Although, he did have a reputation for being a bit of a rebel. Disapproving of the conservative syllabus at his next place of education, he organised and led more than 100 students in withdrawing from the school. They transferred en masse to one in Dongshan. During his time at Dongshan, he was exposed to reformist publications advocating social and political change and served two consecutive terms as president of the student union.

Honestly, look him up. It’s a wonder the Gang of Four didn’t see him coming!

But just look at his poetry! The moral of the story is that there is always room for the classics in any school curriculum don’t you think?

quod erat demonstrandum

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Previous China daily blog posts here