Yunnan Travel: From Lijiang Ancient Town to Yunshanping (Photo)
Yunnan's Lijiang Ancient Town holds a special place in my heart. I remember my first visit here in December 1998, when we came to film the Naxi chapter of our TV series 'Minority Sports of China.' The ancient town's rustic ethnic charm and magnificent highland water-town scenery left a deep impression on me. For a time after, when friends asked me, 'You've traveled so many places, which is the best?' Although it was a tough question, Lijiang was the first place that came to mind.
Overlooking Lijiang Ancient Town (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
But when I returned seven years later, on October 30, 2005, as part of a China Railway Tourist special train group, the primitive simplicity I remembered had vanished, replaced by a more modern tourist site bustling with visitors.
In Lijiang (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Nevertheless, since this was a dedicated sightseeing trip, we visited the ancient town of Dayan and took a cable car up to the alpine meadow of Yunshanping to gaze at Jade Dragon Snow Mountain from afar. Even though Lijiang no longer felt the same as my first time, the journey from Lijiang to Yunshanping still left unforgettable, beautiful memories.
The Great Waterwheel (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Lijiang Ancient Town lies at the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, in the middle of the Lijiang basin. Surrounded by green hills and crisscrossed by clear streams, it is like a giant inkstone made of jade, hence the name "Dayan Town" (Great Inkstone Town). The ancient town covers 3.8 square kilometers at an altitude of 2,400 meters. According to earlier statistics, Lijiang's population was over 25,300, with more than 16,900 Naxi people.
Ethnic Sculptures (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Historical records show that Lijiang Ancient Town has a long history, founded in the late Song and early Yuan dynasties. It has long been the regional political, cultural, and educational center, and at one time served as a hub for trade between Yunnan and Tibet, and between China and India. The town's streets are lined with shops offering a dazzling array of handicrafts, from copperware and fur products to textiles.
Ancient Town Alley (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Rows of Naxi-style residences crowd together. In the deep lanes, beneath the eaves, elderly Naxi women in traditional costumes can often be seen strolling leisurely. The ancient town contains a wealth of traditional ethnic culture, embodying the prosperity and development of the Naxi people.
Ancient Town Shopping Street (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
The architecture of Lijiang Ancient Town blends the best of Han, Tibetan, Bai, and other ethnic styles, with a distinctive Naxi flair. It is an exceptionally well-preserved ancient town of a minority group, rare among China's surviving ancient towns. Its layout fully exploits the natural terrain and the waters of the Black Dragon Pool. Buildings rise and fall with the landscape, tier upon tier. "The city lives by water, and water follows wherever the city goes" is a defining feature.
A Corner of the Water Scenery (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Lijiang Ancient Town and Pingyao Ancient City in Shanxi were among China's first two ancient cities to be designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the 1990s. The best place to see the whole town is from Wangu Tower, where a spacious viewing platform offers a sweeping panorama of Lijiang's spectacular beauty.
A Journalist in the Ancient Town (Photo: Wang Jue)
The streets radiate outward from Sifang Street, crisscrossing like a web for easy movement, with open spaces at key points. The lanes are paved with a red breccia known locally as "five-flower stone," which stays mud-free in the rainy season and dust-free in the dry season. The natural patterns on the stones are elegant and harmonious with the ancient town. Meltwater from Jade Dragon Snow Mountain flows through canals and streams, winding its way through every alley.
Ancient Town Resident (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
When our tour group arrived in Lijiang on the afternoon of October 30, our first stop was the ancient town. Coming here for the second time, I was struck by how much it had changed. At the entrance to the old town, new cultural landmarks like the Great Waterwheel and ethnic sculpture clusters had been added, all rich in local character. Everywhere was a sea of people. Many houses that once stood around Sifang Street were now mostly shops, the commercial atmosphere overwhelmingly strong.
Waterside Restaurants and Tea Houses (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
When we reached Sifang Street, it felt a bit smaller than before—perhaps just an illusion caused by the huge crowds. Watching a dozen Naxi women holding hands and dancing the "Beat Dance" in the middle of the square, I couldn't help but recall the spectacular scene on the morning of November 30, 1998, when we filmed the large-scale documentary 'Minority Sports of China – Naxi Chapter' right here.
Naxi "Beat Dance" (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Back then, hundreds of Naxi women had gathered from all directions at dawn to perform their ethnic dances, including the "Beat Dance," "A Lili," and "Zicuo Lu," showcasing the full splendor of Naxi culture. The entire Sifang Street was immersed in festive joy all morning. Today, Sifang Street still retains traces of ethnic charm, but such mass revelry of a hundred dancers probably only happens on special occasions now.
Ancient Town Shop (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
In Lijiang, our Naxi tour guide told us: Most Naxi traders are shrewd businesswomen. Young girls are considered beautiful if they are plump and dark-skinned, and are affectionately called "Pangjinmei" (plump golden girls), while boys are called "Pangjin'ge" (plump golden brothers).
Selecting Souvenirs (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
This point was driven home especially vividly later, when we sampled tea at a Naxi house in the Dongba Tea Art Garden on Jishan Alley, and heard a Naxi tea master "Pangjinmei" recount it all with such humor and spirit.
