The biggest festival in Jiuzhai Valley ( jiuzhaigou ) is the Lunar New Year called " Losar" in the Tibetan .Family members who have been living away come home and lots of food is prepared and ready to be served whenever visitors come. One of the most visible signs of the New Year festivals in the dragon and more traditional flion dances that can be seen along the streets. Each village will make a lion or dragon and visit each home in their own village before visiting other villages to wish good luck for the new year. 

        In Zechawa and Shuzheng Villages, the local vilagers still pratice an ancient new year ritual where they invite the mountain God to inform them of the fortunes of the village as well as each individual villager for the coming year. This festival is called Tumoni in local Tibetan and involves two female villagers taking hold of a Y-shaped stick and swinging it back and forth towards the sacred mountain until the mountain God how their luck will be for the coming year. If the stick points towards the sacred mountain in the East it will be good but if it points towards the West it will be bad. At least one member from each family, usually yonger adults, will attend teh ceremony and will be required to give a full report of the mountain God's predictions to their family afterwards. There are also various festivals celebrated in the local monasteries each year        

       2 hours drive from Jiuzhai Valley, Songpan is the closest big town to Huanglong National Park and the Jiuhuang airport which services both Huanglong and Valley National parks 

       The ancient city of Songpan was built during the Tang Dynasty( 618-907 AD) and it was later rebuilt during the Ming Dynasty( 1368-1644). Songpan was an important military post and economic and trading center for house and tea exchange between Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai and Tibet. in 1935, led by Chairman Mao and Prim minister Zhou, the retreating Chinese Communist Army marched through the plateau of Songpan to advance to the North Western province 

      As well as the history and scenery of Songpan, the cultural diversity is fascinating. Because of its location, three ethnic groups are resident in Songpan namely Tibetan, Hui( Muslim ) and Han( Chinese)．this contributes to the unique cultural style of this ancient town. This multi-cultural medley of the different cultural elements in this historical town makes for a rare example of cultural history in China 

     Walking along the bustling ancient streets in the town, some exquisite objects and ornaments can be found in the old stores, such as silver jewellery, enthnic costumes and even yak horn hair combs. such cultural diversity gives rise to many unusual and tempting culinary delights.

      While the ancient city of Songpan itself has plenty to keep you busy , the countryside surrounding the city offers a variety of tourist attractions. The Minshan mountain range surrounding the city provides such sights as Tibetan yak and goat herders leading their livestock over rolling grasses and endless valleys

     The best way to view this quthentic side of minority mountain likfe is through one of Songpan's many horse trekking excursions . 

36km west of Songpan is another of the Aba Prefecture's aquatic marvels, Muni Vaalley. Muni Valley consists of two side valleys, over 100 lakes, natural hot springs with the most spectacular sceneries being Zhaga Waterfall and Erdao Lake. It is possible to reach Muni Valley by road or horse trek from Songpan. The altitude ranges from 2,800 m at the entranec to 4,070 m on the mountain peaks. Muni Valley, also high in calcium carbonate formations boasts similar colors to those of Jiuzhaigou Valley National Park. It also contains China' s largest stalatite. 

        Historically China's ancient tea and horse trading routes passed though the Muni Valley area.

Altitude : 2,140m ,area : over 100,000 square meters 

The Reed Lake is a semi-swamp lake with thick reeds everywhere except where the blue and green "  Jade Ribbon " dissects it. In spring and summer the reeds are green with an azure blue stream, said to be like a Tibetan lady's cloth belt, running through it. In autumn and winter when the reeds turn a golden yellow the " ribbon" is a more emerald coloured stream that runs through, down towards the valley entrance. 

Bonsai Shoal

altitude 2,240 m 

The Bonsai Shoal is a stretch of travertine beaches, on which shallow water slowly sweeps through reeds, poplars,azaleas, pines, cypresses, willows and other shrubs. The water runs through woods that stand in various poses. It is believed that the mountain 

The Jinsha Museum, opened in 2007, is located at the site of the Jinsha Ruins, China's most significant recent archaeological discovery. Discovered in 2001, it consists of a five-square kilometer area that was found to contain important relics of an ancient kingdom that predated Chinese settlement in the area. Relics such as the Sun and immortal Bird Gold ornament, as well as sacrificial areas, residences, and graveyards among others can be found here. The 6,000 cultural relics in gold, bronze, jade, stone, ivory, and lacquer unearthed here, as well as thousands of pottery shards and about 1,000 buck teeth of wild boards and antlers, not only proved further the political, economic and cultural significance of the ancient Kingdom of Shu, which once dominated the region, but also that the roots Chinese civilization could have originated in Central Asia as well as the Yangtze River area. In fact, some believe that aliens inhabited the ancient kingdom.

with an elevation of 1,500 meters, Mt.Mengding is situated in Mingshan County of Ya'an City.150 km away from Chengdu ，at the joint point of the southwest rim of the Sichuan Basin and Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

  Mt.Mengding has five steep and towering peaks, which are in the shape of lotus. There is an old saying: The Yangtze River tops the waters, the Mengding tea is the best of its kind" . Mt.Mengding is widely known for its elegant landscape and tea  culture. The average temperature is 14.5 ·C, with an annual rainfall of 2,000-2,200 milimteters. Such a special ecological environment is ideal for growing tea, especially for developing its fragrant elements.

