25th December: Lijiang, China
I woke up early with food poisoning. Merry Christmas!
After most of the day in the room, we did get out for a wander around Lijiang late in the afternoon. This time, we entered the old town via the market at the south-east corner. This is a very fertile region with year-round fruit and vegetable growing conditions (if protected from night-time frosts), as shown by the breadth and colours of produce on display. We picked up some white strawberries, oranges, and bananas. Northern Yunnan is also an area of wild mushroom picking and some small shops specialised in various mushroom dishes made fresh. The mushroom and truffle fried rice was pretty tasty!
We hadn’t previously made it to the eastern half of this ancient Naxi town, so crossed the small river to explore there. This area was definitely less focused on mass tourism, with more independent boutiques and businesses run by locals. It’s a shame that old towns get hollowed out in this way in China but there are usually still cool spots to be found away from the routes taken by tour groups.
Lijiang was unusual for towns of its size in ancient China by not having a city wall. Apparently, this was to do with the ruling Mu family of the Naxi ethnic group and the traditional Chinese symbol representing their name taking on a more sinister meaning if a box was added around it. Despite political power often being male dominated, the Naxi people from certain areas were and still are a rare matrilineal society. In practice this usually means that businesses are run by women, they are heads of their household, and inheritance is through the female line. The traditional family system is different from that in the west and both men and women can have multiple partners without issue. Men have no responsibility towards their own children, but instead towards their sister’s and others in their mother’s extended family. These cultural norms are gradually drifting towards ‘conventional’ practices as modern society encroaches more and more into Naxi life.
