Give Me a Reason to Forget, You Who Loved Me So Much — Lijiang, Dali

📍 Dali · 👁 2 reads · ❤️ 61 likes

Are you not satisfied with life?

Haven't laughed in a long time and don't know why

Since you're unhappy and don't like it here

Why not head west to Dali?

The journey is a bit bumpy, the air a bit thin

The more vast the scenery, the lonelier the heart

Don't know who is waiting where

Don't know about the later, later......

In southwestern China, there are two places I've always longed for—Lijiang and Dali. Both are located in Yunnan Province. For years, they have been like a pair of sisters drifting through the country's historical scroll, yet seemingly out of place. You can't find any other cities in this country that feel quite like them. Here there are ancient tribes and traditions, a long history and culture, beautiful mountains and clear lakes. And there are many wonderful and touching stories!

Starting from Guangzhou, landing in Kunming, my first stop was Kunming University. I had a local hotpot with friends in Kunming. When people think of hotpot, Sichuan hotpot usually comes to mind, but in my view, Yunnan hotpot is more down-to-earth. That's because Yunnan hotpot uses earthenware pots. These earthenware pots don't use metal; they are made of fired clay pottery, emphasizing slow cooking over a low flame, resulting in fresh, sweet, and rich flavors.

Yunnan Ethnic Village covers an area of 1,264.96 mu (about 84.33 hectares), of which 463.96 mu (about 30.93 hectares) is water. It features the villages, ethnic dance halls, ethnic squares, Yunnan Ethnic Museum, as well as laser fountains, water curtain movies, and other tourist facilities of 25 ethnic minorities, including Dai, Bai, Yi, Naxi, Wa, Bulang, Jino, Lahu, Tibetan, Jingpo, Hani, De'ang, Zhuang, Miao, Shui, Nu, Mongolian, Buyi, Dulong, Lisu, Pumi, Manchu, Hui, Yao, and Achang. The ethnic villages use restoration displays to showcase Yunnan's ethnic customs. Walking into the village, you see different styles of ethnic villages scattered in an orderly and varied manner, each showing its charm. The rich and diverse village buildings, production, life, and religious customs of each minority are faithfully displayed, making it a microcosm of Yunnan's ethnic culture.

Yunnan Ethnic Village is located within the Kunming Dianchi Lake National Tourism Resort, in the southern part of Kunming city, on the northern shore of Dianchi Lake at Haigeng (a long narrow sandbank extending from east to west into Dianchi Lake). It covers an area of 20,000 mu (about 1,333 hectares), with natural swimming areas and sports training bases. It faces attractions like Xishan Forest Park, Daguan Park, and Zheng He Park across the water. A cable car connects to Xishan Longmen (Dragon Gate), and it is 10 kilometers from the city center.

The Old Town of Lijiang, also known as Dayan Town, is located in the Gucheng District of Lijiang City, Yunnan Province. It sits in the middle of the Lijiang Basin, was first built in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty (late 13th century), and is situated on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, covering an area of 7.279 square kilometers.

The streets in the Old Town of Lijiang are built along the mountains and rivers, paved with red breccia. There are attractions such as Sifang Street, Mu Mansion, Wufeng Tower, Black Dragon Spring, Wenchang Palace, Wang Pizhen Memorial, Snow Mountain Academy, Wangjiazhuang Christian Church, Fang Guoyu Former Residence, White Horse Dragon Pool Temple, Gubide Old Residence, Jinglian Temple, Puxian Temple, and more. Lijiang is one of the second batch of Chinese historical and cultural cities approved by the State Council, and one of the two ancient cities in China that successfully applied for World Cultural Heritage status as an entire old town.

The Old Town of Lijiang features diverse local ethnic customs and entertainment activities, such as Naxi Ancient Music, Dongba Rituals, divination culture, ancient town bars, and the Naxi Torch Festival, all with unique characteristics. The Old Town of Lijiang reflects the achievements of ancient Chinese urban construction and is one of the types of Chinese residential architecture with distinct features and styles.

Shuhe Ancient Town, called "Shaowu" in the Naxi language, gets its name from the hill behind the village, Jubao Mountain, which resembles a piled-up peak. The name evolved from the mountain name, meaning "village at the foot of the peak." It is one of the earliest settlements of the Naxi ancestors in the Lijiang Basin.

