Lijiang City
- Lijiang is also the name of a river in the Guangxi province of China.
Lijiang City (Chinese: 丽江市; pinyin: Lìjiāngshì) refers to an administrative division comprising of urban and rural areas in northwestern Yunnan Province, China. Its population is 1,100,000. The famous "Lijiang old town" (as it is commonly known) is more correctly called the Dayan old town (大研古镇).
Lijiang City is a fairly large geographical area that comprises of one district (the old town district) and four counties, including the Liijang new town, Dayan old town, Shuhe old town (束河古镇), Baisha old town (白沙古镇), and parts of the Tiger Leaping Gorge.
The Lijiang old town has a history going back more than 800 years and was once a confluence for trade along the old tea horse road. The Lijiang old town is famous for its orderly system of waterways and bridges. It has been called the "Venice of the East".
The old town of Lijiang differs from other ancient Chinese cities in architecture, history and the culture of its traditional residents the Naxi people.
One third of the town was destroyed by an earthquake in February 1996.
Lijiang old town (including Dayan, Baisha and Shuhe) was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List in December 4, 1997. Since then, the local government has taken more responsibility for the development and protection of the old city. Lijiang's tourism also boomed, and travellers from around the world flooded in; although many locals fear that due to much of the development, the old town of Lijiang will lose its appeal.
Recently, the government has started to develop additional "old city" sections adjacent to the site of the original old city. This is to accommodate the large number of tourists, particularly Han Chinese, who walk the cobblestone streets (cars are not allowed in the old city), typically as part of package tours. Evenings in the old city can be particularly rowdy, not least due to the many outdoor bars, where boisterous groups of tourists try to "out sing" other groups.
Transportation
Lijiang airport, located approximately 20 km south of the town, opened in 1994.
External links
- Picture gallery
- Maps of Lijiang
- UN World Heritage Site Old Town of Lijiang
- Yunnan Government website on administrative divisions in Yunnan Province (Chinese)
Prefecture-level divisions of Yunnan
| ||||
| List of Yunnan County-level divisions |
Building Complex in Wudang Mountains | Capital Cities and Tombs of the Ancient Koguryo Kingdom | Classical Gardens of Suzhou | Dazu Rock Carvings | Ensemble of the Potala Palace, Lhasa | Great Wall | Huanglong | Imperial Palaces in Beijing and Shenyang | Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties | Jiuzhaigou Valley | Lijiang | Longmen Grottoes | Lushan National Park | Historic Centre of Macau | Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor | Mogao Caves | Mount Emei and Leshan Giant Buddha | Mount Huangshan | Mount Qingcheng and Dujiangyan Irrigation System | Mount Taishan | Mount Wuyi | Mountain Resort and its Outlying Temples, Chengde | Peking Man Site, Zhoukoudian | Ping Yao | Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries | Summer Palace | Temple & Cemetery of Confucius and Kong Family Mansion, Qufu | Temple of Heaven | Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas | Villages in Southern Anhui: Xidi and Hongcun | Wulingyuan | Yinxu | Yungang Grottoes
Categories
Prefecture-level divisions of Yunnan | World Heritage Sites in China | Cities in Yunnan