Gillick's World Explores China: Hunan, Guangdong and Guanxi | Page 21

Making ginger candy—stretching (above) and then pounding (right)

Bars and restaurants galore on the
side streets and alleys

The most impressive of all the ancient towns is Fenghuang, also known as Phoenix.
Dating back to 1704, the town has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage site
with its mix of riverside houses on stilts, modern and crumbling buildings, boats plying
the Tuo Jiang River, Miao women washing their clothes in the river in the early morning
or selling flowers once the tourists arrive, men pulling on wads of gooey sweetness that
will become ginger candy, and a veritable Disneyworld of shops, bars, discos and
restaurants. At night time, all the buildings in the city come alive with lights, while
during the day the city is a group tourist mecca.

Miao woman