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A strange claustrophobic duet of villages with tall gray walls and narrow maze-like streets and tumble-down buildings. With the tourist entrance set further away from the town, these villages manage to preserve their living identities better, and, especially towards the end of the day, it really does seem that time stopped in these villages many years ago. There is also an ancient bridge in Sixi that although not as old as Qinghua, is far more pleasant and really renders a visit to Qinghua where the bridge is pretty much its only redeeming feature, a bit pointless.