The First Bend Of  Yangsze  River

The First Bend Of yangsze River is located on the north side of the highway leading from Dali to Lijiang ,about 70KM far from Lijiang city.

According to historical accounts,The jinshajiang River in olden times flowed southward along the Hengduan Mountain ranges and was forced to the turn to north because of the Alpine movement which caused changes in the earth's physiognomy,When the river reaches Shigu township,it makes an abrupt tunr and flows further northward,forming the marvelous view reputed as The First Bend of Yangsze River.

On the hill as the river bend stands the small Shigu(stone drum)Township.it is so called because of existence of a drum-like stone tablet.It is1.5m in diametre,70mm.in thickness,being the memorial tablet making the victory of teritorrial expansion of Lijiang's local ruler Baichun,surnamed Mu,in the 27th to 40th year of the Jiaqing era of the Ming Dynasty(1548-1561).It is one of the earliest stone tablets hitherto found at Lijiang.

The river is broadened at the bend and flows slowly.The famous historical event,such as"Zhuge Liang"s crossing the Lushui River in the Fifth Month",Kublai Khan's "crossing the River on Leather rafts" all chose this place as a ferry>In May 1936,the Red Army Leaders Helong,Ren Bishi and Guan Xianying led the second Route red Army to march north ,crossing the river also at this plase.At present,a slendid memorial tablet marking the victorious crossing is erected here.

In China, the eagle hunting culture can be dated  back to almost four thousand years ago. Unfortunately, in quite long period in history, the culture has always been popular in the palace only among aristocrats, this situation lasted until the end of the 19th century.   Now,   its hard to see this precious human cultural heritage in the vast land of China .

when we see the situation of falconry in Individual regions ,the eagle hunting culture has lost  its integrity.   In the naxi region, however, formed a kind of folk custom, and relatively intact so far. the history  of Naxi  Falconry can be traced back to  1253 AD When Kublai Khan and his Mongolian army conquered Lijiang. 

Why this kind of cultural phenomenon is enduring in the lijiang naxi areas?

There are 3 reason,

Firstly,  Because Lijiang has unique natural geographical conditions. since the ancient times, there is a passage of birds migratory over Lijiang,   every autumn,  various birds of prey successively flying over lijiang from north to south,  this is the prerequisite of  eagle hunting culture for the lijiang . 

Secondly,  Naxi people accepted Chinese culture in Ming dyanaty i(about 1368 AD),  so the traditional Chinese Confucian philosophy and moral ethics influenced them alot, Naxi ladies  are working very hard while their husband are focusing on literature and study,  they think a man should make achievement on literature  rather than doing bussiness.  man's life concept namely advocate nature, pursuit of quality of life is plain and simple. They are good at leisure, as long as they have free time,they engaged in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, flower ,species of bamboo, fishing and hunting activities .

Thirdly, Naxi people are open to  foreign cultures ,In a long period of time in the history ,  there are less wars and natural disasters in lijiang, once in the different cultures were introduced it will not easy to loss.

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 .