Hình nền đồng 20 Nhân dân tệ

The Twenty-Yuan Note Background Spot, on a bend in the Li River just downstream from Xingping, is one of the most recognizable landscapes in China. The view of a karst peak reflected in the river, with the iconic limestone silhouette framed against the sky, is reproduced on the back of the current twenty-yuan banknote, and for many domestic and international visitors, holding up the note against the real scenery has become one of the signature photo opportunities of a Yangshuo trip.

The viewpoint is reached by a short walk from the Xingping bamboo-raft pier along a riverside path, or directly from the river itself on a bamboo-raft trip. The exact framing of the note shows the river curving from foreground into middle distance, with a single pyramid-shaped karst peak rising on the right and a layered procession of lesser peaks stretching away to the left. In good light, when the water is calm and the peak is reflected in the river, the match between the note and the scenery is remarkably close.

The reason this particular view was chosen for the banknote is that it captures, in a single composition, the essentials of the Guilin and Yangshuo karst landscape. The steep, near-vertical limestone peaks, the smooth curve of the river, the reflections in the still water, and the soft haze of the southern Chinese sky all combine into the kind of scene that has been associated with this stretch of river for more than a thousand years of Chinese painting and poetry.

For independent travelers, the spot is best visited as part of a morning at Xingping. A typical routine combines a sunrise shoot from nearby Xianggong Mountain, breakfast in the old lanes of Xingping, a bamboo-raft trip upstream from the Xingping pier that pauses at the bank opposite the viewpoint, and a walk along the riverside path to photograph the scene from the same angle as the note. The riverside path is flat and easy, and small stalls along the way sell souvenirs, snacks, and laminated copies of the note itself.

The viewpoint sits within the Guilin Karst, a component of the South China Karst UNESCO World Heritage serial property, and the fact that this single bend of river was chosen to represent the entire region on the national currency is itself a testament to the iconic status of the Yangshuo karst landscape. For many visitors, photographing the spot is one of the most memorable moments of a Yangshuo trip, and an easy ritual that connects the modern traveler to centuries of Chinese admiration for this stretch of river.