From its source in the Tibetan snowfields, the Yangtze meanders for more than 6300 km through the central heartlands of China before flowing into the East China Sea just north of Shanghai.
For most of its journey the longest of all rivers in one of the world’s biggest countries is a docile ribbon of brown.
While the mighty waterway passes fields and farmlands and sprints past valley walls now and again only once does it wildly rage and uncontrollably churn as its progress to the sea is temporarily restricted by the narrowest of all gorges.
I reached the awesome Tiger Leaping Gorge after a two hour drive from Lijiang, an ancient trading town of Yunnan Province in southwest China, followed by a gentle 3 km stroll on a well constructed walkway.
The scenic reward was well worth the physical effort because after passing through the final pedestrian tunnel I was confronted by the full fury of the massive river surging between sheer cliff faces just 25 metres apart.
The noise was deafening and the experience exhilarating as I stood gazing skyward in an unsuccessful attempt to see the peaks of cloud covered mountains.
It’s 3900 metres from turbulent waters to snow-capped summits, a dizzying distance that has propelled this scenically splendid place into the record books as one of the deepest gorges in the world.
Lijiang
The name, I learned, is said to have been derived from a legendary event when a tiger jumped across the narrowest point of the river to avoid a hunter.
Tigers are seen no more. They have been replaced by tourists venturing out for a few hours from the quaint architecture and distinct cultural attractions of Lijiang.
Dating back more than 800 years, the 2200 metre high city was a significant trading post along the ‘old tea horse road’.
Today there are two ‘faces’ to Lijiang. The modern one of wide streets and sleek buildings is the slick and shiny face visitors see after a drive through the charming countryside from the airport.
But a panorama of high rise hotels and contemporary boutiques isn’t the reason visitors make a 50 minute flight from Yunnan’s provincial capital of Kunming to Lijiang.
Instead visitors in increasing numbers are lured by the old ‘face’ of Lijiang, one of the most famous ancient cultural cities in China and one of the newer entries on the World Heritage List.
Visitors are fascinated by the rickety wooden dwellings they can photograph, the cobbled streets they can wander, the finely crafted souvenirs made by the local Naxi ethnic people they can buy and the nightly concerts of traditional Naxi instruments they can enjoy.
The Ancient City of Lijiang, also known as Dayan Town, is time capsule without a rival anywhere else in China.
Lijiang
Without the slightest hint of jetlag visitors are taken back to the economically prosperous Song Dynasty as they walk historic lanes, pass venerable buildings and cross bridges in another centre that contends for the title, Venice of the East.
Casually strolling past one old house I stopped, peered inside and said “ni hao” to a group of old women seemingly hypnotised by a game that looked much like majong. Gold teeth sparkled as they broke into laughter, waving in response to my greeting.
I continued down the well swept lane paved with dark stones of many hues. Not one was out of place and not one scrap of rubbish was to be seen. And the snow fed waters of the canal that rushed through the middle of the lane were clear and free of debris.
In wood framed doorways a few old men squatted on tiny stools smoking long pipes. Under branches of leafy willows some aged women sat knitting while others proudly held their grandchildren.
A variety of accommodation and a host of other facilities have been developed to cater to visitors. With an eye on their budget but with a view on emerging themselves in local life some visitors choose to live with families for a week or two.
More upmarket is the concrete and glass tower of the Guanfang Hotel. One advantage of staying here is the view guests have, in one direction, over the nearby ancient city and, in the other, the majesty of the 5500 metre high Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
Its eternally snow capped mantle, a mere 30 km north of Lijiang, can be seen up close and personal during a 3 km long cable car ride which transports visitors through a variety of climatic zones in just 20 minutes.
At the base of the mountain there are numerous trees that look like they were just planted. But looks are deceiving, I learned. Growing in a climate where the summer is short and cool and in soil that is less than ideal the forest I saw was actually 80 years old.
At the top and on a sunny but still cold day the dusted peaks – there are 13 in the range with ice valleys in between – appear as if they had come straight out of a delicate Chinese brush painting.
Related posts:
-
Hi, I recently came to your blog and started reading along your articles. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading your blog. It is a realls nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often…
-
Hi, i’ve been keeping with your writing for a long time, although never ever commented anything before. Thought I’d post something. I found the content you wrote quite useful. There initially were two or three things which wern’t completely clear, however all around, the post is great — not you need me personally suggesting exactly what you realize, ; ). Anyway, thanks!
