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Dear Friends,
 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 kilometers.
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 kilometers long.
The city is favored 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.
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 favorite destinations in China.
Have a great week!
The Chinese Voice team
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