Yezhi – A Forgotten Ancient Town

Yezhi Ancient Town – Tea Horse Ancient Town

It is the sole, provincial-level famous historical and cultural town in the region of “Three Parallel Rivers.” It hides in the canyon of Lantsang River, Weixi County and has gradually faded in people’s minds because of the diversion of a road.

It is Yezhi Town, a place lost in deep historical indistinctness. The old road from Weixi to Deqin runs through the entire Yezhi Ancient Town, while the new road steers clear of the old streets so that the visions in 1980s can be seen, on the both sides of the old streets.

Yezhi was completed during the Tang Dynasty. In A.D. 801, Tubo built Yuji City here to station troops to fight with Nanzhao, but it was too remote to discover signs of aging.

Yezhi rose sharply in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. There was the Wang Family, a legendary family. As the main organiser and protection power of the trade of the “Tea Horse Ancient Town,” the celebrated Wang Family was the main transnational Tusi in the joint part of Tibet and Han Nationalities.

The Wang Family Tusi office, which has been listed as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit, has been under large-scale maintenance in which the entrance and some buildings have acquired a completely new look.

The plaque reading “Three River Commander Office,” hanging over the entrance, is newly-made.

The last Tusi Wang Jialu was entitled “Three River Commander,” but he hung the plaque “Guarantee Merit High,” put forward by Long Yun, rather than such a plaque to express praise to him for his contribution to safeguard the homeland border.

Tusi Wang’s Office is free from the local architectural style and integrates with the architectural styles of the Han, Tibetan and Bai Nationalities, creating a large-scale building group of “three houses and one screen wall,” “four or five patios.”

The entire complex is divided into two sets, south and north. There are boundary walls in the courtyard facing the west in the east and watchtowers at the four corners.

With very high architectural art value, the doors, windows and partition doors are exquisite workmanship and well chased.

After several decades of changes and weathering, among the "Wang Fu" buildings, there is still a city gate, a watchtower, a quadrangle courtyard, and associated buildings that remain intact. Remnants such as city walls, gardens, scripture halls, and the Black Temple can still be found.

Achimugua – Dance of the Lisu Nationality

The “Achimugua” dance performance cannot be missed in Yezhi Town. As one of the first batch of national intangible cultural heritages, “Achimugua” is a kind of mass dance originating from Lancang River Basin in Weixi County.

In Lisu Language, it means “dance of goat.” It is said that the source is related to the Lisu Nationality people’s half agriculture and half livestock husbandry and desire to raise goats.

The Lisu compatriots invented the “Achimugua” dance by imitating goat’s voices and motions and merging daily life and labour into the dance, with their wisdom. Men and women dance and sing hand-in-hand, forming a circle. Their sound of singing is melodious like a goat’s bleat. Their dance is enthusiastic and powerful.

Accurately speaking, the origin place of “Achimugua” is Tongle Lisu Big Village, Yezhi Town, Weixi County. The village near the mountain and by the river is well-proportioned with a distinct colour contrast. The village is the birthplace of syllabic language of the Lisu Nationality and the heritage point of “Achimugua.”

It was named “Primitive Ecological Culture Village of the Lisu Nationality” and “National Level Historical Cultural Village” successively and was named “Ecological Cultural Village” by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Tongle Village

“Tongle” is a transliterated word of Lisu Language, which means a “flat ground with pinewood and rivers.” The village is surrounded by mountains and beautiful scenery.

Mountain flowers and wild fruits, dark green trees and clear brooks can be seen everywhere, releasing you from the hustle and bustle of the metropolis world.

Tongle Village is situated in the Hengduan Mountainous Region, in which there are numerous high mountains and deep valleys.

It is far away and getting there was not so easy. In the past, goods and materials for production and living used to come in on people’s or horses’ backs.

With an extremely low use of agricultural machinery, traditional farming means were mostly adopted.

Corn, soybean, wheat, tartary buckwheat, walnut, pepper, Chinese herbal medicine and other crops are planted on the mountain. Rice is planted in Lancang River Valley under the mountain. Now, the road for sightseeing has reached the village and various improvements have been made.

The back mountain is Baima Snow Mountain Natural Reserve and the main habitat of the Yunnan golden monkey. With thick virgin forest and azalea all over the mountains and plains, it is full of mysterious and romantic features.

Although they are called golden snub-nosed monkeys, their fur is not actually golden. During infancy, their fur is white, and it turns gray with a slight brown hue in adulthood. They are naturally shy and not easily spotted in their natural environment. They are the mountain spirits that resemble humans the most, as people have noticed that Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys have facial muscles that can produce smiles. Their thick and vibrant red lips are extremely rare among primates.

Chabuduoga – The First High Peak in Weixi County

Chabuduoga, the highest place above sea level in the county, is on the west bank of Lancang River in Yezhi Town. It is a high mountain alpine pasture in summer for numerous villages. It is the top high peak with an elevation of 4,840 metres.

Chabuduoga means “a hunting place in Chabu” in Lisu language. It is named after a legend in ancient times. A famed hunter called Chabu often hunted here.

There are many lakes scattered in the Chabuduoga Mountains, integrating blues with azalea forests, snow mountains and glaciers, waterfalls, rivers and numerous wild animals.

Julong Lake (Majiwa Lake means the largest lake in Lisu Language), the largest one among the lakes, consists of dozens of waterfalls cascading from steep peaks.

The splashes of water flow out from the mountain top like milk syrup and pure white hadas hang on the mountainsides and sprinkle into the dark green meadows and flowers.

Self-driving Route:

Kunming – Lijiang – Shangri-la – Weixi County – Deqin – Yezhi Town – Tongle Village, the entire journey is 676 kilometres.

Delicacy:

Lemongrass-roast fish, lemongrass-roast whole pig and stewed pig’s feet with gastrodia.