The Grand Opening Event of Club Med Guilin Resort

The grand opening event of Club Med Guilin kicked off, with a ribbon cutting ceremony presided by the Chairman and CEO Henri Giscard d’Estaing. It was the official inauguration of Club Med Guilin on Monday, September 24, 2013.

Henri Giscard d’Estaing, the Chairman and CEO of Club Med, attended the grand opening event of Club Med Guilin

The Club Meb Guilin is located in 47 hectares of private grounds within a sculpture park in the rural area between Guilin and Yangshuo. The resort boasts two contemporary style hotels with 330 Elegantly appointed luxurious rooms with rooms for a restful and warm ambience.

Club Med Guilin Resort, China

The world leading high-end holiday operator Club Med has more than 80 resorts worldwide. The company ventured into China in 2010, opening a village at a ski resort called Yabuli, in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang. For the second one – Club Med Guilin, it come as the its first “culture-centric” resort in Asia.

Guilin is a UNESCO World Heritage-designated historical city, famous for its unheavenly natural beauty – the Li River, teraced rice paddies, mysterious caves. There are weeks of possible exploration out there. Travelers can go on excursions to the city’s scenic karst mountains and meet the minority tribes. All of these await you!

Chinese Ghost Festival

The Ghost Festival, also known as Zhongyuan Jie in Taoism or the Ullabana in Buddhism, is a traditional Chinese festival celebrated on the 15th night of the seventh lunar month. In Chinese tradition, the seventh lunar month is known as “Ghost Month”, when the Gates of Hell are opened up and the ghosts are free to walk the earth; and as the ghosts on the 15th night are in high gear, the 15th day of this month is called “Ghost Day”. In 2013, the Ghost Festival falls on August 21.

People offer prayers to their deceased relatives

For Chinese people, Ghost Festival is for assoiling and sacrificing the ghost of the Hell. At that day, the dead would return to visit their living relatives. Tradition states that Family members offer prayers to their deceased relatives, burn joss sticks, paper money and offer food. Almost as important as honoring the ancestors, offerings to ghosts without families must be made, so that they will not cause you any harm.

Another popular activity of the festival is to flow water lanterns on lakes or rivers. People use these floating water lanterns to direct the lost ghosts back to hell. For the “Ghost Month”, there is a river lantern festival held in Ziyuan Country. The locals float water lanterns down the river in remembrance of past relatives and perform songs hoping for a fruitful harvest.

River lanterns were seen on the Zijiang River in Ziyuan County of Guilin

Guilin – Hong Kong direct bus route opened

Guilin’s first direct bus route to Hong Kong opened on June 13, 2013. The daily buses depart Guilin Qintan Bus Station at 11:30, pass through Yangshuo and Shenzhen, and then go into Hong kong via Shenzhen Bay Checkpoint. After customs clearance, passengers would change another  bus (pre-arranged) to Prince Edward, Jordan, Mong Kok and Hong Kong International Airport. The whole journey takes about ten hours.

Guilin-Hong Kong direct bus at Guilin Qintan Bus Station

Travelers to and from Guilin have a wide range of transportation options by air, train, and bus. For Hong Kong, there are daily flights linking the two cities, with a duration of 1.5 hours. Although no direct trains are available, people get their train travel by transferring at Guangzhou or Shenzhen.

And now, people traveling between Guilin and Hong Kong can use this direct bus service. For budget travelers, it is a great travel aternative. They can make their journey cheaper but still comfortable and convenient.

For tavelers from Hong Kong, highly recommended tour package on this exclusive page.
http://www.guilinholiday.com/tour-c405-guilin-tours-from-hong-kong

Or, wanna to extend your Guilin Holiday to Hong Kong? Please view:
http://www.guilinholiday.com/tour-c414-guilin-hong-kong-tours

Mekong Tourism Forum 2013 in Guilin

The Mekong Tourism Forum (MTF) 2013 took place in Guilin, the primary tourist city of China’s Guangxi Province, on June 19th and 20th. This year’s forum attracted some 150 participants from the six Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) countries – Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Yunnan and Guangxi provinces of China. During the two-days event, they widely discussed around “Rapid development of China’s outbound travel – how the Greater Mekong Subregion countries to maximize the benefits”.

Mekong Tourism Forum 2013

The Mekong Tourism Coordinating Office (MTCO) announced that a strategic communication strategy will be implemented to provide more visibility to the Mekong destination. “We recognize that communication is essential to increase the recognition of the region”, indicates Mason Florence, Executive director of the Greater Mekong Sub-region.