Foreign Visitors Enjoying Tea (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Our tour group spent a wonderful evening in Lijiang Ancient Town. At dawn on October 31, we boarded the bus to the Yunshanping scenic area. When we arrived, it was still pitch dark. In the dim lighting, I saw that the Yunshanping cable car station was a scene of utter chaos.
The Big Stone Bridge (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Countless tourists were queuing for the cable car, but the disorder was truly shocking. What was strange was the complete absence of effective management. I witnessed crowds pushing and shoving, a complete mess. Should anything go wrong, the elderly tourists among us would have been in serious trouble.
Small Bridges and Streams (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
At that moment, I felt strongly that the Yunshanping scenic area management should pay serious attention to this problem and strive to create a well-organized, high-quality tourist destination. Many years have passed since then, and I wonder how much Yunshanping has changed? I imagine it has now become a scenic area with a much better environment for tourists.
Horse Caravan Leader on the Street (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Yunshanping, called "Youwuge" in the local language—meaning "place of love suicide," also known as Jinxiu Valley—lies at an altitude of 3,240 meters. It is a vast hidden meadow tucked deep within a primeval spruce forest. In spring and summer, the grass is lush and dotted with flowers, as if a jade-green carpet has been spread out on the eastern slopes of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, just below the main peak. The surrounding ancient spruce forest tightly embraces this emerald meadow, making it quiet, enchanting, and unspeakably beautiful, like a fairyland.
Yunshanping Scenery (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Legend has it that Yunshanping was where the first Naxi lovers died for love. The story goes that the forerunners of Naxi love suicide were Kaimi and Yullepai. Their passionate, flower-and-bee-like love was destroyed by the feudal system of monogamous marriage. Longing for a free love, they went together to Yunshanping and ended their lives. Every year during the Torch Festival in June, young men and women from villages near Longshan make paper figures representing Kaimi and Yullepai and come to Yunshanping to pay homage to these original martyrs of love.
A Scene Like an Oil Painting (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
By the time visitors reached Yunshanping, the sky was gradually brightening. Walking the 800-meter wooden boardwalk and looking ahead, at the end of the primeval forest the view suddenly opened up, revealing a vast grassy meadow—this was Yunshanping. A natural high-altitude pasture, an immense snow-mountain meadow. Green stretched across the plain, reaching all the way to the distant forest. The meadow was tightly wrapped by towering spruces, as if trimmed with a green skirt.
Yunshanping Boardwalk (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
The meadow at Yunshanping undulates gently for kilometers. In spring and summer it is a sea of green with wildflowers in bloom; in autumn it turns golden; in winter it becomes a silver world. Each season's changing colors offers its own beauty.
Spruce Branches at Yunshanping (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
The forest at the edge of the meadow forms a natural barrier between the snow mountain and the grassland, its deep hues like a silent herder watching over this pasture. From here, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain soars into the clouds, veiled in mist, its immense form seeming to gaze down from the sky and cradle the meadow like a loving mother.
The Great Meadow at Yunshanping (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Most people come here mainly to admire the graceful beauty of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain from a distance. But that day, overcast and windless, the slow-moving clouds made the mountain rarely visible. And when a corner of the snow peak occasionally revealed itself, it only added to the mountain's air of mystery.
Clouds Veiling the Snow Mountain (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is a majestic, soaring, snow-capped peak, its eternal snows like white jade, incomparably spectacular. It consists of thirteen snow peaks, thrusting into the blue sky like thirteen silver swords. The main peak, Shanzidou, rises to over 5,596 meters. The mountain stretches 35 kilometers north to south and about 12 kilometers east to west. Against the backdrop of the azure sky, it looks like a silver jade dragon flying through eternity—hence the name Jade Dragon Mountain.
On Yunshanping (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
The beauty of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain lies not only in its grandeur and majesty but also in the myriad expressions and postures it reveals with the changing seasons and shifting weather. It is a modern maritime glacier, cloaked in cloud and snow all year round, radiating a magnificent and wondrous beauty, and is known as a "Glacier Museum."
As If in a Fairyland (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Descending from Yunshanping, visitors went on to tour the Baishui River and Ganhaizi scenic areas. Driving about 25 kilometers north along the snow-mountain road, we entered a broad alpine meadow—Ganhaizi.
A Towering Tree (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Seven years earlier, when I came here to film the 'Minority Sports of China' documentary, I had used this very spot as an outdoor location for the Naxi horse racing segment. Over the years, it too had changed quite a bit—the once expansive grassland had been planted with many pine trees.
Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
I remembered that back then, the whole Ganhaizi meadow lay under a continuous chain of snow mountains, and the magnificent natural scenery, especially under blue skies and white clouds, was truly unforgettable.
Baishui River Scenery (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
Today, Ganhaizi remains a natural grassland pasture. The terrain undulates gently, with scattered low pine trees dotting the vast meadow. Amid the grass and foliage, yaks appear and disappear, evoking the classic highland pastoral scene of "wind blowing the grass low, revealing cattle and sheep."
Ganhaizi, Lijiang (Photo: Feng Ganyong)
The trip to Lijiang gave us at least some understanding and appreciation of Naxi ancient culture. The small bridges and murmuring streams of Dayan Town, the secluded beauty of Yunshanping—all of it is deeply etched in our fond memories. (Text and photos: Feng Ganyong)
