Lijiang Travel Guide - Brief Information on Lijiang

Someone once said, Lijiang is the only fairyland on earth left by God, where the birds sing sweetly between the blue sky and white clouds, the cattle and sheep wander about in the green grass and sunflowers, people enjoy themselves nearby the ancient bridges and flowing water, and streams from the snowy mountains wash the dust from the soul.

Lijiang’s ancient town is located at the foot of lofty Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and on the bank of the surging Jinsha River, named "Li River" in ancient times. The city thus has the name 'Lijiang' (which literally means 'Li River' in Chinese).

Lijiang is well known for its beautiful scenery and has a nickname of "Suzhou on the Plateau". It contains the Lijiang Ancient Town, a famous World Cultural Heritage Site, and the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain nationally famous scenic zone, World Natural Heritage sites of the Three Parallel Rivers, The First Bend of the Yangtze River, Tiger Leaping Gorge, as well as Laojun Mountain, a "World Plants Gene Bank",  plus Lugu Lake , known as the "Penglai fairyland". Near to the world famous Shangri-la, the famous historic and cultural city of Dali, Lijiang has become an ideal traveling destination.

Lijiang not only has elegant scenery, but also exhibits the unique Dongba culture. Just like other ancient civilizations around the world, Dongba culture is a religious culture and ancient civilization inherited by the present Dongba generation. The Dongba characters are the only surviving hieroglyph in the world, and are known as a "living fossil" of the origin and development of writing. Near the beautiful Lugu Lake, there are unique matriarchal big families and ancient "Zou Hun " customs (a marriage system). Due to this system, Lijiang is called "the final daughter country on the earth" and “a living fossil for human matriarchal society” by experts.