Lijiang Ancient Town

Dayan Ancient Town, commonly named Lijiang ancient town, locates at downtown of Lijiang, Yunnan province. Dayan ancient town became famous in China for the Lijiang earthquake in 1997. As one of the best preserved ancient towns, Dayan Old Town, along with Shuhe Old Town and Baisha Old Town was listed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Since then, tourists from all around the world come to Lijiang to enjoy its beauty.

• Sifang Street

Sifang Street is the heart of Lijiang. The six five-flower stone (belongs to conglomerate) street extending from the square, then each street spreads to various directions and linked together. Traffic here is very convenient. Sifang Street embodies the bazaars of the ancient town. The buildings there today are mostly of the Ming and Qing dynasty architectural styles, and the street is famous for its unique street shape, and it was praised by Chinese and foreign architectural experts as the"residence museum".
Lijiang Old Town

• Ancient Bridges
Above the Yuhe River system in Lijiang Ancient Town, there are 354 bridges in the town in order to sustain this convoluted water network. They are in styles of shelter bridge, stone arch bridge, slab bridge, and plank bridge. The famous bridges are Suocui Bridge, Dashi Bridge, Wanqian Bridge, South Gate Bridge, Saddle Bridge and Renshou Bridge, all built in Ming and Qing dynasties. And Dashi Bridge is the most famous bridge, which is located in 100 meters of eastern Sifang Street, built by Tusi in Ming dynasty. And because there can be seen the reflection on Jade Dragon Mountain upon the river surface, so it also called Yingxue Bridge (Reflecting Snow Bridge).

The water network of Lijiang comes from Black Dragon Pool, which is 40,000 square meters and fueled by numerous mountain springs. This waterway divides into the Central, Eastern and Western tributaries after heading to the Shuangshi Bridge. Every residence in the town is fed by this water network after it divides into conduits.

• Mu Palace
Lijiang Mu Palace is the palace of Tusi Mu family in Lijiang, where the Mu Clan of the Naxi people ruled for over 400 years. It is a large complex that extends part way up the hill behind it. Since chieftain of Naxi Mu Ziyuan inherited Lijiang Tusi palace, it went through Yuan, Ming and Qing three dynasty 22 emperors for 470 years, so Mu Palace is the political and cultural center of Lijiang region. There used to be a lot of high quality paintings in the palace and finely carved wooden doors, but most were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. In 2006, it was awarded as national AAAA scenic spot.

• Naxi Ancient Music night show
Naxi ancient music is regarded as soul of Lijiang, and known as ‘living fossil of music’. The Naxi ancient music has 3 features, that is: the piece of music is ancient, the music instrument artists play is ancient, the artists play on the stage are old. Most of music lyrics originate from poetry of Tang Dynasty (618AD-907AD) or Song Dynasty (960AD—1279AD). And the music pieces combine the original charm of ancient music and popular tune of Lijiang, which you can appreciate strong Naxi style. When you travel to Dayan ancient town, you can’t miss the Naxi ancient music night show at 8:00p.m.
Lijiang Old Town