For example, I noticed one website placed China's Mt Huashan over in Tibet.

Look for yourself.  Directly below the picture of Mt Huashan you will see

"The most dangerous tourist route in the world is located in Tibet."

That made me feel a little better. At least I got the country right when I made my mistake on Guoliang Village.  As for the Tibet nonsense, fortunately there were many comments listed directly below the picture that corrected that website's mistake immediately. 

Anonymous said...
These pictures are not in Tibet! This is Huashan near Xian. Thousands of people have climbed these mountains and only a few sections involve chains and footholds (other routes avoid these). There is no significant danger here - it is all in the mind. You should give it a go, it is charcter building.

5:46 PM
Evandazzle said...
No that isn't Tibet! That is Hua Mountain in Shaanxi China!I had been there!

10:17 PM
Scott said...
I have frequent dreams of being stuck on a mountain path almost exactly like this one. Needless to say, they are not pleasant dreams.

I am glad that this trail is available for people who want to climb it. But, have to be completely insane to do it.

Sorry. It's just the truth.

11:58 PM
Michael said...
Awesome pictures, have always loved to participate in these adventurous tours but my wife wont let me into this. Anyways the temptation is too good to resist and I will definitely figure out ways to escape her and join in one such expedition. The conventional travel where we relax on a Holiday home is so boring for me its time for some real action.

7:14 AM
Linda said...
I'm training for this wonderful trail and plan to be playing chess on the East Peak within five years.

Not that hard. Just don't mess up.

7:16 PM
Anonymous said...
It's Yellow Mountain in China, just near my hometown. I've been there quite a lot of times. It's really amazing!

2:02 AM
Darren Crawford said...
This climb is known as the most dangerous tourist route in the world, its on Mt Huashan located just outside of Xian in China (NOT Tibet!).

I did this in May 2008. My Blog

I have also been along the most dangerous road in China known as Precipice Long Corridor. This is located in Guoliangcun. I also did this in May 2008. My blog

Finally I have also cycled the most dangerous road in the world known as the Yungas Road located in Bolivia. I did this in August 2008. My blog

None of these places exist in Tibet!

Hope this settles any confusion.

(Rick Archer's Note: Did you noticed Mr. Crawford hit a trifecta of sorts?  Apparently Darren Crawford has visited all three of the locations I wrote about in my original Danger story back in January 2007 (Bolivia, Guoliang, Huashan).  Not only am I impressed, I am envious!)

SERIOUS INTERNET CONFUSION REGARDING THE LOCATION OF GUOLIANG

I Lost It, Now I Better Find It!  

My own mistake was not quite as serious as placing Huashan a thousand miles away in Tibet.  After all, Hunan Province and Henan Province are only about 200 miles apart.

Nevertheless, I was still upset to discover that I had PERSONALLY contributed to world-wide confusion over the exact location of Guoliang Village.

You probably think I exaggerate the importance of my mistake. 

In truth, I honestly believe I was the MAIN REASON that the correct location of Guoliang had literally disappeared off the face of the Internet!

As you read this story, you will see that I write a compelling argument to support my suggestion that I was the single person most responsible for losing Guoliang to countless Internet users FOR TWO AND A HALF YEARS!

ABOUT GUOLIANG AND THE HENAN PROVINCE OF CHINA

Henan is China's most important province historically. It sits in the east of the country in the central plains region and has the Yellow River running through it, along with sacred mountains and the Shaolin Temple.

Henan is the ancient economic, political and cultural center of China. Henan is the crux of China's long-running civilization, being home to scores of emperors over successive dynasties and featuring some of the most revered temples in the country. Of its many national parks and scenic areas, Song Shan National Park and the Yellow River are two of the most visited.

The province of Henan is loaded with historical cities, most of which reside in the center of the region. Zhengzhou is the capital and main hub. It is the main rail terminus in China and is just over an hour away from Beijing by plane. Other popular cities are nearby Kaifeng and Luoyang, and Anyang toward the north.

