The old town of Lijiang

Travel to Lijiang and you cannot miss the Old Town of Lijiang with inimitable buildings, wonderful nature views and well-preserved old city of ethnic minorities with brilliant culture. The Old Town of Lijiang was first built in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty and is now a famous tourist attraction. In addition, Mu palace is a historical building which is an attractive destination in the Old Town of Lijiang. It will be an excellent experience for you to know the traditional local culture here when you travel to Lijiang. 

The Old Town of Lijiang, also called “the Lijiang Ancient City”, has more than 800 years of history and was once a confluence for trade along the tea horse road. It is located in Lijiang City. The Old Town of Lijiang is famous for its orderly system of waterways and bridges, well-known architectures which differ from other ancient Chinese cities and the culture of its traditional residents the Nakhi people. Please look at WindhorseTour’s Whole View of Yunnan Tour for more information.

When you travel to Lijiang, you will see that Nakhi people pay more attention to the decoration. The houses in the Old Town of Lijiang are commodious and timber and tile structure compound with gardens. Each of the houses has engraved vivid figures of people and animals on windows and doors, beautiful flowers and trees in the garden. If you spend a day here, you will find that living in such a beautiful and comfortable environment is a real pleasant thing. You can look at Yunnan Highlights Tour for more information.

Square Street (Sifangjie) is in the center of the Old Town of Lijiang. You will find that the streets here are paved by the local bluestone when you travel to Lijiang Square Street. The streets are very clean as the sluice at the center of the Old Town of Lijiang is opened late in the night and the resulting current of water flushes and washes all the streets to keep the town clean. You will never feel that the streets are muddy in the rainy season or dusty in the dry season. What’s more, the massive and fine-grained stones add a sense of antiquity and mystery to the Old Town of Lijiang.

Mu Palace is situated in the southwest of the Old Town of Lijiang. The Mu Palace was the home of the Mu clan who led the Nakhi people and ruled Lijiang for over 700 years and is now a key attraction in the Old Town of Lijiang. The Mu Palace is built against the Lion Mountain (the Shizi Mountain) on an east west axis with the palace facing east. It is divided into two areas: the administrative area and the residential area. It is really worth to walk around inside of the Mu Palace. To get more information, please look at WindhorseTour’s The Grand Yunnan Tour.

The Mu Palace reflects the architectural style of the central plains of China during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Its layout is arranged according to the pattern of the Forbidden City. It could be said that it looks like a miniature of the Forbidden City. Decorative work (including carvings and paintings of buildings) are similar in style to those in the palace of Ming dynasty. Most of the decorations are simple but sublime showing the dignity of the ruler. If you travel to Lijiang, you should not miss the Mu Palace.

Related Tours:

• Yunnan/Guizhou/Guangxi Overland Tour
• Highlights of Sichuan/Yunnan/Guizhou – Southwest China Discovery
• Guizhou Highlights with Guilin Combo Tour