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Guoliang Village
Guoliang Village is a small village with a small population in Xinxiang city of Henan province, but has a marvelous road built by pure manpower. Guoliang village is built on cliff and abrupt mountains with an elevation of 1000 meters, and has a specialty in stone. It is in a mountainous area, and lots of things here are made out of stone. Villagers use abundant stones to build and make things, like houses, tables, benches, and walls.In this village, tourists may have an impressive experience of a simple world and rustic lifestyle. Though it is a small village, Guoliang Village has rich tourism resources, and it is well-known to the world for its dangerous geographic location, amazing natural scenery, miraculous man-made tunnel road as well as the rustic and simple stone buildings.
What to see?
Guoliang Village has a proud history and an aspiring spirit supporting the local villagers’ life under poor and limited conditions, but this barren soil has spectacular and fascinating scenery, and cultivates people’s magnificent feat of building a road out of mountains, which wins great praises and glories. There are several splendid attractions deserving your tour: Hanquan(Shouting Spring), Observation Deck, Heaven Ladder, the Guoliang Tunnel Road, and Heaven Pool. Guoliang Village has its own unique scenery to attract tourists, and its admirable culture wins respects from the outside. A tour in Guoliang Village is not just a simple sightseeing, and it returns an exclusive experience in eye and heart.
Hanquan (Shouting Spring): it is a spring with two mouths in the erected cliff, and it lies in the northwest of Guoliang village, 2000 meters away from the village. Shouting Spring gets its name from an interesting thing: the water yield of the spring is positively related to voice volume, and if a person shouts loudly, the water yield will be bigger. The water of the spring falls down vertically, which looks like dragon beard, and gives it a name as Longxian Waterfall.
Cave wonders: behind the village, there are many cave wonders in this mountainous area, like white dragon cave, red dragon cave and yellow dragon cave. All those caves are in the mountainside and formed naturally. Inside of those gorgeous caves, there are lots of stalactites inverted in the walls, which are in various beautiful shapes, some is like chick, some is like an angry eye. There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people's eyes, thus you may read something interesting and special from those shapes. The steepness of location, huge size of those caves and strange shapes of stalactites are breathtaking, and can be said as a feat to eyes.
Observation decks: there are three observation decks in the Guoliang village. One is near to a former residence which belongs to an old village leader, the second is in the opposite of the Guoliang tunnel road where tourists can have a perfect view of the tunnel road. The third one is the biggest deck. The observation deck of the canyon is on the top of the gorge which belongs to the Taihang Mountains, and opposite to the tunnel road. The gorge is five to five hundred meters wide, and abrupt cliffs on the two sides are over one hundred and thirty meters high, and uncovered rocks in the cliffs are in red color. The observation decks are in very high places, and from them, tourists can have a bird’s eye view of the natural scenery of the Taihang Mountains, which is breathtaking. Since the mountain stands vertically, a direct and pure view from the decks to the foot of the cliffs may need great courage and determination. Tourists can challenge themselves for a better and thrilling view. On these observation decks, tourists can capture lots of different amazing moments of this beautiful gorge, of the Guoliang tunnel road and of Guoliang village.
Heaven ladder: it situates 2,000 meters away from the village, in the east of the village. Heaven Ladder is made out of stone and built at the edge of the mountain, having 700 steps in total. Most steps are 1.2 meters wide, but some are only 0.4 meters wide. The whole ladder rises vertically about 130 meters in total. Before the Guoliang tunnel’s opening to traffic, Heaven Ladder is the only road linking the village to the outside. Much attention is in need, when you walk on those steps. If not, you may be in danger.
Guoliang tunnel road: the Guoliang tunnel road is famous for its dangerous location and difficult construction. This tunnel road is hacked out of the edge of the mountains by manpower with the help of chisels and hammers. The construction of the tunnel road reflects the villagers’ wisdom, hardworking and persistence. Outside the tunnel is a canyon and towering mountains. The tunnel road is only 4 meters wide, which makes the road listed among the World’s Top 10 Most Dangerous Roads. Sightseeing of the road is exciting and heart-stopping, not to mention driving along the road. Driving on this road is scary, which doesn’t allow any mistakes and costs great courage, though the road is broadened a bit by machine. While in terms of tour, self-driving is not allowed for the safety of tourists.
Heaven pool: the Heaven Pool situates in the south of Guoliang village. In 1975, Guoliang villagers built a dam of 38 meters high at a water pass in the Longyin Gorge, which forms the Heaven Pool. The water of the Heaven Pool flows out through two caves, and then it falls down vertically for more than 100 meters, which forms two abreast waterfalls. When it is in rainy season, massive water in the Heaven Pool makes the waterfalls gigantic and splendid. Water, towering mountains, and green trees in the Heaven Pool form quiet and dynamic natural scenery. It provides a perfect place to rest one’s body and soul. Where there is water, there may be rainbow. If you are lucky enough, a rainbow may come into your eyes, and give you a unique experience in this pure and peaceful place.
Legend of Guoliang Village
Guoliang village is named after a person-Guoliang who led a troop of villagers to fight against oppression from government in the Later Han Dynasty. The fight waxed and waned, and the villager troop was besieged without food. The fight ended with Guoliang’s leading the troop to shift to a safe place where the troop rebuilt a village. In memory of Guoliang, a hero to the villagers, the village is named Guoliang Village. The village has a long history of more than one thousand years since then.
The village is built on mountains, and surrounded by sharp and erected mountains, thus its transportation to the outside is extremely inconvenient, troublesome and energy-consuming. In order to improve the transportation, in 1972, under the leading of Shen Mingxin, thirteen male villagers began to build a road to the outside at great determination. In shortage of money, the villagers sold sheep they raised and Chinese yam they planted to buy steel hammers and chisels. And with the help of those simple tools, they managed to make a tunnel road out of mountains by manpower which was opened to traffic at May, 1, 1977. The Guoliang tunnel road is about 1300 meters long, 5 meters high, and 4 meters wide, which is of great significance to the villagers, and gives much convenience to villagers’ planting, economic business, social activities and other activities.
Travel Tips
Address: Wanxian Mountain, Shayao Township, Huixian City, Xinxiang City
Tel: 0373-6256505,0373-6256555
Entrance Fee: CNY 80
Opening hours: all day, but you may go to have a tour in working time
Best time: spring, summer, autumn