Between 1949 and 1974, the People's Republic was closed to all but selected foreign visitors. Beginning in the late 1970s, when the leadership decided to promote tourism vigorously as a means of earning foreign exchange, China quickly developed its own tourist industry. (Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_China)
So Singapore allowed only those above 35 years of age to travel to China in the 70s but then China relaxed their rules in mid 80s and open to all tourists regardless of age. Yayyy, so I was fortunate to visit China in 1986 with my late mother and all my siblings.
It really was an eye opening for me. When I first stepped into China in 1986, it was like stepping into a time machine that transported us back to the olden times. The people wore clothes that looked so different from us and everything is so backward. Their salary were so low back then. I remembered the tour guide in china earned only S$50 per month (which is considered very good salary for tour guide).
The above is a bird eye view of Guilin from a hilltop.
Guilin is famous for their odd shaped hills. The above hill looked like an elephant trunk and so was called elephant trunk hill.
We took a long boat to view the beautiful scenery of Guilin along Lijiang River. I remembered we had a sumptous seafood lunch on the boat. They simply caught the seafood fresh from the river and cooked them onboard the boat. Very interesting.