The town of Luoyang is a couple of hours by train or expressway from Zhengzhou. It is home to the UNESCO Longmen grottoes and the Ancient Han Tombs Museum and comes with traffic-free streets and a nice look. Laidback Kaifeng is in the other direction from Luoyang. It is an hour to the east of Zhengzhou by expressway and also lies on the Yellow River.

One of the most revered places in China is Song Shan (Mount Song). It is between and slightly south of the cities of Zhengzhou and Luoyang are high mountains, Song Shan National Park, and the vaunted Shaolin Temple. There are stupas galore here along with monks practicing kung fu.

Gongyi City is also in this general region of Henan and is known for the Imperial Tombs of Northern Song Dynasty. It makes a good daytrip from either Zhengzhou or Luoyang and boasts the restored Yongzhao Tomb.

Heading north of the Zhengzhou area is the small village of Guoliangcun amid the stunning Taihang Mountains. It has one of the nicest settings of any inhabited region of China with superb hiking and climbing options. The hairy road through the mountains is reason enough for a visit.

THE SEARCH FOR GUOLIANG BEGINS

FORWARD
Rick Archer
October 2009

You are about to read a very strange story.  It turns out that our friend Suhan couldn't find Guoliang for a reason - the place is virtually impossible to find even using a powerful tool like the Internet!   You will have to read the story to see what I mean.

As of 2009, if you type "Guoliangcun" into Google, there are over 2,000 hits listed.  If you type in "Guoliang", there are 200,000 hits.  Included in these two lists are dozens of blogs and countless pictures that attest to the existence of this little village.

However, after three days of searching in October 2009, I never found a single map or a set of accurate coordinates for Guoliang on the Internet.

I am telling the truth.  Nor am I exaggerating.  As you will see, I documented the entire search in a way that allows anyone to retrace my steps.

That said, you shouldn't worry about finding Guoliang if you want to visit.  Just go to Xinxiang or Huixian City in Henan Province and tell someone you want to go visit Guoliang.  There is not only a bus that goes there, there are plenty of taxi drivers who can find it as well.  Considering all the sites on the Internet created by people who have visited Guoliang Village, obviously plenty of people have been able to find their way once they made it to China.

The true location of Guoliang (aka Guoliangcun) is a mystery only to people like me with no access to detailed maps of China.  I am sure this data exists on the Internet somewhere, but I couldn't find them. 

I have written this story for people like me who don't live anywhere near China (there are currently about 5 billion in that category) who would like to know the exact location of Guoliang. 

For example, I live in Houston, Texas, USA.  I am an "Internet Tourist".  The Internet is full of people just like me who fulfill many of their travel fantasies by seeing pictures and reading stories about far-flung locations by surfing the Net.  My hobby explains the origin of my own 2007 story about Guoliang.  I heard about a strange place and was curious enough to learn more about it using the Net.  I already had the pictures in an email.  Once I realized how little was known about Guoliang, I copied material from a half-dozen blogs and combined it to create an article story about Guoliang.  This was a place virtually no one had ever heard of.  At the time, my article about Guoliang helped generate a lot of interest.  I thought I was doing the place a favor.  I never realized I had misplaced it!

Of course, the one question everyone asks is "Where in the world is it?"  When it comes to Guoliang, I have to be honest.  This is the craziest place to find I have ever experienced in my life!  You will just have to read the story to understand.
 

Using satellite imaging, you can go see everything from your own house to the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids of Egypt, the French Riviera, Dubai's "World", Mount Everest, the Grand Canyon, and Jerusalem.  Google Earth allows you to check out any place in the world that you have ever been curious about.

FINDING GUOLIANG ISN'T EASY, First Try - Wrong Guoliang #1

For my search, I had three tools - Google, Google Map and Google Earth.

I was feeling lucky.  So I tried typing "Guoliang coordinates" into Google.  So much for feeling lucky.  Nothing came up. 

After some digging around on Google, I did accidentally run across a site that listed the coordinates as part of a photograph. I plugged the coordinates into Google Earth.  Although I was directed to China, I found absolutely nothing to indicate I was in the right place.  

This was just the first dead end in a whole series of blind alleys.  Oddly enough, one day later, I tried finding this picture again without success.  When it was all over, I had spent three entire days looking for Guoliang!

