Gillick's World Explores China: Hunan, Guangdong and Guanxi | Page 5

Houses on stilts line the Tuojiang River in Phoenix Ancient Town (Feng Huang)

Things are Heating Up in Hunan
Things are certainly heating up in the province of Hunan. The red hot chili pepper is the star ingredient of Hunan
cuisine, but the spirit of hot, spicy and savoury activities characterizes many aspects of this fascinating area of
China from the mountain views, accessible by a mere thousand (or so) stairs, to ancient cities such as Fenghuang,
a.k.a Phoenix, which in the spirit of fiery regeneration, continue to rise from the ashes on a fairly regular basis.
Hunan’s provincial capital of Changsha is about a 90 minute flight from Shanghai. Along the way the curiosity of
visitors is titillated with sneak previews of mountains, rice terraces and a patchwork quilt of farmland.
On arrival we met our guide and immediately set out on a 4 ½ hour bus ride south to Lang Shan, a town bedecked in
colourful banners to welcome delegates to Hunan’s International Tourism Festival. And the next day, despite a
slight drizzle, we sat outdoors to watch the opening ceremonies of the festival, complete with honorific speeches from
local officials and pleasantly interspersed with dramatic, colourful and entertaining performances that celebrated
stories and myths of some of the local minority groups including the Tujia, Miao, Dong and Uyghurs.

Local performers took to the stage at the Opening of the Hunan International Tourism Festival in Lang Shan
This article appeared in a different format in
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