-
I dont really know what youre talking about here. This cant be the only way to think about this can it? It seems like you know a lot about the subject, so why not explore it more? Make it more accessible to everyone else who may not agree with you? Youd get a lot more people behind this if you just stopped making general statements.
-
Im impressed. I dont think Ive met anyone who knows as much about this subject as you do. Youre truly well informed and very intelligent. You wrote something that people could understand and made the subject intriguing for everyone. Really, great blog youve got here.
-
I’m looking for themes on my blog I am just starting. Do you think this type of theme would work for my photography blog?
-
I was very pleased to find this site.I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.
-
I happened to stumble across this website searching for something different, glad I stumbled into it though. Very interesting.
-
Look forward to reading your next post.
-
Great job here. I really enjoyed what you had to say. Keep going because you definitely bring a new voice to this subject. Not many people would say what youve said and still make it interesting. Well, at least Im interested. Cant wait to see more of this from you.
-
Great wordpress blog here.. It’s hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! take care and see you soon
-
Do you have an RSS feed?
-
Is there any way that I can join this author’s fan club? Someone please e-mail me if you know how.
-
Took me time to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article. It proved to be Very helpful to me and I am sure to all the commenters here! It’s always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained! I’m sure you had fun writing this article.
-
I have a basketball fan blog. I will add your blog to the blogroll as I think my visitors will love to read your posts…
-
I’m so thrilled with the new search of your wewebsite. Gratitude so a lot for keeping it running!
-
Throughout the grand scheme of things you receive a B+ for hard work. Where you lost me was on all the details. As they say, details make or break the argument.. And that couldn’t be more correct here. Having said that, allow me inform you just what exactly did deliver the results. Your authoring is definitely very persuasive and that is probably why I am making an effort in order to opine. I do not really make it a regular habit of doing that. Second, while I can notice a jumps in logic you make, I am not necessarily sure of how you seem to unite your details that produce the actual final result. For right now I will subscribe to your point however wish in the foreseeable future you link the facts better.
-
Is there any way that I can join this author’s fan club? Someone please e-mail me if you know how.
-
talented daybook you accept
-
Well I really enjoyed reading it. This post provided by you is very effective for accurate planning.
-
How’s the job hunt for everyone going? my husband has been out of work for 6 months and no hope in sight
-
Sterling work, my good fellow.
-
i was reading throught some of the posts and i identify them to be awfully interesting. abject my english is not exaclty the very best. would there be anyway to transalte this into my vernacular, spanish. it would in reality better me a lot. since i could be on a par with the english interaction to the spanish language.
-
I am always browsing online for tips that can benefit me. Thank you!
-
Love the webpage
-
actually loved. truly reply ideas.
-
Sweet blog post! This is a exceptionally entertaining website that you have.
-
2. Great story once again! Thanks a lot;)
-
Express gratitude regarding things stunning criticize; this might be as well as the actions the fact stays me and my peers although away daytime.There are once and for all extensive been quite hoping up to to formulate your web-site ideal after My spouse and i identified with regards to here with a closed friend since had to be thankful pictures was at the posture to discover the game correct after looking for for a time. Learning to be a intelligent doodlekit, I am over joyed to discover information about folks eating gumption then which includes for that network. We opted to investigate to provide the group passion portion issue as it would be instead moving, but also great world-wide-web authors actually access your credit rating customers will definitely produce. Fan advantageous I will never see return to their office spine and send orders off a number my favorite acquaintances.
-
Thanks for taking this opportunity to talk about this, I feel strongly about it and I benefit from learning about this subject. If possible, as you gain data, please update this blog with new information. I have found it extremely useful.
-
With our home market tips about how could be, To begin with . to create helpful information for declaring bankruptcy under redundancy good. A family understanding would be to put in plain words how unemployment strategy occurs, just what the even covers realising or even a rejecting law suits, and after which add books due to my student’s practice about what the particular maneuvers furthermore regular misunderstandings are usually in declaring redundancy effects.
-
excellent info keep up the work! thankx
-
If you find yourself up to date of a university or and you are also happy to lookup new move on business opportunities which will supply you with large likelihood money, you definitely wish to look at a selection instructions to enable you to secure which fantasy endeavor. Let’s admit it Lectronic it’s a good aggressive rat race marketplace, and therefore if you don’t have your more sharp edge who could allow you to be stand out from nevertheless they set akin to university or college manages to graduate, your odds of bagging this function usually are nil.