For my second move, I tried using the search engine for Google Maps. Nothing came up.

As you can see for yourself, I struck out on both Guoliangcun and Guoliang as well. 

Please note I was in the map for Henan Province, but to no avail.

FINDING GUOLIANG ISN'T EASY, Second Try - Wrong Guoliang #2

I decided to explore the Wanxian Mountains.  So I went back to Google Earth.  Back in 2007 when I first wrote the story, I did not know about Google Earth.  As you can see, since then, Google Earth and I have become good friends.  I typed in "Guoliang" and "Wanxian Mountains".  I immediately came up with a hit!

However, I saw several problems.  One, the area didn't look mountainous.  Two, the location appeared to be in the Shaanxi Province. Three, the location appeared to be about 300 miles from Zhengzhou. 

Another false alarm.

Back to the drawing board. 

I was getting frustrated.  As I studied the map, I decided the Chinese weren't helping very much. 

In addition to my original Hunan-Henan mistake, my problems with Shaanxi Province (see previous picture) made me notice there was another Province named "Shanxi". 

Shaanxi-Shanxi.  Hmm.

A closer look revealed Hebei Province and Hubei Province.

There certainly were a lot of similar names in Chinese geography!

That's when it dawned on me.  Maybe "Guoliang" was a fairly common name in China.  That might explain why I kept getting hits on Guoliang that kept taking me to the wrong places. 

I searched the Internet for a detailed map of Chinese cities.  Other than Google Maps which had already turned up empty, I had no luck. 

A few Internet maps of China listed the major cities, but that was about it.  Finding a map listing the Villages was out of the question.

FINDING GUOLIANG ISN'T EASY, Third Try - Wrong Guoliang #3

FINDING GUOLIANG ISN'T EASY, Fourth Try -  I Discover a Parallel Universe!

I took another look at the riddle.   An Internet site known as The Lonely Planet insisted that after Xinxiang, the bus would take a people to some town named "Huixian".

"Exit the Xinxiang train station and take a motor-tricyle (Y2) to the bus stop 1km away for buses to Huixiàn (Y4, 45 minutes, regular). Ask the driver to drop you at the Huixiàn stop for buses to Guoliàngcun (Y10, 2½ hours, depart 8am and 1pm)."

I typed "Huixian" into Google Earth and was directed to a new spot for my troubles.  (see picture).  That cheered me up.  I felt like I was getting closer!   Then I noticed the directions said that Guoliangcun was still 2 1/2 hours away by bus.  So near, yet so far.  Then I noticed a curious blue picture box (see picture).  When I clicked the box, a picture appeared.  Hmm.  I began to wonder if I could find Guoliang by looking at the pictures.  So my new strategy was to wander around nearby Huixian and click the blue picture boxes on Google Earth.  This strategy immediately paid off with dividends.  I discovered a real nugget!

A little further to the west from Huixian, I clicked on a blue box which revealed the picture on the right.  Now you tell me - is that Guoliang or not?  Of course it is!!!   There are windows and a rubble pile and everything. 

Using Google Earth, I poked around the area for further blue picture boxes of Guoliang or the name of the village. Nothing came up but some place named "Xiyagou."  Xiyagou? 

The more I studied that picture, the more confused I got.  To be honest, I had not seen a "Guoliang picture" that matched this new picture.  That winding road was new.  Was it possible that another community named Xiyagou had done the same thing and carved a tunnel out the mountain?

I don't like coincidences.  Wherever Guoliang was, it had to be nearby. 

So I typed "Xiyagou" into Google.  I was NOT HAPPY with the results.

As you can see for yourself, there is indeed a parallel universe here.  These pictures confirmed that I had accidentally stumbled upon another village in the same mountain region that had carved tunnels out of cliffs just like Guoliang.  Since Xiyagou started in the Sixties, I suppose this is where Guoliang got the idea to try the same thing in the Seventies. 

Good grief! I was getting pretty discouraged.  I was finding everything but the place I was looking for!

