Breathtaking Lijiang

Updated: 2015-02-18 10:22

By Guo Yali(China Daily)

Snow-capped Yulong Snow Mountain.

For lunch or dinner, you can just pick a local restaurant to try some of the famous regional dishes, such as preserved rib hotpot. Large pieces of preserved pork meat can be seen hanging from the ceiling in most of the restaurants serving local cuisine. And some even keep a whole preserved pig.

Baisha, which is about 5 km north from Shuhe, is mainly one long street, and is for those who want a more authentic taste of local Naxi life. There are also vintage shops, but mostly run by local residents who quote much more reasonable prices.

We walked past Dr Ho Shi-xiu's Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Chinese Herbal Medicine Clinic and tried to visit, but were shooed away because a woman was describing her personal problem to the healer. But I could not help finding out the story of this 92-year-old legendary doctor, who was born in Baisha, studied English in Nanjing in the 1940s and has become a legendary herbalist. He was introduced to the outside world by the writer Bruce Chatwin, and since then he has become an international celebrity, visited by admirers from local villagers to Western royalty.

A coffee break at Mr Yang's House, also brought surprises. At first I thought Yang was just a local farmer who owns a house on the street, but he turned out to be a retired police officer who also studies the Naxi culture in his spare time. He has published essays about Naxi culture and customs in many publications.

A piece I picked up was about the love suicide tradition of the Naxi people, which reminded me of the love story in the Impression Lijiang show.