Lijiang, Yunnan

January 21, 22 & 23, 2009

Old Town of Lijiang, Yunnan Province

Lijiang, in south China's Yunnan Province, is the only Chinese city listed on UNESCO's World Cultural Heritage list. With a history of 1,300 years, it is generally referred to as the Old Town of Lijiang, home to the ancient Dongba culture and a major scenic area in China.

Lijiang is heavily populated by people of Naxi nationality. It is the county seat of the Naxi Autonomous County. It is situated on a plateau at an elevation of 2,600m and is impressive because of its scenery and lush vegetation. With the Jade Dragon Mountain as backdrop, the old town has adapted itself harmoniously to the natural scenery. The architecture is especially noteworthy for the blending of elements from several cultures that have come together over many centuries. Lijiang maintains an ancient water-supply system of great complexity and ingenuity that is still functioning effectively.

The people of Naxi, while developing their land of snow-clad mountains and turbulent rivers since ancient times, have to their credit the "Dong Ba Culture" seen as one.

Our tour guide was a Naxi and Han mix. She spoke pretty good English and explained to us a lot of the Naxi culture. It's a matriarchial society in which the man approached the family of the girl he was interested in. The man is required to work for the family for 3 years, one in the quarry, second using the quarry rock to build a house, and the third to garden in the fields to raise crops. If the work is saisfactory, they are allowed to marry and the man goes into retirement with few responsibilities, one of which is to procreate. The women do all the work and make all the decisions. It's called a "working marriage" because the men can get kicked out if it doesn't work out. Then the whole thing starts all over again. We did see women working while men sat around smoking, drinking and chatting. The tour guide told us her mother was a Naxi, but smart enough to marry a Han to share the work load.

The villa we stayed in was beautiful. It was a 3-story building, complete with a live-in maid. She greeted us and took us on a tour of the building. The first floor has a large living room with flat screen large TV, living room furniture and a desk with Internet connections, the dining room has a large round table with lazy-susi. Second and third floors each has 2 double-bed rooms and 1 w/twin bed. The maid, called, "ah shih ma" gave us wake-up calls by knocking on our doors, cooked breakfast, cleaned and even took our wash out to get cleaned.