In November 2010 we visited Fenghuang Citiy and Zhangiajie in Hunan Province in Central China.
Fenghuang, has been praised as "the most beautiful town in China". It is a small county town renowned for its natural beauty, rich history, colorful ethnic customs, and photogenic night scenery.
Fenghuang, is an old town built up in Qing Dynasty, is still being kept in its original appearance from 300 years ago.
It was built in 1704, and has 300 years of history. The old city leans against hills and faces the crystal-clear Tuojiang River flowing through the city. It is 250km away from Zhangjiajjie. The typical building in Fenghuang is called Diaojiaolou which are unique wooden houses built along the river bank. When seeing from a distance, the houses look like hanging on the river. This design is to protect the house from the flooding situation in Tuojiang River in the old time.

We took a boat cruise along Tuojiang River which is a life force of the local people. Here in its waters women wash their clothes and the men fish with their nets, while on the bank food is prepared in much the same way as it has for centuries. And taking a boat is a good way to see how Diaojiaolou building stands along the river and get close to the local life.
The ethnicity colors of Tujia and Miao people are also one of the major attracts. You will see some old women wearing their ethnic costume, standing beside the lanes and selling specialties.

Tuojiang River is the mother river of the Fenghuang Ancient City. It flows around the ancient city wall of Fenghuang and is surrounded by and reflects multiple-storey wooden houses of the Tu minority’s style (known as “Diaojiaolou”) in Fenghuang ancient town. These hundreds of years' buildings add more colors to Tuojiang River.

Zhangjiajie, a city in the northwest of China's Hunan province, is home to the famed Wulingyuan Scenic Area. This protected zone encompasses thousands of jagged quartzite sandstone columns, many of which rise over 200m, as well as caves filled with stalactites and stalagmites. Wulingyuan also encompasses forests, rivers and waterfalls.
The most notable geographic features of the park are the pillar-like formations that are seen throughout the park. Although resembling karst terrain, this area is not underlain by limestones and is not the product of chemical dissolution, which is characteristic of limestone karst. They are the result of many years of physical, rather than chemical, erosion. Much of the weathering that forms these pillars is the result of expanding ice in the winter and the plants that grow on them. The weather is moist year-round, and as a result, the foliage is very dense. The weathered material is carried away primarily by streams. These formations are a distinct hallmark of the Chinese landscape, and can be found in many ancient Chinese paintings.[citation needed]