"I often sent pictures of the hills of Guilin which I painted to friends back home, but few believed what they saw." The writer was the Song-Dynasty scholar Fan Chengda and his comments show that the scenery of Guilin has been attracting and astonishing visitors for many centuries. It has also been the inspiration for classical Chinese landscapes of fantastically shaped peaks, studded with pines and small pavilions, partly shrouded in mist.