Shaxi is the gateway to Tibet ,the last town between Dali and Tibet also is one of the key point  alone the old Tibetan  road down  to  connect  south Asia  ,its  located in the south part  of of its head town Jianchuan ,mountains in Shaxi is also the extension parts  of Himalaya mountain ranges.the average  altitude is 2000m ,the valley is surrounded on four sides by green mountains ,Black muddy river flow though the rich, flat, farming  lands like a silver long scarf .there are 5 ethnic groups live here the Bai ,Naxi,Lisu,Han and Yi ,there are 65 villages with only  about 20000 inhabitants.

Before 1952 no roads are built from this part to Tibet ,the only transportation means for goods and trading  was horse caravan on earthly trails  .therefore Shaxi  is also view as the only surviving market town on the tea and horse caravan trail.

2 kinds of caravan groups ,one works for government, the other is made of individual trading  group.the caravan groups could be teamed up by their ethnic identity  as well as their believes ,such groups as Muslim caravan group.Bai caravan group etc .it could be teamed up as where they are from originally ,such as Shaxi caravan group ,Deqin group .

In this particular organization 3 persons are in charge .they are the head leader ,the vice  leader and the manager .to be a head leader one must  need to know very well about goods trading alone the trails ,includes local products from different regions ,pricing as well as handful of social network .who are also capable of dealing with different caravan groups,government officers ,local inn runners or  whoever you may encountered along the long trip  .he also needs to know everything about trails conditions ,rest stops ,bridges etc like back of his palm .while  the leader is away then the vice leader became  his replacement .the manager  dealt  with expenses such as incomes and outcomes ,he acts like a finance manager in all .

The rest of the people in such a  groups are horse  man.one horse man may take care of  4 horses .one caravan group consists 5 horse man as a unit

Lots of these groups contently travel to north part of Tibet ,west part of Burma and south Thailand .oftern such a journey would cross different ethnic groups in different territories ,and every part you came across all speak different languages.there is a such leader in dali from the past used to travel up to WEIXI ,he was able to speak Bai,Han,Naxi,Yi,Tibetan languages to assure no matter where his group went they could have a smooth journey .

The caravan culture disappeared long ago  due to the roads developments in SW Yunnan  .but the footprint of these great horse groups and its very trails  are still stands somewhere still beyond the face of time .one day you can go out there and see it with your owns eyes .this is probably  the charm of history combined with travel  ,it awaits us for more discovery and connections with the long gone past  .

Enjoy your reading !

What's most popular game in China? Not ping pong,  not badminton, not swimming, it's Mahjong, especially in Chengdu, almost all the people except child less than 5 years old join this game, you can find people play mahjong at every corner of city, the voice of shuffling Mahjong can be heard from early morning to late evening whenever you walk on the street, stroll around in the park, shopping at market, visit local family, it's impossible for your ear to escape. OK, let me tell you why the local people like this game so much.

Mahjong is commonly played by four players, possible play by three, too. Mahjong is similar to the Western card game rummy, which is a game of skill, strategy and calculation and involves a certain degree of chance.The standard game is played with a set of 144 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols, but here in Chengdu, in order to make the game easier and quicker, only 108 tiles been used, at some special gambling occasion, people even only use 72 tiles.

For sure people play mahjong for money, no matter those people who are as old as over 80 years or young secondary school students, they all join this game as gambling, the ante can be from cents to more than 100 thousand Yuan.

Mahjong is very easy to learn, 5 minutes can be graduated and of course there is a long way to be a master, usually speaking you need the time and tuition to practice your skill, not just playing skill, but also skill to observe your opponents, guess their intention, pay attention to their tiny emotion in their eyes, short hesitate on playing, it's a kind of chicken game over the table, but don't say it's not difficult for you, because experienced mahjong masters are good actors, too, they are very good at pretend to be afraid, worry and sad, of course you need to be a good camoufleur anyway.

Another important reason for local people like mahjong game is with small amount of money, not possible to do any else  investment, but people do hope their money in the pocket can increase. Playing mahjong is a chance, almost everyone believe although they are not the most intelligent person in this world, at least they are better than others around them, so they feel confidence can get the money from others'  pockets through playing this mahjong game. Mahjong is also the way to prove themselves, and when they unfortunately fail and lost the money, they also can easily find an excuse to comfort themselves such as bad luck.

There are some saying about this game, such as beginner has strong hand, maybe this is trick to lure more people go join.

No eternal winner and loser if keep playing, this is trick to get those bad skill underdogs come back to play.

You can judge people's characters through mahjong game, this game is also a window to get close to locals, why not to join? 

Li ming in Chinese means the early  morning lights,it is one of the most amazing rare  national park in Lijiang .the park covers about 1085 square kilometers  .the elevation start from 2100 m to 4515 m.its right next to Golden sand river which is also know as the Yangzi .on the east side its boarder to Shangelila ,on the south west side is the Nujiang area .south side of the boarder is Dali .

The main ethnic group lives here are the black  Lisu<there is 3 kinds of Lisu ,they are the white Lisu ,the flower Lisu and the black LIsu> who are famous for their sword ladder festival which is the most important festival for them , what they do it ,they make a ladder about 5 meters long and put real sword on each step ,before they climb up the ladder ,they cross a line of burn wooden fire with bare foot  then with no protection whatsoever they climb up the ladder without any cut after all ,both man and woman love to climb the sword ladder ,and they believe its the god in heaven protect them .

Besides the Black Lisu there are Naxi ,Bai,Pumi,Yi live in Liming ,most of the Lisu can speak Naxi  too as Lijiang  is a Naxi territory .

Lisu are also very generous towards their own people ,family ,friends in the village love to share food ,drinks togather even in the times when food and other things are quiet short .they live today with dance ,laugh,music  and will think of tommorw when tommorw comes  .some of other ethnic group think of them rather silly and too generous .

Lisu man in Liming are born to be excellent rock climbers .they use a piece of wood as shape  like a small stick and push it into the rock ,when the wood is in the rock ,it opens up ,with no other tools help ,they climb up to the top to some caves up high to get the wild honey .when I was there to see the height of the rock , I really admire these amazing people who lives here ,they are truelly the  children of the mighty rock mountains .I have great respect towards them .

What makes Lisu people interested are their believes  ,they had  been converted into Christianity  back in the 19th century by the France missionarys first  .the first foreigner came to Liming was a English missionary 200 years ago ,who also bought with him the first Apple tree with his mission .before his time no Lisu knew what a apple was ,some local told me the apple tree he planted back then is still growing somewhere on the hillside .today when you visit Liming you will see lots of old apple orchard  waving in the wind on these wonderful hills .

When i was hiking there often I would just walk into someone s hut and ask them can i join them for a home cooked meal ,most people would welcome me with a big smile , I love this place as it reminded me of the perfect balance between people and nature ,cause there are not many people living here and they all look so wild  ,both the nature ,the people who live in it and even the animals they keep look so free and wild .

Magic is the word for this wonderland and I hope whoever goes there will travel with a bright heart and a free spirit .