From Kansas to karst: Unpacking Guangxi's charms

Editor's note: We have invited expats living in China to share their stories about the cities they live in and visit. Gabrielle Chen, from Kansas, the United States, has visited Liuzhou, Hechi, and Guilin in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Imagine a landscape so profound it feels unreal. Mountains touch the mist; waters mirror the sky in flawless stillness.

This is the breathtaking "dreamscape" of Guangxi — a world far from my familiar hometown in Kansas, the United States.

From the Kansas plains to Guangxi's peaks, my journey to the cities of Hechi and Guilin reveals one thing: when nature decided where to concentrate its most breathtaking artistry, it chose Guangxi.

I had never seen mountains and waters of such majestic beauty. My heart followed the gentle rhythm of the waves as we drifted on a bamboo raft across Pohao Lake.

As our raft moved through the arch of an ancient bridge, I felt as if I were looking into the Earth's soul.

Before us unfolded an impossible landscape where mountains, sky and water became one perfect, wordless truth. This is true beauty: ineffable, impossible to copy, and only to be experienced.