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Featured Destination: Lijiang, China |
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| Text and photos
by Graham Simmons |
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I thought I knew all about
China: a nation rushing at breakneck speed toward modernization and throwing
out centuries of tradition in the process. However this is only part of
the story. As the chinese economy blossoms so fast that people who have
lived in a town all their lives just can't keep up with pace, a parallel
movement has risen with the express aim of protecting the country's glorious
heritage. Nowhere is this cultural emphasis more pronounced than in the
ancient city of Lijiang in the Yunnan province.
The old town of Lijiang has been given a facelift and proclaimed as World
cultural Heritage site by UNESCO. A walk through the old town reveals new
wonders at every turn; and the visitor is entranced by the city's cobblestone
streets, narrow alleyways and the scenic "canal-scapes".
So many people sometimes converge on Lijiang's Old Town that you sometimes
think that the whole of China (and half of Europe too) is on holidays, and
they've all come to Lijiang at the same time. In the narrow lanes of old
Lijiang, you can rub shoulders with recycled Dutch Hippies, the Beijing
"mobile-phone-set", groups of schoolgirls on excursion from Shanghai,
and a dozen other cultural groups. But a couple of minutes walk uphill from
the main square, the tourists are nowhere to be seen; and it's here that
"old" Lijiang reveals some of its most hidden charms.
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Lijiang has miraculously recovered from
the catastrophic earthquake of 1996, which demolished some of the
newer parts of the town and leveled as many as 186,000 homes, killing
some 300 people and injuring some 14,00 others throughout the Lijiang
Prefecture. Just five years later, no sign of the earthquake remain;
and throughout "new" Lijiang, a building boom is underway.
In the newer precinct of the town, houses mimic their old cousins
in Old Town, which says a great deal for the authenticity of the whole
city.
With my guide Xiao Fang, I take a leisurely walk through the back
blocks of the new Lijiang. Xiao Fang bubbles over with enthusiasm
for the unique ambiance of her hometown, and its an enthusiasm that
rubs off. On the outskirts of the town, traditional-style houses under
construction resemble those in "Old Lijiang". One new house
has six bedrooms plus kitchens and other rooms around a garden courtyard,
complete with a fountain, and will sell for a tiny fraction of what
a similar house would cost in Beijing or Shanghai. |
To understand a little of Lijiang's unique
history, take a trip to Banish village. The Naxi people who in habit
this area are descended from the nomadic Qiang tribe of Quebec, which
settled here around 400 AD. Some 12,00 years ago, Baisha became a
staging post on the "Tea road", a trading route from the
tea growing fields of Yunnan to Lhasa. At this time, Baisha was the
center of civilization in northern Yunnan, before the villagers moved
to what is now "Old Lijiang" around 1200 AD. Frescoes in
their Baisha monastery were the first painted around 1385 Ad and are
still in their original condition, having been zealously guarded by
priests and locals during the Cultural revolution.
The Dongba Cultural Research Center, in Lijiang's exquisite Black
Dragon Pool Park, gives a few good clues about the ancient Naxi cultural
of Lijiang. The Naxis (no relation to the Nazis, though they share
the swastika emblem) are of the 26 ethnic minorities of Yunnan province.
The ancient Dongba religion strongly influenced by Buddhism, Taoism
and the ancient Bon cosmology of Tibet, has as its aim the ancient
worship of "heaven, the nature spirits and Shi-Luo" (the
legendary founder of Dongba). The Naxi Priesthood maintains the culture's
unique traditions of music, dancing and pictograph writing.
The Naxi have, since time immemorial (meaning: I don't know how long),
have been a matriarchal society, with "Dabu" (mother) at
the head of the family. It is said that in ancient times during battles
between ethnic sub-groups, between the forces confronting each other,
battle would cease immediately if women stepped in and extended their
hands between the forces confronting each other. Today, many Naxi
women have distinguished themselves in commerce and the arts, including
the venerable Zhao Yintang, the first Naxi woman writer.
The Old Quarter of Lijiang, named Gongben Zhi ("warehouse Street")
in the ancient Naxi tongue, is also known a Da Yan or Dayan.The town
is a maze of interconnected streets and lanes centered around Sifang
("Square") Street, with the four main streets stretching
out in the four cardinal directions. |
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| During World War II, with
the China-Burma frontier closed, Sifang street served as an important transfer
point for trade in traditional medicines, crafts and leather goods between
China and India. Li Jinghai, general manager of the Yuanxingchuan Corporation,
was renowned for her business acumen and honesty, at one stage running over
200 packhorses between Tibet and India via Lijiang. |
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Today, over 10,000 people still go about their daily lives Day An
town. People gather in the square, do their washings in the canal
or cart water using time-old bamboo yokes featured in many classical
paintings. There are no fewer than 350 bridges crossing the canal,
linking to thoroughfares that go by such names as "Selling Eggs
Street", "Bakery Street", and "Firewood Street".
In the narrow streets of Da Yan, Nazi food can be sampled at the many
cafes on the banks of the canal. The Lijiang Din-Din Cafe specializes
in authentic Naxi cuisine. We stopped for a meal here. Instead, we
were treated to a banquet: fried goat's cheese with sugar, winter
mushrooms with chicken wings in five-spice sauce, stewed pork with
potatoes and anise glaze, and (for desert) sticky rice with lychee
fruit in rice wine. I was hoping there was a tailor nearby who could
do quick alterations. |
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| At night, it is time to
take in a concert of traditional Naxi music. The Naxi are said to have developed
a particular affinity for art, poetry, and music, because of their "nearness
to God" on high Tibetan plateau. One of the two main strains of Naxi
music, known as Dongjing, was used by scholars in ancient China as part
of an elaborate musical ritual. It is said that the disciples of Confucius
used it to promote inner peace and that the Taoists later adopted it for
physical and spiritual exercises. |
The other main strand of Naxi music, Baisha, is one
of the few large-scale classic orchestral musical styles remaining
from ancient China. It is said that when Kublai Khan was on his expedition
to Dali, he received help from Mailiang the leader of the Naxi people
in Lijiang. On his departure, the great Khan presented. the Naxi with
half a musical ensemble and some music scores as a gift. Hence, Baisha
is also know as "Gift on Departure".
Just out of Lijiang, Snow Dragon Mountain is another place where Yunnan's
minority groups can be found. Snow Dragon Mountain is a "must-visit",
if you can survive the long wait for a chairlift. You alight from
the chairlift at Spruce Meadow, an otherworldly place where ethnic
dancers serenade the mountaintops, and a few rustic craft stalls offer
Tibetan herbal medicines and woolen knits. Miraculously, Spruce Meadow
maintains its pristine ambiance, unspoiled by the tourist onslaught.
The whole of Lijiang is more than just a living cultural museum. In
many ways, it embodies the spirit of China, which, like the canal
running through Old Lijiang, seems to flow timelessly through the
eons. |
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| Graham Simmons
is a travel writer and photographer. He writes for publications including
CNN traveler, Travel Vacations and a number of other magazines. |
