丽江 Lijiang

 　Lijiang is a beautiful shining jewel on the Northwest Yunnan Plateau neighboring the southeast side of the Tibetan Plateau which is considered to be the Roof of the World. It is impressive because of its scenery and lush vegetation.

　　Lijiang boasts of breath-taking wonderful sights such as Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and its modern maritime glacier, the only one of its kind in the southern end of the Northern Hemisphere; Tiger Leaping Gorge; the world - famous grand canyon; Lugu Lake, the cultural cradle of the Matriarchy of the Yongning Mosuo people in Ninglang.

　　Lijiang Town is officially called Dayan Town-- Dayan literally means a great inkstab, a graphic description of the town's location on a piece of rich flatland fed by a river and surrounded by green mountains. There is no other town in China like Dayan which incorporates the folkways of so many people and the architectural styles of both north and south China.

　　The people of Naxi, while developing their land of snow-clad mountains and turbulent rivers since ancient times, have to their credit the Dong Ba Culture seen as one of the world wonders, a culture all-embracing while unique.

　　All these natural sceneries and these cultural treasures of the minority peoples have been continuously drawing tourists from all over the world and have recently vote Lijiang as one of the favorite destinations in China.