Word: guilin
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...premises of the Guilin Winter Swimming Association on the west bank of the Li River might be the epitome of architectural reticence, but there's no doubting the chutzpah of its members. Inspired by their snappy motto - "Winter swimming is a strengthening activity" - they plunge into the waters like so many excited walruses, no matter that the temperature averages 48°F (9°C) between autumn and spring. "What are you waiting for?" asks Mr. Li - clad in voluminous trunks and smile - of a passing pair of inquisitive visitors. "Have a dip. Our oldest member...
Tourist destinations in China - and Guilin's towering limestone karsts are one of the country's vacation icons - don't tend to hide their battery of lights under a bushel. Rather, their attractions are numbered and eulogized and add exponentially to their own mythology. Geology in this part of Guangxi province provided the raw material, and it was simply left to the city fathers to bathe the more obvious attractions in neon by night, to sculpt Elephant Hill slightly so it really does look like a pachyderm dipping its trunk in the river, and to add a pagoda...
...handle a stronger currency, and there are signs that they will go along. The cheap yuan has begun to translate into higher inflation in China. A stronger currency would relieve some of that pressure. And two weeks ago, officials from the Chinese central bank met in the city of Guilin and asked "a lot of questions about what would happen if they ended the dollar peg and instead pegged the yuan to a basket of currencies," says a foreign banker who attended. "I hadn't heard those questions before...
Ultimately, our best hope may be that even where governments lag, their people understand both the stakes and the urgent need for action. When I visited China, I met with environmentalists in the scenic city of Guilin. One woman spoke passionately of growing environmental awareness at the grassroots. But this movement cannot take hold and succeed, she told me, without our help. "If Americans don't want to give up this good opportunity," she said, "you have to take action...