One thing that bothered me greatly was the possibility that Guoliang and Xiyagou were the same place.  After all, the pictures of the tunnels sure looked similar and the location was definitely in the same general area where Guoliang was said to be.  What was going here?  Then I noticed that Xiyagou was listed as being in the Shanxi Province NEXT to Henan Province.  I decided that I had simply uncovered an amazing coincidence between two villages that no one else to my knowledge had pointed out on the Internet. I decided to keep looking. 

Rick Archer's Note: As of 2009, very little information currently exists on Internet regarding Xiyagou.  Here is all that I found:

This is a picture of a road excavated in the cliff of Taihang Mountain in Pingshun county, Shanxi province, September 2, 2009. This 1,500-meter (0.93 mile) road took 200 families 30 years to complete and has facilitated movement between Xiyagou village and other villages of the Pingshun county, which has often been obstructed by this mountain range, local media reported.

FINDING GUOLIANG ISN'T EASY, Fifth Try - Wrong Guoliang #4

As I read various stories about Guoliang, I noticed most of the bloggers referred to the place as "Guoliangcun".  On a whim, I decided to type Guoliangcun, China into Google Earth.  Nothing happened.  Google Earth didn't budge.   So I added "Henan" into the mix.  Boom!  I got an instant hit!  Google Earth rotated swiftly to a town named "Guoliangcun" (see picture).  Surely this was it!

There was only problem... I could not find a single blue "picture" box nearby this spot.  In other words, not a single picture existed to indicate I was in the right place.  No matter how many times I zoomed in and out, no Google Earth pictures emerged to suggest I was in the right place.  For that matter, no Google Earth images appeared at all.  This could not be the right place.  And yet the blue and red place markers suggested that someone had clearly marked this spot as special.  I recalled finding some coordinates on a web site that said he had MARKED Guoliangcun on Google Earth.  Maybe this was the place he was referring to. Unfortunately, I think he had the wrong spot.  There was literally nothing there.

This was driving me crazy!!   This had turned into a serious "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?" quest.  Where is the real Guoliang Village?  And how could I find it?

I had just hit a dead end.  I had found four different "Guoliangs".  All four had turned out to be the wrong place.

I had found a village named Xiyagou that was a near clone of Guoliang and in the same vicinity to boot, but that hadn't panned out either.

What was my next move?   I noticed there was a sponsored link to Henan, China at Trip Advisor.  Why not?

The Hidden Village of Guoliang 
Written by Ernie

In the heart of Henan's Taihang Mountains lies forgotten Guoliang Cun. Not entirely forgotten, of course, in China a "forgotten" destination can officially mean fewer than ten thousand visitors per day. But far fewer than that disturb this marvelous relic of rough-hewn splendor, and the place truly was forgotten long enough that the term applies more to Guoliang Cun than to most any other Chinese habitation.

Yet the key feature of Guolian Cun is its inaccessibility. It sits at a high but by no means vertiginous 1752 meters. Some eighty families comprising 300 odd people give it life. The clue to the hidden nature of Guoliang lies in the fact that almost everyone there shares the surname Shen.

In the Yuan Dynasty, the Shen family were powerful officials in Nanjing. But by the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Shen's glory had run its course. Emperor Zhuyuanzhang exiled the entire clan to Qinghai, to do hard labor as punishment for some crime real or imagined, but certainly lost to the ages. Somehow, most of the family managed to escape while under guard in Shanxi.

Realizing their odds of getting away were greater in small groups, they shattered a giant brass wok, the pieces to serve as symbols of kinship should they or their progeny ever manage to reunite. Thus did the small band and original stock of today's Guoliang Cun intentionally take the most tortuous, untraceable route they could find, stopping only when they stumbled into an all but impenetrable valley. Here they consigned themselves to a world entirely apart from the rest of China. By the 1960s, only one Shen had left, to join the army. The rest, never. The fact that less than ten percent of Guoliang has more than ten fingers throws some doubt on the claim, but a romantic story is a romantic story. And hey, the place is hard to reach, even by China countryside standards.

