Old town of Fenghuang and stop at Furong

In the morning we got picked up by our guide and we had noodle soup for breakfast nearby our hotel. Great way to start the day. A quick tea tasting afterwards and then we walked again into Fenghuang Ancient Town together with our guide Andy, who gave us a deep brief in to the history of the place.
One highlight was the house of Shen Congwen (1902-1988), one of the greatest Chinese writers. His most famous book was Border Town, published in 1934. It is a short novel about the coming of age and romances of an adolescent country girl named Cuicui in a mountain village in western Hunan, near the border with Sichuan province.
Shen Congwen was an apolitical writer but suffered a lot during the Cultural Revolution. He died in the age of 88 in Beijing just before he would have received the Literature Noble Price.
In the afternoon we stopped on our drive to Zhangjiajie City in Furong Ancient Town, the Magical Waterfall Village in Hunan. Furong Ancient Town is more than 2000 years old and home to the Tujia minority people. It was first founded by the King Tusi as the capital of Youyang County in 202 BC, during the West Han Dynasty. Famous for the Furong Waterfall that passing through the town, as well as the well-preserved Tujia Diaojiaolou buildings situated on cliffs above the waterfall.
The drive ended finally in Zhangjiajie City which will be our basis for the next few days.Read more