Baoshan Stone Town

The Stone town is located about 110 km north of Lijiang. It comprises of more than one hundred families on the top of a gigantic rock. This town was built in the late 13th century (Yuan Dynasty).

Like the Machu citizen of Inca Empire, Boshan is also a huge stone town. This stone town lies in the Jinshajiang River valley northeast of Jade Dragon Mountain. It is not a castle made of stones but a town built on a gigantic rock. The people built their houses according to the things that they can use around them. Some people use stones to make columns, desks and tables, and some water vats, stone kitchen range and even bed. All these stones are polished smoothly,. They record life Naxi people year by year. Touching the stones we can feel that our ancestors are living around us. The most amazing thing in town is the indepent irrigating system that the villagers use for each track of field without affect those of others', which shows us the admirable wisdom of the Naxi people.

In the Naxi tongue, it is called "La Bai Lu Pan Wu". La Bai was the first local Naxi leader, who lives here. Lu Pan Wu means white stone village. This town has such a long history due to it's unique geographic location. Below this stone town and towards the eastern side, lies the Golden Sand River. The other three sides are steep cliffs. The top of the cliff becomes a guarding post for the town.In this town, you may feel amazed at the sight of many household equipments which were make of stone. In most of the houses, their household items e.g. table, bed, water tank, fire stove are all carved out of big stones. You may wonder where do they do their farming of crops. They do their planting just below this uniquely perched village.

Different with the mystical disappearance of the Machu Pichu citizen, the Stone Town of Baoshan has existed for thousands of years from the day when it was built. Naxi people use about a thousand years to move from northwest China to the bank of the Jinshajiang River and develop from a nomadic ethnic group that can make a town on a huge rock. This castle built by Naxi ancestors is not only a military defense but also a homeland for the people. More than one hundred households live here from generation to generation. They keep the ancient tradition and lead a free and peaceful life on this rock.