Four Trips to Yunnan (One of Dali, the Extraordinary Shaxi Ancient Town)

Time: February
With whom：a person
Tour kinds: Photography, Humanities, Saving Money
Updated: 2022.03.16

After eight nights in and around Lijiang, I set off for Shaxi today.

Shaxi Ancient Town, under the jurisdiction of Dali Prefecture, seems closer to Lijiang. The shuttle bus from Lijiang to Jianchuan County and then to Shaxi is quite convenient.

After settling in at the hotel, the sky started to look cloudy and rainy. Armed with an umbrella, I began my journey through the streets and alleys, treading on the wet stone paths.

This is also an important town on the Ancient Tea Horse Road, with a history of over 2,400 years. It is said to have the "only surviving ancient market" on the Tea Horse Road.

Because it is far from the national highway, it avoided the first wave of ancient town tourism development.

In 2002, Shaxi was listed as one of the world's "endangered sites of concern." In 2003, Huang Yinwu, an architect who had just completed his studies in Switzerland, arrived in Shaxi with 14 million yuan in charitable funds raised internationally. He began a heritage preservation project that continues to this day, leaving one with the impression that it's untouched. The first impression is of a quaint, quiet, and peaceful place. There are no throngs of noisy tourists, no overly adorned guesthouses, and no tourist-goods shops. Indigenous residents outnumber tourists and foreign businesspeople.

The second impression is that the opera house and the old temple complement each other beautifully.

Like many other ancient tea-horse towns, this one also has Sifang Street.

This Sifang Street Square, once a trading ground for tea, salt, and various other goods, towers over a three-story pavilion or stage.

This building, built during the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty, is located on Sifang Street in the heart of the ancient town. The ground floor housed shops, the second floor housed a stage, and the third floor housed the Kuixing Pavilion (Wenquxing). The stage, visible from just outside the village, was once a landmark of the ancient town. The square served as the central market for caravan merchants and local residents, with Xingjiao Temple across the street. Day after day, performances were performed on the stage, offering a place for worshippers and the gods, and for the long-traveled caravans to enjoy tea, trade, rest, entertainment, and food.

The ancient roads, stone bridges, old trees, grazing horses, and a slightly desolate environment are undoubtedly a painting of "Autumn Thoughts in the Pure Sands" by Ma Zhiyuan.

"Withered vines, old trees, and crows; a small bridge, flowing water, and a house; an ancient road, a west wind, and a skinny horse. The sun sets in the west, and a heartbroken person is far away."

You might as well change the word "heartbroken person" to "traveling person" to make the poetic meaning more in line with my mood.

Is it the poetic sentiment: "When I went there, the willows swayed. Now I come back, it's raining and snowing?"

And this: "Mounting without a whip, I bend willow branches instead. Sitting on the bench and playing the flute, I worry about the travelers."

…

It really adds color, what a perfect match!

Restored to its original state, the "Shaxi Revitalization Project" is truly remarkable. This town is now undoubtedly among the most beautiful in China.