Are you fretting about where to spend your hard-earned weekend? How about hopping on a high-speed train to Guizhou and enjoying a journey with beautiful scenery? It takes around only four hours to travel between the two provinces by high-speed rail.

With colorful costumes and silver accessories, girls of the Miao ethnic group in Southwest China's Guizhou province celebrated their traditional Fangu Festival with drums and dances. [Photo by Yang Wenbin for chinadaily.com.cn]

Located in southwest China, Guizhou is a picturesque mountainous province with numerous natural and cultural scenic spots. In fact a whopping 92.5 percent of the province is dominated by spectacular karst scenery.

Guizhou is home to some world natural heritage sites, including the Libo Karst, Shibing Karst, China Danxia and Mount Fanjingshan. Mount Fanjingshan, a natural habitat for more than 7,000 species of wild flora and fauna, is the best-preserved ecological area at this altitude.

Here are some of the most popular tourist destinations along the high-speed rail line.

Huangguoshu Waterfall [Photo: Zhong Rongjian] 

Guiyang North Station: Huangguoshu Waterfalls

The Huangguoshu scenic area consists of a group of incredible waterfalls of differing types. They are included in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest waterfall group. The Huangguoshu Waterfall, after which the picturesque area is named, is the biggest and most magnificent waterfall in China with a water curtain about 80 meters high and 100 meters wide. Don’t forget to bring an umbrella or a raincoat to avoid getting wet. The view from behind the waterfall is simply magical and not to be missed.

People visit Qingyan Ancient Town. [Photo: He Jun] 

Guiyang Station: Qingyan Ancient Town

Located in the southern suburb of Guiyang, the time-honored town was built completely of stone by Ming soldiers posted to China’s southern frontiers. When travelling here, featuring rebuilt city walls built right on the rocky cliffs. Some sections are heavily restored, and as with the majority of these ancient villages it is now fairly commercialised, but also has plentiful back alleys maintaining an air of authenticity.

 Longli grassland [Photo: www.longli.gov.cn]

Longli North Station: Longli grassland

Longli grassland lies on karst lands and features mountain peaks, plain green lands and delicate waterfalls. You can also enjoy a spectacular sunset on the seemingly endless grassland. The weather in Longli changes often, so double check the weather forecast before going there.

Xijiang Miao Village [Photo: He Jun] 

Duyun East Station: Xijiang Miao Village

Xijiang Miao Village is famous for its Miao minority culture and architecture. The village locals’ exotic dress, daily life and the unique architecture of their wooden houses. You can also enjoy the beautiful songs and dances by Xijiang locals.

A stage photo of Modern drama ‘The Epiphany Mind’ [Photo provided to Newsgd.com]

Modern drama ‘The Epiphany Mind’ staged in Guangzhou

The modern drama ‘The Epiphany Mind’ was staged at the Guo Yinglan Theater in Guangzhou between December 4th and 5th, 2019, forming part of the drama’s national tour to promote Guizhou.

Produced by both Guizhou and Zhejiang Drama Ensembles, ‘The Epiphany Mind’ depicts the life stories of Chinese ancient thinker Wang Yangming, who lived in Guizhou for three years. The drama also combines Chinese opera, folk music, modern dance and ethnic culture to bring a vivid account of Wang’s life to the stage.

Wang Yangming, whose real name is Wang Shouren, was a famous thinker and philosopher in ancient China's Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). His Confucian philosophies are influential in many parts of Asia. He is best known for his theory that knowledge can only be obtained through simultaneous actions.

Author: Monica Liu

Editor: Simon Haywood