Day 2 Lijiang-30KM-Jade Dragon Snow Mountain-Lijiang (B,L)
Sightseeing:Yulong Snow Mountain,Spruce Meadow, Baisha Village and Murals,Baishui River and Terraces
Optional Special Experience:Enjoy the Impression Lijiang Ethnic Show in Ganhaizi Meadow(3100m).
Enjoy the sunrise of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and Lijiang Ancient Town in the morning, drive about 30KM to Ganhaizi Meadow(3100M), you will take the sightseeig bus for a short visiting through the Baishuihe River, take the chairlift up to visit Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The cableway will be arranged according to the condition of the mountain. You will hike around1 hours in the original forest in Spruce Meadow (3200M).
After lunch, you will enjoy the Impression Lijang Ethnic Show directed in Ganhaizi Meadow(3100M). A cultural show demonstrating the traditions and lifestyles of the Naxi, Yi and Bai peoples of the area. The show takes place inside Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Park at 3500m in an outdoor theater specifically designed to showcase the mountain which is used as a backdrop. The production itself was designed by Zhang Yimou, Fan Yue and Wang Chaoge, a cast of over 500 people, and a number of horses.In the afternoon, you'll stroll through Baisha Village, which is an enchanting traditional Yunnan village. Visit the Baisha Mural about 600 years old, which is one part of the World Cultural Heritage by the UNESCO 1997.
--Jade Dragon Snow Mountain stretches a length of 35 kilometers (22 miles) and a width of 20 kilometers (13 miles). Looking from Lijiang Old Town in the south which is 15 kilometers (nine miles) away, the snow-covered and fog-enlaced mountain resembles a jade dragon lying in the clouds, hence, the name Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The highest peak named Fan Peak (Shanzidou in Chinese) which is about 5596 meters above sea level. There are three cablecars in the mountain, the fist to the Glacier Park(4500M),the second to Spruce Meadow(3200M),the third to Yak Meadow(3700M).
Day 3 Lijiang-Ninglang County (B+L)
Sightseeing: Shudi Yangtze Grand Canon, Yi and Pumi Ethnic Villages
Special Experience: Enjoy the Yi ethnic Torch Festival with dance and song around the bonfire
In the morning, dive 4 hrs on the spectacle mountain road to enjoy the Yis Torch Festival in Daying Town of Ninglang Yi Autonomous County. Ninglang is one of the top poorest counties of China. Here inhabit Yis, Pumis, Lisus and Mosuo people with exotic and original ethnic culture.
On the way to Ninglang, enjoy the beautiful view among the huge mountains and rivers. We plan to start your walking from Jin’anqiao Bridge to Shudi along the road at the bank of Yangtze River. you will see the beautiful canon and Yi ethnic people’s villages in the steep mountains. After 1 hour walking in the canon, we will continue the driving and we can stop in many Yi villages.
In the afternoon, you will arrive in Daying Town in Ninglang County. After checking in the hotel, you will go to visit some Yi ethnic families and have a nice festival with them in the village. On the day of Torch Festival, the Pumi nationality in Ninglang County usually holds sacrificial activities to praise the Goddess of Fire. It's said that the Goddess of Fire worshiped by Pumi people is called Ang Gumi, who is originally the female ancestor of Mosuo nationality.
For the sake of the happiness of her offspring and the neighboring Pumi nationality, she once stole fire from the Heaven Palace with her body being a torch so as to bring fire to the Mosuo and Pumi people. In order to remember her kindness forever, the Pumi nationality then made the day when fire was brought to the world as a festival to sacrifice the goddess.
About the Torch Festival
The Torch Festival is a traditional festival celebrated among some ethnic groups in southwestern China, such as the Yi, Bai, Hani, Lisu, Naxi, Pumi and Lahu etc. The festival features lighting up torches, hence its name. It usually falls in early June of the lunar calendar or on the 24th or 25th of the month, with three days of celebrations. The origin of the festival may have something to do with the worship of fire by ancestors, who believed fire had the power to repel insects, drive away evils and to protect crop growth. For some ethnic groups, it is a tradition in the festival for elders to share farming experience with young people and educate them on taking care of crops.
During the festival, big torches tied up with dried pine wood and lightwood are erected in all villages, with small torches placed in front of the door of each household. When night falls, the torches are lit and the villages are as bright as daytime. At the same time, people walk around the fields and houses, holding small torches and placing the torches in the field corners. Inside the villages, young men and women are singing and dancing around the big torches that keep burning throughout the night.
Other activities like song and dance parties, horse races, bullfights, arrow shooting, wrestling, tugs-of-wars and swinging etc are also held during the festival. And there are trade fairs going on. In some areas, various religious rituals are performed to pray for a harvest.
In a horse race of the Yi people in Yunnan, torches are used to form multiple hurdles for riders to get through; the Hani people in Yunnan traditionally attach various fruits to torches with strings. When the strings are broken after the torches are ignited, people scramble for the fruits for good luck.
