Beautiful Xiangxi

See China through a different lens. Take a visual tour through a land that few Westerners have explored. Discover Hunan, a beautiful and remote corner of China brought to vibrant life through the writings of one of the country's premier writers. Travel the western Hunan Province, the birthplace and source of inspiration for Chinese scholar and author Shen Congwen. Through his poetic words and the 300 soul-stirring photographs of Zuo Ya, you'll enter a world of indescribable beauty, a place where time stands still. A place where men, women, and children lead pure, simple lives. A place where the river, the very backbone of the village, determines how the people live. Shaped like of a horse's hoof, Hunan is surrounded by mountains and has a humid, subtropical monsoon climate. Gain an understanding of and an appreciation for the historical roots of modern China by viewing masterpieces of nature; the people as they live in the shadows of their ancestors. Meander through the marketplace, where cloth, beef, oil, salt and fake jade bracelets are sold. Take a trip down a river the very backbone of many villages, where you'll hear the cries of traders in small boats selling their pork knuckles and noodles