OLD TOWN, NEW FRIENDS: The Yangshuo West Street attracts visitors from all over the world (HOU SHAOHUA)

Guilin, a city in southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region famous for its charming landscape, is one of the most popular resorts for foreign tourists. Today, foreigners visiting Guilin often take a side trip to Yangshuo West Street, the place in China's mainland with the largest number of foreign visitors.

Having a history of 1,400 years and located in Guilin's Yangshuo County, the street is 1,180 meters long and 8 meters wide. Tourists view it as an ideal place to both appreciate the natural scenery and have a cup of coffee.

Although it is only 63 km from Guilin, around an hour's drive, many travelers choose to go there by water. Setting out from Guilin, visitors spend some four hours on boat to Yangshuo, appreciating the beautiful river-mountain scenery on the way.

After about half an hour's walk from the dock, visitors arrive at the bustling West Street. It looks like an ancient small town of south China, featuring stone slab-covered lanes and gray-brick buildings.

Along the street are various shops, one after another. First-time visitors may be surprised to see that all the shops there have English names. More interesting, most shop owners are foreigners who speak fluent Chinese, and most of their Chinese employees appeal to foreign customers in the latters' mother languages.

Foreigners own more than 20 shops along this small street, dating back to the 1980s when China just began to implement its reform and opening-up policy. At that time, many foreign tourists flocked to Yangshuo to seek a place they thought would represent the most ancient part of China. Some left after a couple of days, while others stayed up to a year.

Today, visitors will see groups of foreigners sitting together for a drink and a chat in every corner of the street. On one side of the street, visitors may see shops selling local specialties, craftworks, Chinese calligraphy and traditional Chinese paintings, while on the other side of the street they may find a line of Western cafes, bars and restaurants.

The shops and bars owned by foreigners also have some Chinese elements. For example, many Western clubs are decorated with bamboo rafts or bamboo baskets used by local people to catch fish. Some clubs have tables covered with batik, a kind of fabric dyed in a traditional method of the region.

There is a saying that "no bicycles, no Yangshuo," meaning that Yangshuo is a place fit for backpacking. In recent years, the number of foreign backpackers to Yangshuo has grown quickly, exceeding 60,000 annually. The West Street is considered the best place in China to learn a foreign language and experience a different culture. Foreigners come here to learn Chinese and Chinese to learn English, earning the street a reputation as "China's biggest English corner."

Some foreign backpackers stay in Yangshuo for several months to learn Chinese kungfu or just to enjoy the beautiful scenery. It is not unusual for a foreigner to marry a Yangshuo local, and then open a small West Street business together. Many romances have played out in the street.

Visitors need to take in the scenery slowly in order to fully appreciate it. In the West Street, bicycles are available to rent for less than 10 yuan ($1.6) a day. Besides walking along the street, visitors can also visit nearby villages and fields by bike, experiencing the different scenery of the countryside.

A German nicknamed Donald Duck by local people is well known in the street. Having lived in the street for 10 years, he returns to Germany only once a year to work for one or two months and earn enough money to live on. Then he flies back to Yangshuo, where he often sits leisurely in bars drinking beer and talking to people from every corner of the world. He is the epitome of those foreigners who favor the simple and cozy life in this small Chinese town.

As the West Street in Yangshuo is already a famous tourist spot in China, many hotels and restaurants have been built there. Visitors who want something different can choose to stay in a home hotel or a countryside recreation resort. Normally run by families, home hotels are small but clean and cozy. It is also very common for travelers to stay with local villagers in their homes and eat together with the hosts. The delicious local snacks are definitely one thing that visitors will never forget.