Furong Ancient Town

Furong, formerly Wangcun, sits on a cliff where the Youshui river drops in a wide waterfall of around sixty metres, and the town is built right at the lip, with stilted Tujia houses and a stone-stepped street running out onto the rock so that the buildings appear to hang above the fall. A walkway passes behind the water. The town took its present name after the 1986 film Hibiscus Town was shot here. Its history is older: it was a seat of the Tujia chieftains, and the stone street, tusi palace remains and an eight-hundred-year-old bronze pillar recording a chieftain treaty stand in and around it.

What you actually see

• The waterfall town - houses built at the lip of a sixty-metre fall.
• The walkway behind the water - the path passing between rock and falling river.
• The stone street - the stepped Tujia street running to the cliff.
• The bronze pillar - the eight-hundred-year-old chieftain treaty column.

When to go

April to June and September to October; the waterfall is strongest after rain and can thin in dry months. Summer is hot and crowded. Evenings light the town and the fall.

Honest expectations

The town is small and thoroughly commercial, with the film association marketed heavily. Waterfall flow varies. Steps are steep and slippery near the fall. Accommodation is basic guesthouses.

Nearby

Fenghuang lies southwest; Zhangjiajie is north.