Naxi culture, jade dragon peaks, and cobblestone canals
Lijiang's UNESCO-listed Old Town is a maze of willow-shaded canals, waterwheel squares, and Naxi wooden courtyards that have survived intact since the 14th century. The Jade Dragon Snow Mountain looms over everything at 5,596m, its glaciers feeding the Black Dragon Pool that mirrors the peaks at dawn — one of China's most photographed views. The surrounding Yunnan highlands hold some of the world's last remaining speakers of the Dongba pictographic script.
Lijiang was the capital of the Naxi kingdom and a key node on the Ancient Tea Horse Road trading network connecting Yunnan to Tibet. The 1996 earthquake destroyed much of the new town but left the flagstone Old Town largely intact, prompting its UNESCO inscription in 1997. The Naxi people developed a unique pictographic writing system, Dongba, that is still used ceremonially today.