Fenghuang, China

Rank : 10.0 (average on 2 votes)

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Coordinates : 27.948843, 109.598530 (Open in Google Maps)

Subjects : Exotic ancient Chinese minority culture, town and villages.It's a remote outpost in the mountains of Hunan province, where several ethnic minorities, like the Miao and Tujia, have been living together with the Han majority for a thousand years. Fenghuang first became known to the majority of Chinese in 1934, when Chinese writer Shen Congwen, half Han half Miao, published his novel "Biancheng", or "Frontier City", a beautiful love story set on a mysterious and ancient rural landscape of the Miao people around Fenghuang. The novel was extremely successful, pushing Chinese people to embrace the idea of freedom of marriage, which was almost non-existent at the time, as marriages were often fixed by elders from two families. Also, the mysterious beauty of ancient town described in the novel awoke the Chinese patriotism, in a time when China was being invaded by Japan. Isolated from the rest of China, the place was able to preserve its beautiful ancient architectures and life styles during the Cultural Revolution. Together with the nearby Zhangjiajie Mountains, it is now a very popular tourist destination in China.

Recommended equipment : Regular photographic equipment for street photography, portraiture and landscape.Rain coat or camera weather sealing is recommended, for the area is very humid, surrounded by year-long fog and drizzle.

Best months : All the year around.

How to get there : Take a plane or train to Changsha, the Capital of Hunan province.From there on, it's a 7 to 8 hour journey, either by bus or by train, to Fenghuang.

Visits : As of 2012, the ancient city has an all-in-one entrance fee of about 20 euros. The one-day-long visits to the nearby Miao villages costs about 15-20 euros.

Notes : A perfect destination to experience the ancient Chinese culture, albeit quite commercialized.