For the Lisu people in Sichuan, the festival is an occasion for holding grand torch parades. Big torches are carried by the procession, which is like a fire dragon. If several processions from different directions meet, it is a tradition to swap the big torches with one another.
Dubbed "the Carnival of the Orient", the Torch Festival is a traditional and age-old grand festival among some ethnic minorities in China.
Day 5 Luguhu Lake-Lijiang (B+L)
Sightseeing: Luguhu Lake, Mosuo Musuem, Mosuo home-made
In the morning, you will visit the Mosuo family and Mosuo Ethnic Museum, you will learn the Mosuo ethnic culture with the local. The Mosuo are a non-Chinese ethnic minority living within the boundaries of China. They are considered by Chinese anthropologists to be matriarchal, because they are still living in accordance with the patterns of matrilinearity and matrilocality.
Afternoon, you will walk along the Luguhu Lake by yourself. Enjoy the sunset wonder of Luguhu Lake in Luoshui Village. The pretty and graceful Mosuo girls, the ancient and natural canoes and the moving and pleasant fishing songs are considered to be the "three most enjoyable things on the lake".
Then,drive drive back to Lijiang and relax in Lijiang Ancien Town.
Day 6 Lijiang-100KM-Tiger Leaping Gorge-100KM-Shangri La (B+L)
Sightseeing:Shigu Ancient Town, the Iron Chain Bridge, Stone Drum,Tiger Leaping Gorge, Dukezong Ancient Town
Optional Special Experience:the floating tour at First Bend of the Yangtze River from Shigu Town to Longpan Town.
From Lijiang, you'll drive about 60KM to the First Bend on the Yangtze River with imposing gorge scenery, visit the Iron Chain Bridge,the Red Army's Long March Memorial Monument in the Shigu town. The town of Stone Drum got its name from a large, cylindrical, marble tablet shaped like a drum. The scenery is magnificent as the road running through the Lijiang valley which is filled with wheat fields and drying haystacks. You will have an experience of the floating from the First Bend of the Yangtze River to Longpan Town, after one hour floating, meet the driver and trasfer to Tiger Leaping Gorge.
Visit the Tiger Leaping Gorge, the deepest gorge in the world. With 34 rapids of the Yangtze River, it is called the Jinsha in this area because you can find gold in the river. Afternoon, you'll head for Shangri La, the former Zhongdian which is welknown as the paradise destination for every tourist. Upon arrival in Shangri La, you will have entered the Tibetan cultural area and a landscape of barley fields and yaks scattered in the valleys. Walk around Dukezong Ancient Town, an important town of the Ancient Tea-horse Trade Caravan from Yunnan to Tibet and India.
-- Tiger Leaping Gorge is on the Jinsha River of the upper reaches of the Yangtze, located 105 kilometers south of Shangrila County. The gorge is 17 kilometers long with a drop of 213 meters. Tiger Leaping Gorge is divided into three sections: Upper, Middle and Lower Hutiao. At the narrowest spot the river is only 30 meters wide. The mouth of the gorge is 1,800 meters above sea level. The river is flanked by Yulong and Haba snow mountains, with a height difference of 3,900 meters. It is one of the deepest gorges in the world.
Day 8 ShangriLa-Kunming (B+L)
Sightseeing:the Stone Forest , Green Lake, the Flower and Birds Market
Optional Special Experience:Enjoy the large-scale dance drama "Dynamic Yunnan" in Kunming People's Hall (show time: from 20:00-21:30).
Flight Information: MU5934 08:50/09:50
Take the morning flight to Kunming City. After landing, you will drive 86 km to the Stone Forest. An old local saying says that 'If you have visited Kunming without seeing the Stone Forest, you have wasted your time. Truly, the Stone Forest is one of the most important attractions of Yunnan. After lunch drive back Kunming. You will take a leisurely stroll along the Green Lake, a charming area of teahouses and small boutiques selling handicrafts and beautiful local paintings. Visit the Flower and Birds Market at last.
After dinner, you will have an option to enjoy the large-scale dance drama "Dynamic Yunnan" which has been an outstanding innovation on the Chinese stage in recent years directed by Yang Liping. Primitive, unsophisticated folk dances and a fresh artistic concept converge in the programme, giving audiences a unique "Yunnan Impression." Sixty-two drums and 120 masks of strong ethnic characteristics are incorporated in the performance.
-- The Stone Forest is in Shilin Yi Nationality Autonomous County, which is about 120 kilometers from Kunming and requires only a three-hour drive. It covers an area of 400 square kilometers (96,000 acres) and includes both large and small stone forests, as well as many other scenic spots. The Stone Forest has unique karst topography which is one of the best of its kind within China. There are six scenic spots in the Stone Forest: the Greater Stone Forest, the Lesser Stone Forest, the Naigu Stone Forest, the Zhiyun Cave, the Long Lake, the Da Dieshui Waterfall and the Qifeng Cave.
Ninglang County
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