Canals
Between the houses.
BrokenSphere — CC BY-SA 3.0 · xiquinhosilva — CC BY 2.0 · christiali — CC BY 3.0 · Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia — CC BY-SA 2.0 · wuzhongj — CC BY 3.0 · 江上清风1961 — CC BY 3.0 · Caihm — CC BY 3.0 · Pavel Špindler — CC BY 3.0
One of China's loveliest old towns, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, more than eight hundred years old; it was a meeting point for caravans on the old Tea Horse Road and home to the Naxi people and their rulers, the Mu family. The town is known for its orderly network of clear canals running between the houses and crossed by stone bridges, its Naxi timber-and-earth houses with grey roofs, and Square Market at its heart, where traders once met. A curious detail: it has no walls; tradition says the Mu rulers avoided building one because their name, framed by a wall in Chinese writing, becomes the character for «trapped». Its old houses largely withstood the 1996 earthquake, and the timber Wangu Tower on Lion Hill looks out over all its rooftops. Visitors pay a maintenance fee of about CNY 50 since August 2025, valid for a year with unlimited entries, per visitor guides. The town is very crowded in the evening, so explore early in the morning; many restaurants serve pork and alcohol.
Between the houses.
The heart of town.
Rooftop views.
Gucheng District, Lijiang, Yunnan
Visitors pay a maintenance fee of about CNY 50 since August 2025, valid for a year with unlimited entries, per visitor guides.
