Li Jiang: Ancient Land of Dongba and Naxi

My first overnight bus journey in China brought me in the morning of Nov 8 to the town of Li Jiang, NW of Kun Ming in Yunnan province.  Li Jiang is in the land of the Naxi (Na-shee) people and is now comprised of a modern town and Da Yan (the ancient town where I spent my time).  Reminding me a lot of the Zagori villages in Northern Greece, rebuilt Da Yan (much was sacked in an earthquake in 1996) retains its medieval charm and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The entire city is made mostly of stone, with the typical Chinese pagoda roof design and has flowing canals everywhere.  Watching over the city like a hawk is the mighty glacier-capped Jade Dragon Mountain (Yu Long Mountain), which is the southernmost glacier in the Northern hemisphere.  The highest peak, Shanzidou, stands at 5,600m (18,400ft) and has only been scaled once because of the high technical difficulty and the avalanche danger of the peak.  The backside of the mountain provides one side of the Tiger Leaping Gorge, which I would later hike through.  The canals are as much a part of the beauty is they are a vital part of everyday life - used for cooking, washing, etc.  Li Jiang is a major domestic tourist destination, but the site of huge hoards of tour groups everywhere does not diminish the charm of the town.  It is full of winding alleys, away from the crowds, that can send your head spinning, but as Ankit once told me: "you can't really get lost if you're not really going anywhere". 

Streets of Old Li Jiang

I stayed at the Intl Youth Hostel, which was a place I was looking for and took eons to find in my bleary-eyed state at 7:45am, and is run by a very sweet Naxi woman who was my travel agent for my time in Li Jiang and the Tiger Leaping Gorge.  After a powernap - sleeper buses are not meant for people of my size, and I'm not even tall - I bought some Naxi artwork and discovered what China Post was all about.  It was the friendliest and easiest postal experience ever, putting our USPS to shame.  In calculating what I owed, the postal employee used an abacus, despite having a digital calculator at her disposal.  It turned out, the calculator is solely there in order for me to understand the number of the amount I owed. 

Jade Dragon Mtn from Li Jiang

I spent the afternoon wandering around town in a peaceful trance at the daily routines of the Naxi women.  There are philosophical signs everywhere telling all to maintain proper behavior, preserving culture and environment, etc.  It again reminded me of the deference to the state, higher authority and community that is not just pervasive in post-1949 China.  This is a philosophical difference between the West and East Asian cultures and is steeped deep in Confucian beliefs.  Seeing the cultural paradise that is preserved and flouted in Li Jiang, it is hard to believe that the Cultural Revolution was a mere 40 years ago.  I suppose its much like a non-American's observation that Obama was elected while the Civil Rights movement was a mere 40 years ago. 

Future Yao Mings

I eventually made my way just north of town to the Black Dragon Pond (Hei Long Tan), which is one of the most picturesque sites in the world (and is widely known as THE site in China).  However, entering the beautiful park reminded me that what goes around, comes around.  While I evaded foreigner fees in India, I was slapped with a 80RMB preservation fee entering this park.  The park is well manicured and lush and surrounds an obviously jade-colored pond that is segmented into nine segments, to represent a dragon, and has a gorgeous pagoda in the middle and the mighty Yu Long Mountain in the background.  Such a still body of water, it provides a stunning reflection that is reminiscent of a full Mirror Lake in Yosemite Valley.  The body of water also sits on what was considered the sacred water of the Dongba.  Dongba is used to describe the Naxi script (the only written language still using pictographs, I think that's the right word), the priests and religion of the Naxi people.  Dongba philosophy/faith is very much based on the harmony between man and nature and the belief they are two half brothers born of the same father and two mothers.  It is clear why environmentalism has been valued to these people in this region for a long time and why the Black Dragon Pond is such a beautifully maintained area.

Kids in Old Li Jiang

Taking an evening lull at the hostel before I attended the performance of the Naxi Orchestra that evening, I met Alistair, a Brit who lives in Birmingham.  Cut from the same spirit and soul as me, Alistair used to be an Arthur Anderson consultant out of school, got fed up, and has spent his years since working on his family farm and traveling extensively throughout the world.  We immediately got along very well, discussing politics, migration and worldviews and agreeing on the travel principle of seeing and experiencing all cultures and making sure to bring this knowledge back to the homeland to inform and make this a truly global world. 

After a delicious meal of curried beef at Susan's Naxi Kitchen (I would return here in a few days), I jetted off to the concert performance.  The Naxi Orchestra is a long established troupe that has been performing ancient Naxi music on traditional instruments.  There are four surviving members of the original troupe (excluding the director) who are in their 80s and sporting massively long and grey goatees (oldest is 86) and when they weren't performing like young musicians, they were taking naps in between songs.  The 37 deceased members of the troupe are respectfully honored with their pictures above the concert hall stage.  All of the performers wore traditional and colorful Naxi costumes and played ancient instruments - flutes, er-hu (bowed lute), qu'chin (tabletop finger plucked harp) and percussions.  I was greatly reminded of my East Asian ethnomusicology course at Berkeley and the previous knowledge definitely enhanced my appreciation.  Midway through the performance, the director, Dr. Xuan Ke, an ethnomusicologist and performer, graced the stage to explain his and the orchestra's story further.  Dr. Ke was imprisoned at the age of 28 for 21 years in 1957 as part of Chairman Mao's cultural eradication.  He also just had a stroke and is turning 80, yet has a full head of jet-black hair and was as cogent as one could be.  All the Westerners in the crowd clapped when he told us he just recovered from a stroke.  After cracking a joke in Chinese, he translated for us "you are supposed to clap at Obama being elected, not at an old man having a stroke!"  There was a solo performed by an immensely jovial former opera singer and actor and, though I couldn't understand a word, his emotions easily translated the hilarity of the song, "I want to borrow your wife".  Another qu'chin performer took a solo to sing us some love songs and was described by the narrator as "not the most handsome man, but easily the most romantic". 

Folk singers in square in Li Jiang

The following morning, Nov 9, Ali and I jetted off to find our bus to the Tiger Leaping Gorge.  Using the bus number as our guide, we raced all over town to every conceivable bus depot only to come back empty-handed to the hostel.  We learned our bus number had changed, raced back and eventually were on way for a wonderful and strenuous day and a half hike through the Yangtze River-carved and dominant-mountain shrouded Gorge.

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PS Once again, I am at the mercy of painfully slow computers and bandwidth chewing gamers.  I will upload pics once I get a chance - be sure to check back. 

Friendly advice from the government

More friendly advice

Jade Dragon Mtn in Black Dragon Pond

Me at Black Dragon Pond

Black Dragon Pond 2

Black Dragon Pond 3

Black Dragon Pond 4

Chinese script on stone

Pagoda in Black Dragon Pond

Red lamps in karaoke st of Old Li Jiang

Naxi Orchestra 1

Naxi Orchestra 2

Octagenuarians of Naxi Orchestra

Jolly opear singer of Naxi Orchestra