Fenghuang, the "Phoenix," is the riverside town of western Hunan that the writer Shen Congwen turned into a myth: wooden stilt houses leaning over the green Tuojiang River, boatmen poling under a Ming-dynasty bridge, Miao and Tujia villages in the hills beyond. It is beautiful, and it knows it — the riverside is now a lantern-lit, bar-lined, thoroughly touristed strip. Come anyway, but come with open eyes: the trick is to see the town at its quiet hours and push out to the villages for the culture the postcards promise.
