Guangxi Province in Southern China is well known for its increbile landscape scenery.

The areas around the cities of Guilin and Yangshuo are exceptionally gorgeous!

Within the scatter of karst limestone mountains, the winding Li and Yulong Rivers, and rice and vegetable gardens, are numerous ancient Chinese farming villages.

Biking one day about 30 minutes from Yangshuo town we stopped at a small ancient village and I was able to take a few memorable photos.

Time on a farm moves at the same pace as everywhere else on earth, but life moves much slower.

This ancient village seemed like it was frozen in time, everything from the historic buildings to the pace of the village inhabitants.

For me, one of the most impressive aspects of ancient Chinese farming villages around this area is their extensive use of stones and bricks as building materials.

This aged foot and oxen path was constructed of odd shaped stones that have sunk into position with years and years of slow paced foot traffic.

Wood is mostly used for doors and sometimes support beams.

Traditional doorway entrances around the world present an interesting subject.

Here are two very different door styles that I came across in the same ancient village in China – they brought back memories of the elaborate Zanzibar doors in Stone Town.

The red banner with Chinese characters represents some kind of good luck in the home.

She was a cheery elderly lady in the ancient village; Her 87 year old husband silently sat on the ledge of the home with minimal movement.

She allowed us to enter the corridor of her home, as she and her husband sat back to back on the doorway oval.

Dried, not roasted, peanuts are a common snack in villages around Yangshuo. A few days before, I had received some dried peanuts in an adjacent village during a random travel experience.

This ancient Chinese village felt solid, a strong fortress built to last.

At the end of the day, the sun fades, and apart from the odd Chinese firecracker in the distance, life comes to another standstill in an ancient village in China.