Lijiang, Old Town Of
The old town of Lijiang, one of the largest traditional towns left in China, is located in the southwest of the country in the part of Yunnan Province that borders on Tibet and Sichuan. The town, at the center of Lijiang Prefecture, sits on a high plateau, just south of the 5,000meter-high Jade Dragon Mountain. Lijiang has a long history, taking its present form in 1253, when members of Khubilai Khan's (1216–1294) Mongol army settled in the area. They, along with the Naxi, one of several ethnic groups that populate the region, developed the town around a market square that still exists to this day. From the 1300s until 1723, the town was gradually incorporated into the Chinese empire. As other groups, including the Tibetan and Han, came to settle in Lijiang, a distinct architectural style developed, characterized by two-story sun-baked brick and claytile houses with carved wooden windows. Also unique is the town's centuries-old water system, which is still in use. Lijiang's inhabitants divert streams from the mountain's glaciers into a network of swift canals that run through the town streets. In 1997, UNESCO added the old town of Lijiang to its World Heritage Site list.
Elizabeth VanderVen
Further Reading
Agland, Phil. (1994) China: Beyond the Clouds. Washington DC: National Geographic Society.
Goullart, Peter. (1955) Forgotten Kingdom. London: John Murray Publishers, Ltd.
Rock, Joseph. (1947) The Ancient Na-khi Kingdom of Southwest China. 2 Vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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