Running Dry

As I browsed some of my photos from China, I stopped on this one of Elephant Hill in Guilin.

On our trip down the Li River to Yangshuo, I remember seeing huge sections of the river dried up--a winter phenomenon that allowed the locals to dig up the rocks for other uses. This surprised me as it was constantly raining during our journey through Guilin and Yangshuo (I don't think we had a single dry day). Recently, the lower water level on the Li River has become more than just an annual phenomenon--there is a serious drought in most of China. While most of the news focuses on the effects of the drought in the northern part of China, Guangxi province has also be affected.

I've seen photos (I'm still searching for them so I can post links) that showed a similar angle of Elephant Hill with significantly lower water levels--the river has nearly disappeared during the drought.