-
Great blog you have here. Many websites like this cover subjects that can’t be found in print. I don’t know how we got by 10 years ago with just newspapers and magazines.
-
hoped that you material a bit of indeed nice we give you the credit? acceptable. planning to check back
-
Damn, awesome site. I came across this on Ask Jeeves, and I am over the moon that I did. I will definately be revisiting here more regularly. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table, but am just taking in as much info as I can at the moment.
Thank You
-
Your RSS feed doesn’t work in my browser (google chrome) how can I fix it?
-
I want to thanks for the time you have made in writing this post. I am hoping the same best work from you in the upcoming as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to begin my own blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings quickly. Your write up is a good model of it.
-
If you ever view a Gta Real property Real estate you’ll notice that the best first refer to as to which inturn inturn location rrt is advisable to lodge at. Using more than .Thoughts a multitude other people located in Gta all of your carry on serviceable prepare age, you can imagine in what way gigantic that town locations Gta in fact is.
-
Great site here. Many blogs like yours cover subjects that just aren’t covered by magazines. I don’t know how we got on 15 years ago with just newspapers and magazines.
-
In looking for websites associated to website hosting and specifically comparison internet hosting linux plan net, your site came up.
-
Oh boy! It is like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about this, just like you wrote the book in it or something. I think that you can do with some images to drive the message home a bit, besides that, this is great blog post. A great read. I’ll definitely be back.
-
Is it fine to insert a portion of this on my blog if perhaps I post a reference to this site?
-
In this blog page http://bit.ly/fTCK2s?=fq8 you can find the solution to generate twitter traffic
-
Great site here. Many websites like this cover subjects that just aren’t covered by magazines. I don’t know how we got by 12 years ago with just magazines and newspapers.
-
Thanks for this valuable blog post. I without a doubt enjoyed going through it and can discuss it with individuals.
-
Very good page! This is a very beneficial web-site in which you have.
-
One of the greatest weblogs I’ve come across for info in this specialized niche. I’m going to often be checking back frequently for unique content.
-
Of course, what a great site and educative posts, I will bookmark your website.Have an awsome day!
-
It took me a long time search online, only net unfold the fully details, bookmarked and thank you.
-
Hello. splendid job. I did not anticipate this. This is a fantastic story. Thanks!
-
Great site here. So many blogs like this cover subjects that can’t be found in magazines and newspapers. I don’t know how we got on 12 years ago with just newspapers and magazines.
-
I’m impressed, I have to say. Really rarely do I see a blog that is both informative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. Your idea is important; the issue is something that not many people are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy that I stumbled across this in my search for something relating to this.
-
Hello.This article was really interesting, especially since I was searching for thoughts on this issue last Tuesday.
-
1. Great post it is definitely. Friend on mine has been awaiting for this content.
-
It had been a while since I visited website with such high quality information. Thansk so much for the useful info
-
Hey I found this website to be really attention-grabbing! Bookmarked!
-
Hiya webmaster I like your publish ….
-
Please message me with a few hints & tips on how you made your blog site look this cool, I’d appreciate it.
-
After study a few of the blogposts on your blog since yesterday, and I truly like your style of blogging. I tag it to my favorites internet site list and will be checking back soon. Pls visit my website also and let me know your opinion.
-
Everything you said is correct, however there are various upsides. Like, ready to’t be fired.
-
Great site here. Many websites like this cover subjects that can’t be found in magazines and newspapers. I don’t know how we got by 12 years ago with just print media.
-
2. Excellent work once again! I am looking forward for your next post=)
-
I’m impressed, I have to say. Really seldom do I come across a blog that is both educative and entertaining, and let me tell you, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Your article is outstanding; the issue is something that not many people are talking intelligently about. I’m really happy that I stumbled across this in my search for something relating to it.
-
This is a remarkable blogging site packed with a lot of tips. This article is my favorite.
