Li Jiang and Xishuangbanna -- Yunnan Province, South West China

Li Jiang is located in Yunnan Province and is home to the Naxi (pronounced Nah She) people who are about 60% of its population of 300,000. It dates back to 475 B.C. In February 1996, it was devastated by an earthquake which claimed more than 300 lives and destroyed 186,000 homes. Surprisingly, the Naxi traditional housing held up pretty well and the government with the help of the World Bank spent millions of yuan in replacing modern concrete buildings with traditional wooden Naxi architecture. Consequently, Li Jiang was named a UNESCO World Heritage town in 1999. Li Jiang has become a major tourist attraction, and, although there are vestiges of traditional ways, much of Li Jiang is nothing more than a tourist trap in my opinion. Every street is lined with souvenir shops and restaurants all selling pretty much the same thing. It is so vast that it is difficult to pick out what might be treasures from the clutter. I did have an evening of pleasant wandering in some of the back alleys of Li Jiang, a consequence of getting lost. Lucky for me, or I might never have seen some of the charm of the ancient town. The town and all of the surrounding area is dominated by Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. It has 13 peaks the tallest of which is 18,355 ft.



We arrived late in the evening on Tuesday night. My room was on a corner right across from a noisy bar street. When we returned from dinner, drums were thumping and got progressively louder as the night wore on. The noise diminished after midnight and I was able to get a fairly good night's sleep. The next day some rooms freed up and the hotel moved me to the other side of the building.

Our first full day in the morning we visited the former residence of American explorer and botanist Joseph Rock and the Baisha Mural Paintings. After lunch we went to Yak Meadow (11,480 ft.), one part of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. However, we were behind the mountain and although we had beautiful views on the drive, when we actually arrived there were no views of it. I and a few others elected not to take the cable car up to Yak Meadow and as luck would have it, it was a good decision as the others were not very impressed and had to wait more than an hour to descend. We also were a little afraid of altitude sickness and were spared but more than a few others were afflicted by it. I took a long walk along a quiet country road and enjoyed the sounds of sheep and cattle mewing in the meadow below.

The next day was a drive to the Tiger Leaping Gorge, where the Yangtze River, which is called Gold Sand River in this area, has cut a dramatic gorge into the mountains, one of the world's deepest. The walk was about 3 miles round trip and was very pleasant. The name comes from a legend of a tiger being chased by a hunter. He escaped by leaping across the river with the help of a huge rock in the middle. From what I saw, this was not hard to imagine. The walkway along the river is lined with signs warning people of rock slides. As you walk along, rickshaws come from both directions bearing tourists who are unwilling or unable to make the walk.





By the end of this day, we had had four almost identical local meals including vegetables, fish, noodles and for lunch yak meat stew, not to mention breakfast, which was geared for oriental tastes. But the end of the second day, I cried "uncle" and opted out of the group meal and took off for myself to look for some western food in the ancient town. After some searching, I found Don Papa's Pizzeria which, as luck would have it, had 3 stars in the travel guide. Here I found a decent French chardonnay, sat on a rooftop balcony while I watched the world go by and enjoyed a thin-crusted, crisp personal pizza. The restaurant is run by a French expat, so I was in good hands and quite content to eat something besides local Chinese food. I passed on the elegant and delicious looking deserts somewhat to my regret now that I look back on it.

The next day we visited Shu He a more authentic little village albeit not without it's own souvenir street. However, we enjoyed the sights and sounds of the villagers as they went about their business. On the tourist streets, people expect to be paid for posing for pictures but a small group of us wandered around the back streets and saw the more authentic lifestyle and homes of the people. The wells in the villages are spring-fed and are split into three parts: one for drinking, one for washing vegetables and one for washing clothes. Another interesting story about this village is that during the "Cold War", the CIA had identified it as having missiles hidden under it's sheds. It's believed that from the air they saw lumber protruding from the eaves and decided they were missiles.




In the afternoon we had some free time. As I had seen as much of Li Jiang, and its massive tourist crowds, as I ever wished to see, I spent and hour or two in the hotel lobby reading. At about 4 pm, I met up with Frieda, one of our guides, and we decided to take a walk and look at some DVDs and grab a bit to eat before we left for the airport at 7pm. As we were walking down the driveway outside the hotel, I tripped and fell, injuring my upper left leg. Luckily I was with Frieda and she immediately called David, our local guide, and they took me to hospital to get checked out. The x-ray showed nothing broken which was a relief but I still had pain walking. After getting some Chinese traditional medicine and some crutches, we were finished just in time to catch our flight. I got first class treatment as I had to use a wheelchair to get around. Consequently, though, I was unable to complete the itinerary planned for us and missed out on our visit to Xishuangbanna where we were to see several more authentic and realistic rural villages. From all the accounts of my fellow travelers, these villages would have been much more to my liking. All in all, I enjoyed getting out of Beijing for a while and breathing cleaner, clearer air and making new acquaintences.

I'm on the road to recovery now and improving slightly every day but have had to cancel my classes for this week.

THE NAXI PEOPLE

The following is excerpted from the internet. The author is unknown.


In the 8th century, the Naxi invented a pictorial script that they used to describe their history, religion and customs. That script, the Naxi religion and their shamans took the name of Dongba. The Dongba religion was similar to the Bon religion that preceded Lamaism in Tibet.

After the fall of the Dali kingdom before the Yuan dynasty forces in 1253, the Naxi and other matriarchal societies were subjected to intense pressure when the Chinese set out to impose rules of social behaviour compatible with Confucian values. Naxi literature poignantly describes the waves of "suicides for love" provoked by the imposition of the Confucian ideal of arranged marriages by the Han authorities.

Today the overwhelming majority of the Naxi practice monogamous marriage but women have conserved a predominant position. They do most of the work and consequently make the decisions while the men take it easy. Women wear an under vest, a loose blouse, rough trousers, a large blue apron and on their back, a characteristic goatskin carrying pad on which woven round designs symbolize diligence.

There are, however, exceptions in some remote villages near Lugu Lake on the Sichuan border where the Mosuo people (a branch of the Naxi) have resisted and maintained parts of their traditions. The Mosuo people's Axia marriage is a peculiar kind of marriage. "Axia" means friend. So the couple are not called husband and wife, but are called "Axia". The adult lady of a family has her own special room called "Axia Room", prepared for her. Her parents will choose a mate for her and the man will visit and stay with her only at night in the Axia room. The next morning he will go back to his mother's family and work with his parents. The woman stays and works with her own family. If she is not satisfied with her mate, she only needs to shut the door to refuse her Axia's visit and the bond is broken. The couple do not establish a new family, their children stay with the mother as do whatever possessions the parents have.