March 2008, Lijiang, China
Lijiang is located on the north side of the Himalaya Mountains 1,500 km east of Mount Everest and approximately 150 km from the Tibetan boarder in Yunnan Provence.

In 1933 the nearby mountains inspired James Hilton to write Lost Horizons the book that popularized the term Shangri-La. Citing extracts from Hilton’s book, some areas of China, such as the scenic town of Lijiang now claim they were the inspiration for Shangri-La. The neighboring county of Zhongdian in Yunnan has gone so far as to officially rename itself as Xianggelila (Shangri-La).When no one was looking I kicked the dirt in a couple of places but found no signs of a hidden diamond.

The day after visiting the lamasery in Shangri-La I headed two and a half hours southwest of Lijiang to Shibao Shan (Mountain).

Polata – Shangri-La

Near the top of Shibao Shan there are rare remnants of Tang Dynasty rock carvings that have been worshiped and protected by the Bai ethnic group. Li, my guide explained the people were recently relocated off the mountain, away from the historic rock carvings, to protect the IXth Century carvings.

The Bai People hold the color white in high esteem and call themselves “Baizi”, “Baini” or “Baihuo”, which means white people. The Bais are Buddhists and worshippers of a “communal god.

The “March Fair,” which falls between March 15 and 20 of the lunar calendar, is the Bais biggest festival. It is celebrated every year at the foot of the Diancang Hill to the west of Dali city. People gather there to dance, race horses and play other games. June 25 is the “Torch Festival.” On that day, torches are lit everywhere to usher in a bumper harvest and to bless the people with good health and fortune. Streamers bearing auspicious words are hung in doorways and at village entrances alongside the flaming torches. Villagers, holding aloft torches, walk around the fields to drive insects away.

After hiking around Shiboa Mountain visiting the three main temple sites our next destination was Shaxi, a Bai village situated along the historic Tea Horse Road. We turned off the road that followed the ridgeline and entered a road with a series of twists and turns that descended into the Shaxi River Valley. The valley is wide and flat with eleven small villages situated along the road. Just before entering Shaxi, the largest village in the valley, we passed a series of kilns producing the typical dark gray roof tiles so commonly found on all the houses in this and other Chinese regions.

Roof Tile Kilns

The Chamadao, literally translated as ‘Tea Horse Path’, was a central trade route for exchanging Tibetan horses and Chinese tea. The Silk Road, starting in Xian, connected China to Asia Minor and the Mediterranean. It is probably one of the most well-known and significant trade routes in history. However, the Tea Horse Road is a lesser-known route that parallels the Silk Road culturally and historically. The 2,360 kilometer route has been travelled for thousands of years connecting present-day Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet, with the volcanic ranges of Tengchong, the Khamba people in Changdu and the breathtaking gorges of Lijiang, through Tibet as far south as Myanmar and India.

Leaping Tiger Gorge

The trail was used to transport bricks of tea from Xishuangbanna in Yunnan, to Tibet where horses were bred for trade. The tea horse trade was formalized during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

There is archaeological evidence supporting migration as early as five thousand years ago. This trading was due to the close relationship between Tibetans, the Chinese imperial court and southwestern minority groups. It was due to this relationship that the interest in tea developed in Tibet.

The Tea Horse Road had two main routes stemming from different major points of tea production (Pu’er in Yunnan and Ya’an in Sichuan) which converged before continuing through the mountains into Tibet. These routes existed until World War II, when trade was blockaded and eventually replaced caravan travel with modern roads and railways. Although the Tea Horse Road is no longer used as a trade route, there is still evidence of many years of cultural exchange.

After parking the van on the main road into Shaxi, I left Li to explore with my camera the cobblestoned lanes and surrounding fields. The homes are courtyard type surrounded with high walls. The lanes are narrow limiting transport to motorcycles. There are four gates aligned on the cardinal direction of the compass.

Main Lane

I left the village through the south gate and reentered via the west gate. Young children and older men were not keen to have their photographs taken but I was regularly accosted by young working men wanting to be photographed.

Both adults and children would follow me from a distance. A couple of times I ended up in blind alleys which they found hysterical. Often as I raised my camera little boys would flee and the elderly men would turn their backs to me.

Outside the gates surrounding the village are fields of rice, maize, and tobacco. There were mostly children playing in the fields with small herds of cows and goats were being driven along the dirt tracks.

There have been a group of architects from Switzerland have working on restoring many of the structures in Shaxi. Until recently Shaxi’s architecture was falling into ruin. In 2001 the World Monuments Fund listed Shaxi as one of the 100 most endangered sites in the world. This prompted action to restore Shaxi’s architecture and protect its cultural heritage. The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH) and the People’s Government of Jianchuan County jointly established the Shaxi Rehabilitation Project.

This project has successfully renovated many of Shaxi’s most important buildings. Paintings that had been hidden beneath dirt for over a hundred years are once again visible.

Shaxi is becoming an increasingly popular tourist destination for outdoor enthusiasts. There are many hiking trails in the area offering beautiful views and amazing destinations. In addition to the hike I took to Shibao Shan there are many Yi minority villages, which can be found high in the nearby mountains. Shibao Shan is about a two-hour hike from Shaxi and is home to the 1,300 year old rock carvings where I began the day. The Yi villages provide a glimpse of the past with the villagers living the same way they have for centuries.

As I continued to explore lanes further from the main lane I realized this village is not accustomed to many tourists. This will soon change as the government has begun to improve the road into Shaxi.

© Copyright Michael Morrissey, All Rights Reserved.

Michael Morrissey is considered one of the new generation of adventure and travel photographers. Based in Bangkok, Thailand with a passion for travel, Michael got hooked on photography while driving a bus from Istanbul to Katmandu in the 70’s; an obsession briefly interrupted with a twenty year career in business. You can view his photography at: www.mjmorrissey.com

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