Folded Brocade Hill

Folded Brocade Hill (Diecai Shan) is one of Guilin City’s most famous and frequented parks. It offers a short steep climb on stone steps, various pavilions, fantastic views of the city and surrounding mountains, ancient inscriptions and a cave that goes all the way through the mountain.

Towering over the Li River 's west bank, Folded Brocade Hill lies in the north-central part of Guilin City. The hill’s name is derived from its queer-looking rocks which are horizontally fissured. The Chinese name Diecai Hill actually means Folded Colors Hill. However, diecai was used in famous Tang Dynasty (618-907) poetry to mean folded layers of colored silk brocade, and this is what came to mind when someone first named the hill. Folded Brocade Hill has four peaks: Yuyue Peak, Siwang (Look-In-All-Directions) Peak, Crane Peak and Ming Yue (Bright Moon) Peak.

Halfway up there is a cave called Wind Cave, which runs through the hill. The cave is calabash or bottle gourd-shaped, with two wider mouths one side of the hill and a narrow passage, which only allows one person to pass through at a time, on the other side of the hill. A cool breeze blows inside all year around, which gave it the name Wind Cave. Inside the cave are 90 Buddha sculptures of the Tang and Song (960-1279) dynasties, as well as dozens of ancient stone inscriptions from these and subsequent dynasties.

Following the narrow stone path up, after Wind Cave there are Face-The-Cloud Pavilion and Over-The-River Pavilion, which provide good stops on the steep ascent to the top, Bright Moon Peak. Bright Moon Peak, the summit of the hill, is 223m above sea level, but only about 70 meters above the adjacent Li River. Standing at Catch-the-Cloud Pavilion on Bright Moon Peak sightseers can appreciate fine views of Guilin.