| |
China > Places > Lijiang
The ancient Lijiang, which is also known as Dayan Town, is located in the Li
jiang County, in the northwest of the Yunnan province of China. This area
has been bountifully blessed with magnificent and beautiful mountains,
rivers and a long history. The ancient town has a rich national-cultural
atmosphere. It is an ancient, but intact city, inhabited mostly by Naxi
ethnic groups and covers an area of 1.5 square kilometres.
The Ancient Lijiang City, which has a history of 800 or 900 years, began to
take shape in the Southern Song Dynasty and in 1253, Kublai (the first
emperor of the Yuan Dynasty) was stationed here during his march towards the
south. The Ancient Lijiang City was named “Dayan County” in the Ming
Dynasty. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, it became much larger. It was given
that name, because it is in the middle of the Lijiang Dam, it is surrounded
by the green mountains (Lion Mountain in the west and Elephant and Golden
Row Mountains in the north), a river runs through the forest, and it looks
like a green ink stone. These mountains in the northwest shelter it from the
cold wind and in the southeast there are fertile fields, which are dozens of
kilometres long.
The city is favoured with plentiful sunlight, an east wind and clear spring
water, which flows in three streams and reaches every family. The streets
are paved with local stone slabs, which do not get muddy in the rainy season
and are free of dust in the dry season. Many stone bridges and arches in the
city were built during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
 Orderly
roads and lanes extend to four directions from the central square.
Residential houses are made of timber; most have a screen wall in the front
and some have a quadruple courtyard. The locals plant flowers in their
courtyards.
It’s inhabited mostly by Naxi ethnic groups. The ancient traditional culture
of the Naxi ethnic group is the Dongba culture, which is based on the Dongba
religion. Most believers are skilled in medicine and the culture is passed
on through literature and art.
The Dongba language has more than 1,300 separate words, which are written in
primitive pictographic characters. There are more than 1,400 types of Dongba
scriptures, written in these characters and they take up 20,000 volumes. The
scriptures cover religion, philosophy, history, local customs, literature,
art, astronomy, medicine, the calendar, geography, flora, fauna, dancing,
painting and music.
There are many traditional festivals for Naxi people, such as the Sanduo
Festival and the Torch Festival and the most delicious traditional food, is
called Lijiang round cake.
An American scholar arrived at Lijiang in 1921 and the Dongba culture of
Naxi nationality began to attract the attention of foreign scholars.
Lijiang has many historical relics. The Old Town of Lijiang is the most
complete ancient town in China. Black dragon pool, Wufeng Building and
Lijiang mural paintings are very famous in China. Lijiang is the home of a
mural, which was painted by people from Han, Tibetan and Naxi ethnic groups
in the Ming Dynasty. They cover a total area of 139, 22 square meters on 55
walls of Dabaoji Palace, Liuli Hall, Dabao Pavilion and other buildings. The
largest is 2.07 meters by 4.48 meters and contains 600 figures.
 Lijiang
has breath-taking wonderful sights such as Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and its
modern maritime glacier, Tiger Leaping Gorge, the world-famous grand canyon;
and Lugu Lake, the cultural cradle of the “Matriarchy” of the Yongning Mosuo
people in Ninglang.
With the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Naxi Nationality
experienced a huge and unprecedented social change, as did China’s other
nationalities. A 7-degree earthquake took place in Lijiang, on the 24th of
February 1996, and more than 5000 people died. Naxi nationality suffered the
most. The earthquake caused many parts of the world to pay attention to
Lijiang, and at such a difficult time, the unique landscape and culture of
Lijiang began to catch the attention of the world.
Approved by the World Legacy Committee of the United Nations Education,
Science and Culture Organization, Lijiang was added to the list of the world
cultural legacy in 1997 ( Only Pingyao of Shanxi Province and Lijiang of
Yunnan Province are on this list due to their ancient style and features).
The tourist industry in Lijiang began to develop quickly, and Lijiang has
since become one of the most famous tourist spots in China and has recently
been chosen as one of the most favourite destinations in China.
Learn to Speak Chinese
Chinese is the worlds most widely spoken language in the world and
it has been an official language of the United Nations since
the founding of the organization in 1945 and
now that China has joined the super powers,
the ability to speak Chinese is a great advantage
for any business person.
You can learn Chinese through taking Live
On Line lessons with teachers in Beijing
from the convenience of your own home.
Enjoy all the comforts that online learning provides.
Learn Chinese with China's Best Teachers from
Simple Conversation, to Advanced and Business Communication
Click Here For Your First Chinese Lesson
apprendre le mandarin - chinesische schriftzeichen lernen
livre d'expressions chinoises
|
|
|
|
