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Yunnan Province, China: A Travelogue China Yunnan Travelogue U.S.-Kunming, China Kunming-Lijiang, China Lijiang-Deqin, China Deqin-Beijing, China |
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| Click image to enlarge |
 Lijiang  Naxi Woman  Lashihai  Yangtze River  Birong Gorge |
We take a 50-minute flight to Lijiang, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The icy peaks of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain seem to hover over the city. Cold, clear water from the mountain flows in meandering canals through the 800-year-old town center. Narrow stone streets do not allow cars, creating something akin to an Asian Venice. Naxi (pronounced nah-shee) is the dominant ethnic group here, and their traditional blue and white attire is seen throughout the old town. Lijiang is one of the most magical places in China. But one worries that the growing number of outside vendors selling imported tourist junk is changing its character.
The Conservancy's small Lijiang office is a traditional Naxi house, made available by the family of Rose Niu, the Yunnan project's leader and TNC's chief representative in China. The office also houses visiting scientists and volunteers from Australia and the U.S. We join staff at a community meeting at a village on nearby Lashihai (hai = lake). The lake is a major stopover for migratory waterfowl, including the endangered black-necked crane—and a magnet for birdwatchers. TNC is working with these communities to help them develop and manage economic opportunities for nature tourism in a manner that also helps protect the resource. Then we're off to Laojunshan, habitat for vast rhododendron forests and the rare Yunnan golden monkey—a future action site for conservation. It's a long day, and on the drive back to Lijiang, we stop at the First Bend of the Yangtze River, historic from the time of Kublia Khan to Mao.
The four-hour drive to Zhongdian follows the Yangtze River valley. We stop at a famed natural landmark, the 10,000-feet-deep Tiger Leaping Gorge. A new road and tunnel is being blasted out of the steep cliffs. Tour buses unload at the top. A cement walkway down to the water includes food and trinket stalls every few meters. Local children are dressed in costumes and perched precariously on rock ledges to be photographed for a few yuan. And strong-legged men with sedan-chairs are prepared to haul those tourists unable to make the climb back. It's sobering to see the impact mass tourism can have on a natural wonder. As we drive out of the river valley and on to the plateau above, everything changes. The landscape becomes drier and brown; and the people, architecture and language morphs from Naxi to Tibetan. We check into the quaint Gyalthang Dzong Hotel, a guesthouse owned by a Tibetan-American, who is working to attract eco-tourism to the area and strengthen traditional craft industries of the Tibetan people.
Zhongdian reminds us of a dusty U.S. frontier town, hell-bent on modernizing. It recently opened its first airport, but yak herds are still likely to disrupt downtown traffic. We stop for morning coffee at the Tibetan Internet Café, where the menu features a "Grand Slam" breakfast à la Denny's! Our driver prefers steamed bread and yak-butter tea. We drive three hours north to see an alternative to what we witnessed yesterday. Birong Gorge is a breathtakingly beautiful—and highly biodiverse—natural landscape that the Yunnan Great Rivers Project hopes to keep that way. Local lore claims this area to be the inspiration for Shangri-la in James Hilton's Lost Horizon. Canyon walls soar to the sky on either side of a crystal-clear stream. A hiking trail snakes through the 120-kilometer gorge. 
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