   Mt.Mengding is one of the origins of Chinese tea culture

According to the historical records it is the first and earliest place to grow tea. Growing tea dates back to the Western Han Dynasty more than 2.000 yeas ago. in 53 B.C., a farmer named Wulizhen found that wild tea could be used as medicine. He planted seven tea trees in a sunken spot among the five peaks, which are alive for two thousand years.  Wulizhen is regarded as the " father of tea", the first person who grew tea in the world.  Since Tang Dynasty, Mengding tea has been listed as one of the tributes presented to emperors. The emperors either drank it or offered it as a sacrifice to their forefathers. this tradition lasted until the Qing Dynasty. 

In the Song Dynasty, a monk ChanHui who served in the temple of Mt.Mengding created the three wonders of Mengshan tea culuture: tea technique, tea Kongfu and tea art. 

the traditional celebrated teas on Mt. Mengding 

There are 1,250 mu of high-quality tea fields and 40 square km of forestland. Dew, Yellow Bud, Stone Flower, Spring Silver Leaf and Evergreen. Spring are well-know tea brands with a long and distinguished history. in addition, advanced green tea, roasting green tea, frying green tea, jasmine tea, cake tea are all members of the Mengshan  tea family.  Mengshan tea has a history of over 2,000 years. the production procedure of Mengdingshan tea , from picking, processing, assembling to packing, is closely monitored in order to guarantee quality and taste.  

Yaoji Township (硗碛）is a small village in Baoxing County, Ya'an, with an average elevation of 2500m, an area of 880 square kilometers, and with a population of only 5000 people. The current village of Yaoji is nestled in a couloir, carved out by a glacier many eions ago. The village was formerly located in the valley below, but was flooded by a hydroelectric project and reservoir in 2003. only 150km from Sichuan basins, Yaoji is one of Sichuan's "gateway" to the Tibetan plateau. Given its close proximity to Ya'an and Chengdu, the culture of Yaoji shows strong influences from Han culture and lifestyles. historically Yaoji was an important gathering oint for Jiarong speaking Tibetan peoples, and a trading center between Tibetan and Han ethnicities. It was the seat of the Muping tuisi( 土司） or ethnic Tibetan hereditary headman recognized by the Qing and later Nationalist governments.

Furthermore, the village is near the site of the Long March crossing over Jiajin mountain. the Long March ( October 1934-October 1935) was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Communist Party of China, to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang( KMY of Chinese Nationalist Party) army. The main long march from Jiangxi province which began in October 1934. The First Front Army of the Chinese Soviet Republic, led by an inexperienced military commission , was on the brink of annihilation by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's troops in their stronghold in Jiangxi province. The Communists, under the eventual command of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, escaped in a circling retreat to the west and north, which reportedly traversed over 5,000 kilometers ver 370 days. The route passed through some of the m ost difficult terrain of western China before concluding in Ya'an. where the Communists established a base and began their resurgence.  Jiajin Mountain(5000m +) was the first high mountain crossed by the Red Army, whose soliders were ill prepared for the snow and the cold, and many of whom perished. There is a memorial commemorating their efforts not far from Yaoji, which has become an important destination for modern history buffs and political pilgrims. 

Residents of the village are Gyalrong/Jiarong(嘉绒） Tibetan. in the past, Jiarong was a topographical and political refernce to a far wider area than the present day linguistic demarcation. The legendary 18 kingdoms of the Jiarong extended down as far as the present-day Muya territory. By contemporary linguistic definition, the 150,000 speakers of the different Jiarong languages are distributed across serval counties of central and southern Aba Prefecture, and corners of Ganzi Prefecture and Ya'an District. These Qiangic languages have traditionally been divided into Sibaba(northwestern) , Chabao( northeastern) and Situ( eastern). Situ, referring to an area formerly governed by four kings( Tusi), is the most widely spoken form of Jiarong and has at least two dialects. Outside the larger towns, Jiarong is still widely spoken across all ages and domains of society. Many older Jiarong people are monolingual, but Sichuan dialect is becoming widely spoken by the young and middle aged.

Jiarong tend to be people of the valleys, farming the land in terraced plots up the mountainside, though a few take to the high plateaus where they live semi-nomadic tending their yal. The Jiarong culture: their impressive stone houses decked with praer flags, ancient stone watchtowers, and women clad in colorful hand-woven belts, aprons and headresses. most Jiarong Tibetans worshop mountain gods and practice Tibetan Buddhism, though about 10% follow the pre-Buddhist religion of Bon.

Possible Topics to Explore:

1. Local culture and lifestyle, compared to Han Chinese and otherr Tibetan-subgroups 

2. History of Yaoji, including pre-Communist history. and any knowledge 

3. Changes in the village, way of life, and residents' attitudes over time

4. How China's economic boom has affected Yaoji

do you want to see how tea grow ? 

on the way from Chengdu to Leshan highway, there is  a service station called Tenfu tea service station. where you go up to the hills , you will see the tea plantation . 

there are two seasons usually for tea harvest every year in this area: spring and autumn . 

in spring, you can come here for the tea harvest (or tea picking ) experence . they will provide you cute basket which you will put the tea bud into it .