Steve's Day 8 - Lijiang Old City

(Steve)

The next morning Danny led us through the streets of Lijiang's Old City to the Mu Palace. On the way he told us a little bit about the Naxi people, who inhabit the city, and their culture and religion, both called Dongba. He told us that Naxi men are notoriously lazy, and that the Naxi women do all the work. The stone lions guarding the gate to the palace compound supported his claims: while in Beijing you can tell the difference between male and female lions by what they are holding, in Lijiang the only difference is that the male lions have their mouths open - "because they are always ordering their wives around", Danny explained. He also told us why the city of Lijiang did not have a wall around it: if you put a box around the character for Mu, the monarch's name, you get the character for "surrounded". This omen would not have been lost on the highly superstitious denizens of ancient China.

The palace itself was very impressive. The first structure we visited was akin to a Western throne room, and appeared to be where the Mu monarch would hold his court, as it were. The similarities between this and a European castle ended their, however, as the building itself was crafted of equisitely carved wood, not stone, and the "throne" was decorated, not with cloth, but with tiger pelt. Danny pointed out to us the Dragon painted on the ceiling, very much like the Dragon that can be found in the Emperor's throne room in the Forbidden City. Except for one difference, enough to keep the Emperor from punishing his subordinate's boldness: the Dragon had only four claws, while the one in Beijing has five. The next building was separated from the first by a courtyard, and even after a week of good weather it was nice to be reminded that while Boston was still below freezing, here Spring had already begun. This second building was taller than the first, and from the balcony on the third floor we were afforded a view of the entire city of Lijiang. The difference between the traditional pagoda-like roofs of the Old City and the taller, more Western buildings of the New City was striking, but I stopped caring as soon as I glanced in the other direction: there, beyond the edge of the city, stood the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. It can only be described as awe-inspiring, and it took me a moment to register that this was the first time I'd seen snow since we arrived in China.

We continued through the compound, which ascended the hill that bordered Lijiang on this side. We saw the various structures that housed all of the king's servants and relatives, and finally came to the room in which he himself would have lived. It was small, though richly furnished. The bed, a fantastic structure of carved wood, looked too short even for me to fit in it. Further up the hill we came upon a Taoist temple, complete with monks. Danny informed us that these had become little more than fortune tellers, though - the yells which I'd taken for indignation at the tourists taking pictures were in fact offers to look into our future. On our walk back from the palace, we came upon a wall covered in simplistic pictures which Danny told us were Dongba characters. The Naxi written language is the only pictographic language still in use anywhere in the world. Only about 50 people can read it fluently, but Danny knew some of the basic, one-character words. He had us try to guess what each character meant; more often than not we weren't even close, except with the very easy ones like "hunting" or "fishing". My favorite was the character for "dancing", a stick figure that looked as if it were flailing its arms.

Next we visited the Black Dragon Pool, a beautiful pond just outside the city proper. Danny pointed out the goldfish swimming in the pool, and told us that no one is allowed to kill and eat them. In exchange for this protection, they serve a very important purpose (or, at least, one that used to be important). Like miners' canaries, the goldfish were an early warning system; if anyone poisoned the Black Dragon Pool, the source of Lijiang's drinking water, the people of Lijiang would know from the dead fish. After marveling at this bit of ancient Chinese cleverness, and after marveling once again at the majesty of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (which was even more majestic from here), we strolled around the pool. We saw a pair of peacocks, as well as several giant lantern displays; Danny told us that there would be a lantern show that night with no entrance fee.

When we finished our walk around the lake, we visited the Dongba culture museum, where we learned more about the customs of the Naxi people. Much of what we learned simply reinforced what we'd already been told, that the women did all the work, but a couple of details were particularly interesting. For example, the fact that marriages were arranged, but that there was a very long history of couples committing suicide together in the name of love (a favorite method was jumping hand-in-hand off of the Snow Mountain). Or the scroll depicting the Road to Heaven, a copy of which every Naxi family owns for when a relative dies. The museum had copies dating back up to six hundred years, written on a special paper invented specifically so that it would last that long. The Road itself seems to be a combination of our Western Heaven and Hell: first each spirit must go through a series of punishments, each according to his sins, and then he makes his way to Heaven, where he lives at peace among the enlightened spirits. We also learned the Naxi creation myth, but it's a little too complicated to go into here. The woman who guided us through the museum was an English major, so we learned much more than we would have if we'd gone by ourselves.

We had nothing planned for the afternoon, but in the morning when we were walking around I'd seen some souvenirs I'd wanted to buy. So, Molly, Candice, and I went out into the Old City to look around. I began to realize how much I love the atmosphere of these bustling marketplaces and bazaars, and how fun haggling can actually be. I got a flute made from a gourd, and realized too late that I had no idea how to play it. Fortunately, there were tons more flute shops, and the owner of the next one we came to was nice enough to show me how to use it. Knowing how didn't make me much better, though, and it wasn't long before Molly and Candice were telling me to stop trying. I decided to put it away until we got back to the hotel. Molly bought plenty of scarves, and we all bought some ice-cream; altogether a succesful trip. That evening, we went to a performance of Naxi cultural dances. As I've said before, this one was much better than the one in Guilin. The dancing was well-choreographed and better performed, and the costumes were extravagant (but in a good way). There were fewer acrobatics than in the first performance, but I was still very impressed with the show as a whole. A must-see; two thumbs up.

Jill and Candice were ready to retire for the night, but Molly and I decided to hike back upstream to the Black Dragon Pool to see the lantern show. First we had to make our way through the food market next to the hotel (the one I'd smelled the night before), and that was more of an experience than we'd have liked it to be: I, for one, don't find a pig's carcass, cleaved in half and put on a rack, particularly appetizing, especially given that they probably carve off a piece for you while you're standing there. Nevertheless, Molly and I were both a little sad to reach the end of the market; it was well-lit, at least, and the rest of our path was... well, dark as night. As we stumbled along the path next to the river in almost complete darkness, we were reassured only by the fact that most of the people walking by us seemed to be couples, not muggers. Still, getting to the Black Dragon Pool's entrance was a relief. After our unlit walk, the archway over the entrance seemed excessively lit. Scratch that - regardless of where we'd been before, the archway would have seemed excessively lit. From there on, the lights just got more excessive, more garish, and by the end, more tacky. Still, some of the displays were nice, particularly the ones on the pond itself, which were almost perfectly reflected in the water. By the time we got to the ones with moving parts, though, we were ready to go home. That we did, once again in darkness, and we were happy to get to bed.