Baisha Frescoes

Baisha is a small and sleepy village just outside of Lijiang with no claim to fame except in this old temple are a roomful of Buddhist frescoes. The temple is old and quite beautiful. It seemed to have an elegant and nonchalant air to it. It's never been restored or touched up which made it quite precious. I quite like this temple. It doesn't see many visitors either. The tourists from Southern China and Hong Kong are more interested in the shopping in Lijiang.

I wasn't suppose to take any pictures and as usual I don't listen. I set my camera to non flash and clicked. I was going to do it again when the guard came in and told me not to take any pictures. It was a small room in an old temple with frescoes painted on all its walls. This was the main one and they are all in a very bad state of decay because during the march of the red army, the young communist cadres started to wipe out these images but they didn't do a good job and this is what remained. It is unusual to see old Buddhist frescoes this far south in China. Most of the frescoes are in the deserts in the North west on the silk road. The famous ones are those in the caves in DunHuang where there are thousands of caves but most of these have been destroyed again by the communist cadres, some 40,000 pieces have been looted by a British explorer called Aurel Stein. His looting has been dubbed, 'the original Chinese takeaway'. All these are stashed in a vault at the British museum. I read somewhere that some are at the British Library. Three years ago I went to the British library to look for them but didn't see any. These are very delicate pieces and there is a project underway to digitalised them so the whole world can view them.

http://books.google.com/books?id=I3oOzXYmlaMC&lpg=PP1&dq=auriel%20stein&pg=PA27

That morning in Lijiang I told my Naxi taxi driver that I wanted to go to Baisha, a little village just outside of Lijiang. I described what I wanted to see, she couldn't really understand me but she brought me anyway. I read about the Baisha frescoes and I wanted to see them. Now it has really whetted my apetite for more frescoes, so pretty soon, I'll be on my way to Dunhuang and the North west of China looking for more Buddhist frescoes.

Here comes the tourists

They were out in droves. It is wonderful to see, rather than thinking, Oh my god, crowds.... They are here and are shopping. There are lots of things to buy, souvenirs made by the locals. I think there is a factory somewhere that churns out these kitsch. Every shop seems to sell the same thing. I was watching the news on TV last night. They reported that tourism is down in the Costa Brava area of Spain. Spain is really suffering during this downturn in the world's economy. Not so in China. There's still building projects everywhere and here, for sure, there's no shortage of tourists, albeit these are from other parts of China and Asia.

Sometimes I just sit on the bench in Sifang Square and watched the action. Every day at 3pm, the locals bring in the horses and the square begins to fill to capacity with people. It's a fun way to spend time, watching and observing.

Lijiang is a cute place and these old houses have been fully restored and turned into shops, restaurants and inns.

There are lots of cute things to buy. It's become a shopping mecca. Aren't these shoes cute? They look like artwork.

As I sit and watched, I noticed that the tourists are all wearing the same thing. The shops sell these pretty skirts, shawls, scarves and hats and every tourist whose been out shopping have bought them and are wearing them. I think the crocs are their own.

I saw these 3 wearing the same red canvas shoes. I thought that was cute.

Another girl with the same skirt and scarf or shawl.

More of the same....

It's been a fun afternoon. I love Lijiang. There is so much money being spread around. I took a taxi out of town the next day. My taxi driver, a Naxi woman, committed a traffic infraction and she left me in her taxi while she went to pay her fine. As I sat in her taxi and waited, I noticed she left her stash of cash in the taxi. Wow! It just shows, she's not worried about money, the money just keeps coming in from the tourists. As long as they are nice, the tourists will come and there's plenty of money for everyone. Of courses, I didn't touch her money but the trust was quite overwhelming. Not the trust in me a stranger but the trust in the Chinese government, knowing the government will do right for the people. They've never had it so good. I'm glad.

Water features in Lijiang

There is fresh water everywhere, water from springs like this and water from the snow melt of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. There is fresh waterfalls everywhere and this is such a remarkable place. Fresh water is very important to the Dongba culture, the religion practised by the Naxi minority. Everyone is responsible for keeping the water clean. I saw this old man picking up trash from the canals, on his own. Everywhere, in China, there are huge billboards and TV monitors that spill out propaganda about the individual responsibility to make China great. It is no different in Lijiang even though the Han Chinese population is minimal. By and large people are law abiding and believe in those propaganda.

The water runs throughout the old city, reminds me of Annecy, a little village in France. (Read it in this blog, search for Annecy).

There is this huge lake at one end of the old city. There are paths to take for walking around the lake. It was a really beautiful walk, it is the stuff Chinese lakes are made of, the stuff one sees in Calenders and posters.

This local woman is washing her vegetables in the lake.

Wow, this was the reason I saw a huge crowd, the view of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain in the background. Every one was having their picture taken here and there was a traffic jam of people.

I have seen this picture in some of the books I have about China. This is my picture. The mountain is just some 20 miles away.

Here are some locals collecting drinking water.

I had the most pleasant afternoon walk, around this lake. It is so beautiful. I love Lijiang. The people here are truly blessed and they know it.

Minorities in Lijiang

The people in Lijiang are predominantly Naxi. The one child per family doesn't apply to minorities. This family has 3 kids, one of them is not in the picture. This kid is so cute, I simply had to take his picture or her picture. I can't tell if it's a boy or a girl.

This is the Shaman or a Dongba sorcerer, he wanted 5 Yuan for his picture. I smiled, took his picture and walked away. They are invited to special ceremonies to chant scriptures. The Naxi believed in the Dongba religion which is a mixture of Tibetan Buddhism and Daoism. They have their own script, their own language and their own music.

Naxi women in their traditional clothing.

Here comes the Shaman, all dressed up.

A native at the loom, I think, this is a Mosuo girl, they are found mainly in Lugu lake, to the north of Yunnan province.

This is the reason for the hordes of tourists in Lijiang, a Unesco world heritage site designation.

Local men playing Chinese chess. My father is a champion Chinese chess player. I couldn't read the Chinese letters to save my life.

Every day at 3pm as the tour buses begin to deposit their passengers and as the planes does the same thing, there is a deluge of tourists in old town Lijiang. Sifang square, which in the morning is deserted, start to fill with people. The local women come into the square in their native costumes and hang out. The men folk bring their horses so the city bound tourists can have their pictures taken with the horses and the natives and they can ride the horses around town. The Shaman makes his entrance to a huge fanfare of drum beating. It's quite wonderful to watch. This is why we come to Lijiang, to see the cute old village with its Naxi/Chinese style architecture and cute minorities and of course local cuisine and lots of shopping. The countryside surrounding the old village is as interesting. It is a fun place to visit. I like it. Lijiang is so beautiful.