Shuhe Ancient Town is located at 26°55' N, 100°12' E, at the core of all Lijiang attractions. It is a hub for visiting the Old Town of Lijiang, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, Lugu Lake, the First Bend of the Yangtze River, and the Three Parallel Rivers scenic area. Shuhe Ancient Town is a well-preserved important town on the Ancient Tea Horse Road, a living fossil of the Naxi ancestors' transition from agricultural civilization to commercial civilization, and a model of town construction formed by opening up and horse caravan activities. Shuhe is an important part of the Lijiang Old Town World Cultural Heritage site and was selected as a "China's Charming Town" by CCTV in 2005.

In Shuhe Ancient Town, there is a Naxi specialty cuisine restaurant. If you have the chance, you must try it. The Naxi food here is delicious. Many celebrities come to this restaurant when they visit Lijiang. It is very popular, the food tastes great, the environment is nice, the service is good, and the prices are reasonable. No wonder it is so popular!

Dali Ancient Town is located in the northwestern part of Yunnan Province, at the southern end of the Hengduan Mountains, at the foot of Cangshan Mountain and on the shore of Erhai Lake. Its central location is 25°41'26" N, 100°9'45" E, covering an area of 3 square kilometers. Dali Ancient Town is situated in the Erhai fault basin, with the surface mostly covered by alluvial and diluvial deposits, sloping gently from west to east. It is an alluvial and lacustrine plain at an average altitude of less than 2,000 meters. The terrain of Dali Ancient Town is lower in the east and higher in the west.

Dali Ancient Town is one of the most outstanding areas of human cultural heritage. Located on the frontier, it has a rich ethnic culture and is one of the first 24 historical and cultural cities announced by the state. Its method of creating landscapes that blend "artificial and natural" and its traditional urban landscape planning concepts are of great significance to modern Chinese architectural design.

The ancient landscape creation experience of Dali Ancient Town belongs to a unique Chinese modern urban landscape creation, blending the natural environment with the built environment, forming a leisurely and calm urban character, making China's landscape pattern ethnic and regional. As one of the minority聚居 areas, Dali Ancient Town is rich in Bai cultural resources and a place of multi-ethnic cultural交融. Here, Central Plains culture, foreign culture, and local culture collide and communicate, forming the brilliant Nanzhao and Dali culture and distinctive Bai culture, displaying rich ethnic customs and brilliant human landscapes. Its diverse ethnic culture can provide素材 for creating garden features.

Erhai Lake, known in ancient texts as Yeyu Ze, Kunmi River, Xi'er River, and so on, is located in the suburbs of Dali, Yunnan, and is the second largest freshwater lake in Yunnan Province. Erhai Lake starts from Eryuan in the north, is about 42.58 kilometers long, with a maximum width of 9.0 kilometers from east to west, a surface area of 256.5 square kilometers, an average depth of 10 meters, and a maximum depth of 20 meters. Erhai Lake has two outlets: one near Xiaguan Town, flowing out through the Xi'er River; and the other is the "Yin Er Ru Bin" (diversion of Erhai to Binchuan) project. Erhai Lake is the location of "Erhai Moon," one of Dali's four scenic wonders: "wind, flower, snow, moon." It is said to be named Erhai because its shape resembles an ear. Erhai Lake has good water quality and abundant aquatic resources, and it is also a scenic area with beautiful landscapes. Although called a sea, Erhai is actually a lake. It is said that because Yunnan is deep inland, the Bai people express their longing for the sea by calling it Erhai.

The Erhai Lake Ring Road tourist landscape highway, with a total length of 115 kilometers, is an important measure for Dali to develop rural tourism resources, create characteristic tourism villages around Erhai Lake, and cultivate rural special leisure vacation tourism products. It is also a successful model of using tourism to coordinate urban and rural development and promote new rural construction. The Erhai Lake Ring Road tourist landscape highway had a total investment of 165 million yuan, involving five towns: Xizhou, Wanqiao, Yinqiao, Dali, and Xiaguan. This is also a holy place for taking wedding photos.

Whose head isn't covered in dust

Whose shoulders don't bear marks of teeth

Maybe love is waiting by the shore of Erhai

Maybe stories are unfolding

Whose head isn't covered in dust

Whose shoulders don't bear marks of teeth

Pick up the courage crushed by time

Let your feet be stained with fragrant mud......

Travel Diary Directory:

1. Kunming

2. Lijiang Ancient Town

3. Shuhe Ancient Town