A picturesque scene at Guyan Huaxiang in Lishui, Zhejiang province [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Guyan Huaxiang, literally "ancient weir and painting town", is an idyllic district town that features Chinese-style buildings and unblemished natural landscape.

Situated in Bihu town and Dagangtou town of Liandu district, which is 20 kilometers away from Lishui's downtown, the resort's core area includes Dagangtou, Yantou, Pingdi and Baoding. It is a beautiful attraction immersed in a deep and historical cultural environment.

The ancient weir of Guyan Huaxiang town is now the Tongjiyan Irrigation and Drainage System, one of the five ancient water conservancy facilities in China.

In the 1980s, a group of painters and photographers who borrowed the techniques of the Barbizon school of painting from France came to Bihu Lake and Dagangtou town for sketching from nature, which gradually formed the Lishui Barbizon school of painting. The Barbizon oil painting exhibition in 1991 showed the beauty of Guyan Huaxiang to domestic and international visitors, making it known as a painting town.