It was the first time that the TWG meeting had convened in Guilin. And now, Guilin is set to be an International Tourism Destination by 2020; favorable tourism policies will be implemented for Guilin’s development. Thus, the international character of Guilin also became one of the topics in this forum.

GMS Tourism Working Group meetings

The Mekong Tourism Forum is the platform for discussion on tourism between the private and public sectors of these six GMS member countries. The forum is usually linked to the region’s Tourism Working Group meetings that are held twice a year and mainly attended by government officials responsible for tourism policy.

Hawaii Narcissus delegation visit Guilin on their 2013 Goodwill Tour to China

Narcissus delegation, led by Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii Huang Huiying, traveled to China for their 2013 Narcissus Goodwill Tour from June 2 and June 17. After visited Guangzhou, Shanghai, Xian and Beijing, they arrived in Guilin on June 13, and then left for Hong Kong. Mr Zhou wei, deputy mayor of Guilin, welcomed them at Guilin Bravo Hotel, and offered congratulations to the newly elected Narcissus “Queen” and “Princess”.

We, as a professional tour operator based in Guilin, provided a wide-range travel service for these guests. This 3-day well designed trip highlights the Li River cruise from Guilin to Yangshuo, for heavenly beauty of the scenic city. And then, visit a local market in Yangshuo to glimpse into the people’s daily life. Moreover, the star attractions – Elephat Trunk Hill, Fubo Hill, Reed Flute Cave and Impression Sanjie Liu – are also included.

The group photo of our manger, the queen and her courts, and the tour guide (from L to R)

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce started the Narcissus Festival in 1950, with the aim to showcase Chinese art and culture. Throughout all the fifty-three years, the Festival has had the Narcissus Queen Pageant as its flagship program. The primary award for the queen and her court is to participate in the annual Narcissus Goodwill Tour of the Chamber to Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan as “goodwill ambassadors.”

Dragon Boat Festival

The Dragon Boat Festival, or Duanwu Jie, is traditionally celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month on the Chinese lunar calendar – and hence is also known as Double Fifth Day. In 2013, the festival falls on June 12. The main celebrations include dragon boat racing, eating Zongzi and drinking realgar wine, etc.

Origin
The Dragon Boat Festival dates back to earliest times and a number of legends explain its origins. The best known story centers on a patriotic court official named Qu Yuan, of the State of Chu during the Warring States Period more than 2,000 years ago. Qu tried to warn the emperor of an increasingly corrupt government, but ended up being exiled. The State of Chu was soon annexed by the State of Qin. Qu Yuan, in despair, plunged himself into the Miluo River and drowns, one the fifth day of the fifth month in 278 BC. At the news of Qu Yuan’s suicide, the lcoal people raced out in boats to look for his body. And, glutinous rice balls (zong zi) were thrown into the water, so that the fish wouldn’t eat Qu Yuan’s body. This later on turned into the custom of dragon boat racing and eating Zongzi.

Celebration
Dragon boat racing is an indispensable part of the festival, held all over the country. In the contest, competing teams row their boats forward to a drumbeat racing; the winner is the first team to grab a flag hung at the end of the course.

The traditional food of the Dragon Boat Festival is zong zi – glutinous rice balls filled with egg, beans, walnuts, dates, mushrooms, and/or meat. The zong zi, once prepared, are wrapped in  bamboo leaves and steamed.

This year, Longsheng will hold its International Longsheng Rice Terrace Culture Tourism Festival from June 10 to June 13, with the highlights of dragon boat contest. The event attracts dragon boat troupes from 11 districts and counties in Guilin area, besides the 15 local group of Longsheng county. Moreover, various performances and competitions of Yao, Miao and Zhuang ethnic groups will be available during the toursim festival.

Longsheng Zhuang Village celebrated Spring Plowing Festival

Longji Village, about 110 km away from Guilin, is a ancient and charming settlement of Zhuang ethnic group within Longji Rice Terraces area. For centuries, the Zhuang people have grown rice in the terraced paddy fields. Traditionally, spring ploughing is a important farming parctice. According to the local custom, people would choose an auspicious date to start plowing. That is the Spring Ploughing Festival comes. This year, the annual festival was celebrated on April 27, 2013.

The annual ceremony was held to mark the beginning of spring ploughing. 

The Zhuang people symbolically ploughed the field to pray for good harvest. 

Tourists join with the Zhuang people in the fish-catching activity after the ceremony.

During the night, a large lantern “two dragons playing with a pearl” in the terraced fields. 

Bonfire Night, with various folk song and dance performances.