|
As its center there is a square. It was first
built in 1126 in the late Song Dynasty and in 1253 Kublai (the first
emperor of the Yuan Dynasty) was stationed here on his march into
the south. Lijiang is world renowned as an ancient city built in
a simple and artistic style and scientifically laid out. It was
listed as a national historical and cultural city in 1986.
Lijiang City is surrounded by Lion Mountain
in the west and by Elephant and Golden Row Mountains in the north.
These mountains in the northwest shelter it from the cold wind.
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 the 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 and orderly roads and lanes
extend to four directions from the central square. Residential houses
are made of timber; most have a screen wall in front and some have
a quadruple courtyard. Local people plant flowers in them.
The ancient traditional culture of the Naxi
ethnic group is the Dongba culture, which is based on the Dongba
religion. Believers practice witchcraft, 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.
Lijiang is also the home of murals painted
by people from Han, Tibetan and Naxi ethnic groups who were invited
to do so by herdsman Mu during the Ming Dynasty. They cover a total
area of 139.22 square meters on 55 walls of Dabaoji Palace, Liuli
Hall, Dabao Pavilion and Daque Palace in Laihe. The largest is 2.07
meters by 4.48 meters and contains 600 figures.
Included in the UNESCO world heritage list
in 1997.
|