-
cool inf0 keep up the work! thankx
-
Great! Thanks for post
-
Radialabs is some of the stablest and very efficacious anti-aging also anti-wrinkle solution in any time brought about. This process monthly price emulsion that have cranberry extract grease and as well , key vitamin supplements pass over good moisturizing sense your pores and skin. Yet another robust items to your remedy protect Saccharide Isolerate, any brand associated mushroom often called Agaricus Bisponus Try out Glucane also Chocolate, Shea & Apple butter. Each one of these said elements make piece a new great invincible recipe solving the onset of age while promoting extremely picturesque looking for face skin
-
I used this after trying many supplements. I would recommend this all day long. I found that it was best product around for what your paying, tastes nice, and you can notice the difference in strength and size when using it. Great site too ) !!!
-
thank for post
-
Another especially useful post. If you could please keep us posted about this story, that would certainly be cool.
-
With this industry tips about how certainly, I made the choice to information on filing for jobless benefits. My husband and my belief ended up being understand how having been fired scheme will continue to work, what is the level is designed processing on the other hand rejecting boasts, after which you can add in successes out of my own , personal enjoy as to what the top hints and after that regularly occurring complications have declaring lack of employment health advantages.
-
This has been a good post to see, thanks a lot. For certain i will share this post with my pals and family in my personal blog. It was written very well. Many thanks for discussing.
-
Epson Excellence V300 Photo is seen as a broadband internet form shield. It’s capture movement, snaps to 3d models toys equipped with splendid clearness and furthermore item 3 . all value-priced Epson Brilliance V300 Pictureprofessional makes it much simpler previously while having 4800 dpi to prevent option even a person hosting related with family-friendly incorporates. And in addition, so that you can achieve your pale spouse and kids Images back to life, you’ll be able to Epson Care V300 Photograph to easily reinstate the hue. Also, it gives you painless arrangement but also one-touch checking.
-
I think you have created many truly fascinating points. Not as well many others would actually think about it the way you just did. I am very impressed that there is so much about this subject that has been uncovered and you made it so nicely, with so considerably class. Outstanding one, man! Really great things right here.
-
Very efficiently written article. It will be valuable to everyone who utilizes it, including myself. Keep up the good work – i will definitely read more posts.
-
Great blog you have here. Many blogs like this cover subjects that aren’t found in magazines. I don’t know how we got by 12 years ago with just print media.
-
I would like to thnkx for the efforts you have contributed in composing this article. I am hoping the same top-grade article from you in the future as well. In fact your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my own blog now. Really the blogging is spreading its wings rapidly. Your write up is a good example of it.
-
Great info and right to the point. I am not sure if this is in fact the best place to ask but do you people have any thoughts on where to hire some professional writers? Thanks
-
Sweet blog! I found it while surfing around on Yahoo News. Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Appreciate it
-
You are a very intelligent individual!
-
2. Good story over again! I am looking forward for more updates=)
-
Hey, very nice site. I came across this on Bing, and I am stoked that I did. I will definately be coming back here more often. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table, but am just taking in as much info as I can at the moment.
Thank You
-
You made several good points there. I did a search on the subject and found nearly all persons will go along with with your blog.
-
thank for post
-
You completed various nice points there. I did a search on the subject and found mainly people will have the same opinion with your blog.
-
I was pointed to this article – I am not disappointed in the content – really does deliver the point
-
What you wrote the reality of the issue. article, i love to read views that revealing effective in nature.http://maleextraexposed.com/male-enhancement-and-benefits-of-using-penis-pills
-
A particular gardening equipment houses for sale with San Antonio, you need to full-fledged with great of mediation.
-
Great blog you have here. Many websites like yours cover subjects that aren’t found in magazines. I don’t know how we got by 12 years ago with just newspapers and magazines.
-
What have you been infused by to write such marvellous article?
-
I had been wondering if you ever thought of changing the page layout of your website? It is very well written; I love what you have got to say. But maybe you could create a a bit more in the way of content so people could connect to it better. You have got a great deal of text for only having one or two graphics. Maybe you could space it out better?
-
Great site here. Many websites like this cover subjects that aren’t found in magazines. I don’t know how we got by 10 years ago with just newspapers and magazines.
-
A really helpfull article – Thank you very much I hope you dont mind me writting about this post on my blog. I am wondering how I may be notified whenever a new post has been made. I have subscribed to your rss feed which really should do the trick! I will also link back to this post Have a nice day!
-
Great blog you have here. Many blogs like this cover subjects that aren’t found in magazines. I don’t know how we got on 12 years ago with just newspapers and magazines.
Comments are now closed.
94 comments
Trackback link: http://www.cnto.org.au/blog/tales-of-old-lijiang/trackback/