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Fenghuang
is the
home town of Shen Congwen
(1902-1988),
a great Chinese writer who "brought the China of his past and present
alive without the overburdening and unreal pressure of trying to
save it. Nostalgia breathes through his pastoral countryside scenes,
and his urban landscapes reveal a fractured, paradoxical consciousness--both
unsure and hopeful. " (Review
from Amazon.com).
In 1933, he chartered a little boat with a bamboo canopy from Taoyuan
to sail upstream the River Yuan and reached his hometown Fenghuang
25 days later. During his journey, he wrote the picturesque landscapes
along the Yuan River, the joys and sorrows of boatmen. Fascinated
by his accounts, I paid a visit to his home town Fenghuang after
my journey to Gongtan
in May 2004.
Unfortunately
I found Fenghuang had already been heavily developed. This
beautiful town was packed with modern bars, restaurants and shops
catering to mass Chinese tourists, too commercial and expensive.
Hardly could I sight anything traditional described in Shen Congwen's
essays, except the scene of locals using the river to wash their
clothes.
A
major attraction was to take a craft drifting on the Tuo River,
winding around 1 km through the old town of Fenghuang. How could
it not be romantic to sit on a traditional bamboo raft with
a canopy placed in such a picturesque scene (see photos above and
below)?
But
it was not. Too many tourists squeezed on some dozen rafts floating
on the narrow water channel. Animated by their charming guide girls
dressed up in Miao style who sang them local songs, tourists on
the boat either sang together loudly or shouted out to each other.
During
the day, such noises got on my nerves constantly while I rambled
on the street along the river. Neither could I enjoy a moment of
tranquility in my room facing the elegant Rainbow Bridge in a traditional
stilt wooden house built on the river bank (see photo below).
During
the night, songs and noises were replaced by modern music dispatched
from bars. I fled away from Fenghuang the next morning and regretted
not being able to visit this town in its original state before the
massive development taking place several years ago.
There
are many Miao villages and relics in the outskirts. I visited one
village and was asked to pay a ridiculous Y30-entrance-fee. It was
reported by some travelers that locals were not friendly in some
villages. Besides, the surrounding mountains are less impressive
than those around Gongtan.
Accommodations:
The old town has a lot of cheap and clean family-run hostels. Dormitory
rooms with shared bathroom starting from Y20 per bed. Midrange hotels
gathered in the new town. A clean standard double room with air-condition
and bathroom can be negotiated to Y80 per night.
Getting there:
To find its location, see the
map in Central China.
The nearest
airport is in Zhangjiajie.
The nearest railway station is Jishou. Trains from Guangzhou,
Shanghai, Beijing and Zhangjiajie, Changsha all stop at Jishou.
(see
Getting There in Wuling Mountains). Buses run between Fenghuang
and Jishou every half an hour.
In Fenghuang,
you can catch a bus heading for Tongren in Guizhou if you want
to visit Fanjingshan Nature Reserve, or a bus to Youyang if you
want to go to Gongtan.
 Rating:
 .
Fenghuang is a destination catering to ChineseTourists which doomed
to be noisy, crowded and expensive. Go to Gongtan
if you want to walk away from modern life, search for the traditional
culture and a wild nature.
Links:
Rambling in Fenghuang at www.china.org.cn.
Brief Introduction to Fenghuang at www.4panda.com.
«Fenghuang»,
written by Shen Congwen. (Only in Chinese).
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