Darongshu Scenic Area

This guide to the Darongshu banyan in Guilin follows a tree already ancient by the time a 1960 film crew arrived on the banks of the Jinbao River. It traces the making of Third Sister Liu, the story of a legendary Zhuang singer who outwits corrupt landlords, and the one scene the crew chose to shoot beneath this exact tree. That film went on to play in more than fifty countries, and China's premier at the time called it one of the country's great cultural exports.