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.
notes:
1. lijiang 麗江
2. roof of the world 世界屋脊
3. jade dragon snow mountain 玉龍雪山
4. tiger-leaping gorge 虎跳峽
5. lugu lake 瀘沽湖
6. dayan town 大研鎮
