The wooden stage
On the market square.
Matthieu Lelievre — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Hendrick Tomas — CC BY 3.0 · Matthieu Lelievre — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Matthieu Lelievre — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Rod Waddington from Kergunyah, Australia — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Rod Waddington — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Anders Johnson — CC BY 3.0 · Anders Johnson — CC BY 3.0
A small town in a quiet farming valley between Dali and Lijiang that was an important stop on the old Tea Horse Road, along which caravans carried tea and salt through Yunnan's mountains; its Sideng Street is described as the last surviving market of that road, and most of its people are Bai. In 2001 the World Monuments Fund put it on its list of the world's most endangered architectural sites, and from 2002 it was restored in a way that keeps the old as old, so its earthen lanes, mud-and-timber courtyard houses, the old market square with its raised wooden theatre under a curved roof, and the town gates survive. By the east gate, the Qing-dynasty single-arch Yujin Bridge, about 35 metres long, crosses the river towards fields that turn yellow with rapeseed in spring. The town is free and open at all times, and a market is held every Friday, per visitor guides. The drive from Dali takes about two and a half hours.
On the market square.
A single stone arch.
And mud houses.
Sideng Street, Jianchuan County, about 120 km by road north of Dali old town, Yunnan
Choices are few in Shaxi, so bring food or order vegetable dishes; Dali has many restaurants run by Hui Muslims under the halal sign.