Yisa Town Of Honghe County

Yisa Town Of Honghe County

 












Yisa Town of Honghe County in South Yunnan's Honghe Prefecture
 is a famous town of overseas Chinese.

The coming into being of Yisa as an overseas Chinese town can be
 attributed to the prosperous industry and commerce in the Qing 
Dynasty and the period of the Republic of China. Local saying goes
 that "as copper mines are exploited, people from Yisa begin to go
 to basins to undertake business by organizing horse caravans
 to trade tobacco; and finally Yisa was developed into a town of 
overseas Chinese." The caravans of Yisa used to trade in gold, silver, 
specialties, herbals, salt, household uses and even opium.

The well-off Yisa businessmen then spent money building large-scale
 private houses. Exploring in Nanmenjie Street, Dazhaijie Street
 and Dongmenjie Street in the town of Yisa, one can find the
 well-conserved folk residences, most of which are compounds
 comprising two-storied and tile-roofed buildings with stony
 foundations, brick walls, and hip and gable walls. As the only 
surviving gate, the East Gate (Dong Cheng Men), is also a two-storied
 building with high base and brick walls; the gate appears to be
 arched; on its second floor one can easily find windows and 
embrasures. 

The West Hill Park (Xi Shan Gong Yuan)
The West Hill Park is in the west of Yisa Town, covering 12,000 
 square meters. The park is deemed locally a place of good Fengshui
 (with excellent geomantic omens). Ascending to the top of the West
 Hill, one will have a birds-eye view of Yisa Town. Architectures inside
 include The West Hill Pavilion (Xi Shan Ge), Martyrs Monument 
(built in 1972) and martyrs' tombs.