The surest proof of that is the way in, a marvel of manual engineering. A path carved into the side of the valley's east cliff face, a three sided tunnel that would stagger today's average construction firm, is the final stage of the bumpy mountain journey to Guoliang Cun. Actually, there was another way in before, one that scarcely justified being called a path, a goat trail of perilous drops and ninety degree ascents that guaranteed no one left Guoliang valley or went in unless under direst need. That same "path" today is a draw for a breed of deranged hikers who call a scamper up Hua Shan a "fun day's outing".

Not until 1972 did the residents of Guoliang Cun have either the desire or the money to round up a bunch of iron hammers and spikes, a few crude shovels, and get to work carving out the least forbidding cliff surrounding them. 26,000 cubic meters of stone they removed in the project, amazing considering the vertical work site, and the fact that it was hauled out by hand and bundle. Many died during construction of this 1250 meter Cliffside loggia, lending merit to its name Tian Ti, or ‘Stairway to Heaven' if you like.

FINDING GUOLIANG ISN'T EASY, Sixth Try - Wrong Guoliang #5

Just for the heck of it, I went back to Google Earth and decided to close the program to clear the places I had already looked at from memory.  When I reopened the program, I simply typed in "Guoliang, China". 

Look what popped up!  Now this looked promising.

Except look... there is Hunan back to haunt me again!

How weird is that?

I clicked the first link on the list, the one that simply said "Guoliang".  This link took me to Sichuan Province in southern China which was about 600 miles away from Henan Province. 

Nope, this was definitely not it either.  That was the fifth wrong Guoliang I have been directed to.

However, there were three links for Guoliang listed above.  One of them was certain to be the one I wanted.  Let's try the second link!  The second link said "Guoliang tunnel".  That had to be it!

FINDING GUOLIANG ISN'T EASY, Seventh Try - Back to Xiyagou

You are not going to believe this. The second link took me back to Xiyagou!  I clicked the nearest picture and look what came up!

If you recall, Xiyagou was the parallel village to Guoliang that was located in the Shanxi Province (4th Try).

In addition, the caption clearly says this place is located in Hunan.  Nope, this isn't the right place.

FINDING GUOLIANG ISN'T EASY, Eighth Try - Wrong Guoliang #6

Bad news, the third link was another strikeout.  This was definitely not the right place either.   There was not one single blue picture box in sight. 

The nearest town was "Mayiti".  Not only was there nothing to look at in the vicinity, the location appeared to be in Hebei Province which was north of Henan Province.

Someone sure went to a lot of trouble to mismark our destination.

This is the most ridiculous wild goose chase I have ever been on, but something tells me I will find this place yet.  How I am not sure, but I am not going to give up.

FINDING GUOLIANG ISN'T EASY, Ninth Try - I Find Many New Dead Ends

For my ninth try, I decided to use a new tactic - brute force.  

I had one clue to go on.  One of the blogs I had reviewed said this: 

"The village is north of Huixian. It lies up in the Taihang Mountains right on the border of the Henan and Shanxi provinces."

Interestingly, Google Earth has a mysterious white line that seems to adhere to the border of the provinces.  I decided to scan along the white borderline and see what I came up with. 

There were two major lakes I used as landmarks.  Both lakes turned out to be major reservoirs, Shimen in the south, Sanjiaokou in the north.

I began a concentrated search pattern within the suspected area. For hours I carefully zoomed in and out the entire area between the two reservoirs looking for clusters of blue picture dots.

FINDING GUOLIANG ISN'T EASY, Tenth Try - Ta da!  I Find the True Guoliang!

Look at the three pictures below.  Every one of them was a picture of Guoliang!   But I had seen pictures of Guoliang before.   What made this different was the name of the village had popped up as well.  This was definitely the right place.  My search was over.  I had found the real Guoliangcun.  Finally.

THE MAPS TO GUOLIANG

During my three day search for the real Guoliangcun, I created several maps similar to the one above to help me get oriented (small joke). 

At this point, I am so certain of the location of Guoliang, I honestly believe I could rent a car and drive there myself.  If you are planning on visiting Guoliang, you would probably find the maps I have provided very useful.  These maps are so accurate, I bet you could drive there too!

GUOLIANG MAPS

Thanks for visiting!
Rick Archer
October, 2009
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