The Old Town Of Lijiang

The Old Town Of Lijiang

The Old Town of Lijiang, a well-preserved old city of minorities with brilliant 
culture, is a central town of the Lijiang Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan 
Province. Located on the plateau 2,400 meters (7,874 feet)  above the sea 
level, the Old Town looks like a big ink slab, therefore is named  the Town 
of Big Ink Slab (Dayanzhen).

The Old Town which covers an area of 4 square kilometers was firstly built
 in the late Song Dynasty and the early Yuan Dynasty thus has a history of 
more than 800 years. Since Kublai Khan set his reign here, Lijiang was on 
a fast developmental way and became the political, econimic and cultural
 center in this area, playing a very important role in trades between Yunnan,
 China hinterland, Tibet, India and many other Asian countries.

The Old Town is the only old city built without walls. The reason goes that,
 Lijiang had been under the reign of the hereditary Mu family for more than 
500 years; and if the Chinese character "Mu" (tree or wood) is put into a
 frame (walls), you have the character 'Kun' which means 'siege' or
 'predicament' in Chinese. This would mean that the governing Mu family
 and their descendants would always be trapped or in trouble.  As a result 
of the combination of the multinational culture and the progress of Naxi 
minority, the buildings in the town incorporate the best parts of the 
architectural traits of Han, Bai, and Tibet into a unique Naxi style. 
The layout of the town is free-style and flexible, the houses are 
close and diverse, and the lanes are narrow and crisscrossing. 
Most of Naxi houses are wood-tile structure compound with a garden. 
Naxi people pay much attention to the decoration too; most of their 
houses are engraved with vivid figures of people and animals on doors 
and windows.

The Black Dragon Pool (Heilongtan) is the major water source of the
 town and subdivides into many streams that can reach most of the
 families and streets in the town. Due to the reticular aqueducts, willow 
trees grow everywhere and there are almost 350 varied and inimitable 
bridges in the little town, some of which were built in the Ming and Qing
 Dynasties. The usage of the water created by the local people is very 
scientific; they build three mouths for every well from the upriver to the 
 downriver; the water in the first mouth is for edibility, the second is for 
cleaning food, and the last one is for laundry. The water not only meets
 the need of the dwellers, but also gives the town a beauty; thus, the  
Old Town of Lijiang is reputed as the "Oriental Venice" and "Suzhou 
in Highland".

On December 3rd, 1997, the Old Town of Lijiang was inscribed in the List
 of the World Cultural Heritages by UNESCO (United Nations Educational,
 Scientific, and Cultural Organization).

Justification for Inscription Quoted from UNESCO World Heritage
 Centre
The Committee decided to inscribe this site on the basis of cultural criteria 
(ii), (iv) and (v). Lijiang is an exceptional ancient town set in a dramatic
 landscape which represents the harmonious fusion of different cultural
 traditions to produce an urban landscape of outstanding quality.