Lijiang

Lijiang, in northern Yunnan province, is stunningly sited right at the base of the Jade Snow mountain, which is covered in snow all year.

The old town has maintained its architechtural integrity and is a UNESCO world heritage site.

Walking through town early in the morning, the streets are quiet and you can get a feel of what it must have been like to live here when the town was inhabited by the Naxi, who are one of the minority groups on China.

Canals, large and small, wind through the old town.

I love how the doors are still panels that have to be removed.  These touches make the town immensely charming!

The town has been continuously inhabited for over 800 years.  This active well was used by the troops of Kublai Khan!

Surrounded on two sides by hills, this pagoda watches over the town.  (Built surprisingly, to me, in 1999)

The Naxi people believe in a religion/mythology called Dongba.

They have their own entire writing system.

The number of masters of the Dongba script is decreasing, but we were lucky enough to see on in the Naxi/Dongba museum.

Also sited in the museum, this banner stating "Mao Tse-Tung, the Dongba are with you"

One afternoon, I was approached by a little boy.  We became friends.

The students and I also got to meet another Dongba writing master (the one with the hat on the left)

And we got a lesson on how to write in the Dongba script!

We painted shirts!  Here's mine that has "North, East, South and West"

The back is my favorite word that we learned.  It's "giving birth to a child"

Lijiang is a BEAUTIFUL place with such a great culture, but, it's problem is that it has been discovered.......and discovered intensely by Chinese tourists.

What does it mean when Chinese tourists start visiting a place in droves?  It means, in the case of Lijiang, that the Naxi have moved out and raucous bars have moved in.  The main street of Lijiang, at night, is a raucous set of bars where each one has a hipster guitar/singer and loud lights.  Every shop sells the same 100 tourist kitsch items.

And worst of all.  The shell of Lijiang has been preserved well, but it's soul, the Naxi people, is gone.  And that's sad.