Ninglang County Travel Guide

Ninglang Yi Autonomous County (宁蒗彝族自治县) is located in Lijiang City Prefecture, Yunnan, China.
Nanjian Yi Autonomous County
Established in 1965
Surface: 1.700 km2
Population (1983): 188.000 inhabitants. Of them 80.000 are Yi.

Holy Lugu Lake and Mosuo people in Ninglang County
The Lugu Lake is located between Ninglang County in Yunnan Province and Yanyuan County in Sichuan Province, 300 kilometers away from Lijiang County. It is a plateau lake with a total area of 52 square kilometers, 2685 meters above sea level. The average depth is 45 meters, the deepest point being 93 meters. The water is very clear. The lake remains an uncontaminated plateau lake.

Among the five islands in the lake, three are in the territory of Yunnan and two in that of Sichuan. Heiwawudao, Ligedao are metaphorically called "Three Islands of Ponglai" (Islands of the Immortals). Sitting in the middle of the lake, Heiwawudao Island is also called "the Chieftain Island" because Ashaoyun, the chieftain of Yongning, built his villa on the island in the Guangxu period of the Qing dynasty. Rock, an American scientist, also used to reside on this island. On the south side of the lake stands Liwubidao Island lies at the foot of the Lion Mountain. It is actually a small peninsular formed by the extension of the Lion Mountain into the Lake. A dozen of Mosuo families live on this island so it is possible for the visitors to experience the life on the island and, at the same time, enjoy the beautiful scenery of the lake.

Around the 48.45-square-kilometers body of water are more than 20 villages, inhabited by the Mosuo people, a branch of the Naxis, who live in log cabins and a matriarchal tribe where property and children belong to the women who run the market and control the purse strings.They refer to their canoes as " mangers for raising pigs " . Legend has it that when the flood came their ancestors, busy feeding the pigs, leaped into the manger and escaped by an ark of their own.

Lugu Lake Mosuo people were referred to as the "mother lake", they, like love, like a mother caring for her. Mosuo people a strong awareness of environmental protection, made a number of rural states: on the lake-week closing hillsides to facilitate afforestation to implement the mountains, the mountains are not allowed logging hunting; the abolition of motor boats, Lake only by artificial wooden paddle; are not allowed to kill the swan lake , ducks and birds; allowed the sewage, manure, waste poured into the lake, therefore, Lugu Lake, Castle Peak today, surrounded by four weeks is really mountains are green, the sky is blue, blue water more transparent.

Pumi ethnic minority in Ninglang County
The 33,600 Pumis are concentrated in the Yunnan Province counties of Lanping, Lijiang, Weixi and Yongsheng, as well as in the Yi Autonomous County of Ninglang. Some live in Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan Autonomous County of Muli and Yanyuan County.  They are on rugged mountains as high as 2,600 meters above sea level, cut by deep ravines.

According to Pumi legends and historical records, ancient Pumis were a nomadic tribe, roaming the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Their descendents later moved south to warmer, more verdant areas along valleys within the Hengduan Mountain Range. By the seventh century, the Pumis were living in Sichuan's Yuexi, Mianning, Hanyuan, Jiulong and Shimian areas, constituting one of the major ethnic minorities in the Xichang Prefecture. After the 13th century, the Pumis gradually settled down in Ninglang, Lijiang, Weixi and Lanping. They farmed and bred livestock. Later, agriculture gradually took a predominant place in their economy.

Pumi women in Ninglang and Yongsheng often wrap their heads in large handkerchiefs, winding their plaited hair, mixed with yak tail hairs and silk threads. They consider plait beautiful, the more so the bigger it is. Normally, they wear jackets with buttons down one side, long, plaited skirts, multi-colored wide belts and goatskins draping over their backs. In the Lanping and Weixi areas, women tend to wear green, blue or white long-sleeved jackets under sleeveless jackets, trousers and embroidered belts. Often, they wear silver earrings and bracelets. Pumi men wear similar clothes: linen jackets, loose trousers and sleeveless goatskin jackets.

The more affluent wear woolen overcoats. Most carry swords.

Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Pumi society was in many ways still organized according to the pre-feudal clan system. In Yongsheng County, for example, clan members lived together, with different clans having different names. Families belonging to the same clan regularly ate together to commemorate their common ancestry. Marriage was primarily between clans. Internal disputes were arbitrated by the patriarch or other respected elders. Clan members shared a commitment to help one another through difficult times. In Yongsheng, ashes of the dead of each clan were placed in the same forest cave.

Pumi communities in Yongsheng and Ninglang counties were primarily made up of big families, while in Lanping and Weixi counties, small families prevailed. Only sons were entitled to inherit property, and the ancestral house usually was left to the youngest son. Monogamy was customary, although some landlords were polygamous. Parents chose their children's spouses, and marriage between cousins was preferred. Most women married at 15, while most men at 18. After 1949 such objectionable practices as forced marriage, engagement of children not yet born and burdensome marriage-related costs were gradually done away with.

5 Days Lijiang tour to Ninglang County and Luguhu Lake

Lijiang Old Town
On your first day in Lijiang, wander around in this old town to feel the folkway here. Walk to the Black Dragon Pool Park, which is also called Jade Spring Park and located only 500 meters northeast of the old town. You need to pay CNY20 to buy one ticket. If the weather is clear, you are strongly recommended to get up early to get here and see the rising sun from the snow mountain far away. There is a Pearl Spring, where you shout loudly and pearl-like bubbles will emerge from the bottom. You may wish to have a try. Do not forge to climb up the Elephant Hill with an elevation of 2,704 meters (8,871 feet). You will pass a road called 'Longevity Road' and have a panoramic view of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. In the afternoon, visit Mu's Palace sitting about 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) south of Black Dragon Pool Park. The admission charge is CNY35 and it is regarded as "the Forbidden City" of Naxi race.

On the morning of your second day, take a coach to Ninglang County at the Central Passenger Station at a price of CNY36. After about 4.5 hours' driving, you will reach Ninglang County. Have your lunch here. Change to a minibus as a price of CNY20 to Lugu Lake, which is located 76 kilometers (47 miles) away from the Ninglang County. It will take you no more than 2 hours on the way. Please remember to take a panoramic picture of the lake at the viewing platform. The admission fee of this scenic area is CNY82. Pull up at Luoshui Village and stay at a guesthouse here. In the evening, you may join in a local campfire party if you are still energetic. It usually charges you CNY20.

Street of Lijiang Old Town
On your third day, visit the Lugu Lake Museum nearby first. Walk to Lige Village, a more peaceful part of the lake. It is nearly 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) away from Luoshui Village. After about 2.5-hour hiking, you will reach Lige Village. Here, it seems to keep more of the real Lugu Lake. The water is only half a meter away form the gate of every home. Have you lunch here and go on hiking to Dazui Village in the afternoon. Pass by the little Luoshui along the lake and you need to spend 3-4 hours on the way. You may have a chance to view three rainbows hanging above the lake at the same time. Stay overnight here.

On the fourth day, get up before 7:00 o'clock and climb up the posterior hill of Dazui Village to watch the sunrise. After breakfast, travel to the Ocean of Grass on foot. Pass by the Zuosuo Town and a village and you will get to the Ocean of Grass. You can have your lunch at Zuosuo Town and buy some supplement here. Visit the famous Walking Marriage Bridge. After that, take a cockleshell back to Luoshui Village. It will take you about 2.5 hours on the boat. Stay overnight there.

Take a minibus back to Nilang and change to a coach back to Lijiang. Tour ends.