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Lijiang Today

When the Lijiang Express (a far cry from the old rust bucket that hauled us there from Panzhihua in 1991)- large leather armchairs, seatbelts, hostesses and blaring TV – pulled into modern Lijiang we feared the worst: we had arrived in what seemed to be a vast expanse of empty roads, half-finished concrete buildings, monstrous new hotels and souvenir shops… Was this going to be the Dali nightmare all over again? Adam most eloquently expresses his feelings on the over-exploitation of that once lovely village on our blog Holachina.blog » The Death of Dali / Shangri-La Tourism What happens when all of China and the world want to visit a small town? .

we were shocked by the mayhem

A friendly Naxi taxi driver drove us to the area near the waterwheels, which marks the entrance to the Old City. Immediately, we were shocked by the mayhem: we saw scores of Chinese girls dressed in fake Naxi costumes, tourist ponies, photographers, touts and, of course, hundreds of tourists milling about, or trailing after their megaphone-toting, flag-waving guides!

We quickly turned into one of the narrow, cobbled streets, these days lined with souvenir shops, and went in search of affordable accommodation, which we eventually found at the fairly atmospheric Old Town Inn.

The whole scene was incredible distasteful

When we emerged again in the evening, we found that the streets and canals were lit by romantic red lanterns. Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before the mellow ambience created by the lanterns was completely shattered by the thumping music emanating from a group of disco bars. Inside, there were girls dancing on the tables, surrounded by inanely clapping and cheering men leering at them through half empty Maotai bottles and their steamed up glasses. The whole scene was incredible distasteful and entirely out of place in a traditional village with a sensitive minority culture, such as Lijiang.

Baishuitai ( A day trip from Zhongdian Yunnan Province)

Baishuitai 白水台. Here is how we wrote about it in our Diary that day (Sept 3 – 2007): … It is a stunning, largely uphill ride, through dense forests and undulating meadows crossed by rushing rivers. On our way we pass the occasional nomads’ tent and several small minority and Tibetan villages.

The Yi

The first is a rickety, wooden Yi settlement that is virtually deserted. According to our driver, a taciturn Tibetan, the Yi are probably out gathering mushrooms. Curiously, the subject of the Yi is the very first to loosen his tongue: he claims that the Tibetans dislike the Yi because they practise slash and burn agriculture and are responsible for the cutting down of the forests…. Moreover, in general, they are not to be trusted (his words, not ours). His outburst leaves us a bit baffled because, as far as we know, not all Tibetans are equally ecologically-minded. What to think e.g. of the extended use many Tibetans make of rare furs?

Fortunately, our driver is much more positive about the Hui village we pass later. The Hui people living there have adopted the Tibetan language and way of dressing, to the point where they have become almost indistinguishable from the Tibetan majority. Apparently, their ancestors fled to the area when the Muslim Kingdom of Dali was overthrown by the Qing troops, around 1850 or 60.