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Published: August 15th 2008
9/8/08
Yunlong Prefecture was another important trading post in the old day. Could go back 2000 years. In the area they got some very good salt-mine, and in ancient China salt could rated with gold or silver, so horse-troops made journals here for salt and the area became prosperity. And since Tang dynasty they began to built bridges all over the region to made travel more easiler for traders, not only for salt, as they got many other mineral mines too. And today Yunlong Prefecture is one of the good area thst could see many old bridges, like the official promoted...the open air museum of old bridges! And I started my journey down today looking for old bridges after the market in Jinding. Not much surprised from the market, so I start earlier.
Shundang(@1900m) was my first stop, an ancient village famous for its salt mine. "there was many houses and temples in the old day" the local told me, every family lived on the salt mine in the old day, but everything ran down after the cultural revolution. They took me to where the salt water came out, it used to be a cave hole, but now was covered
with bushes, and a bamboo pipe lead the salt water out from inside. "couple of families still made salt" a boy said, only after wet season he added, because the rain water diluted the salt water, so..."early Autumn is the right time" he said. I look at the water coming out of the pipe, just like it was 1000 years ago, I tasted some and it was quite salted. Nowaday there was about 30 families in the village, a pavilion style gate overlooking the Bi river valey from the small hill at the entrance of the village, it also acted as a defensive tower in the old day. Near by is the Caifeng bridge dated back to the year 1628, it was destroyed by the flooded in 1993, and was rebuilt using most of the originally material. A nice looking lounge bridge with a pavilion house on the west end. Crossed the road on a small hill was an ancient graveyard for the Bai in the area, but here they practiced cremation that was influenced by Indian culture of Buddhism, as you could seen the tombstones were engraved with Sanskrit together with Chinese, also you could see some status similar
to the lingaum in India. It could mean there were other religion came here from the west in the old day. On the way to Baishi you could see some old bridges made with rattan, in the old day there was many rattan bridges in the area, it was constructed with vine and new to renovated every 2 or 3 years, and now there were only couple of these rattan bridges left. Since inside Yunlong region, you could see at least one bridge in every 10km, old or new, wooden or steel or concrete. When approached Changxin(@1900m), there was another beautiful lounge bridge stand over the Bi river. The Tongjing bridge dated back to year 1772, but also was rebuilt after collapsed by the flooded at 1993. Some said it was the most elegant lounge bridge in Yunnan. I would agreed only when they clean up the buffalo shits in there!
Note
Minibus Jinding to Shundang 5 yuans
Minibus Baishi to Changxin 5 yuans
10/8/08
There also other bridges in Changxin, an 300 years old hanging chain bridge with wood walking platform right in the middle of the town. And one more lounge bridge at tje north
end of the town, crossing the bridge and a uphill climbed through the narrow trail, for about an hour will get you to a Bai village Dada, a very nice village, earth and mud houses, wood engraved window panels, stone paved lane, but the same problem like in any other village, the sanitation, flies was everywhere, every man got hundred of flies on and around them whenever stand or sit. Anyways...the most extraordinary sight was the 75 years old theater house, right in the center of the village. preserved very well and in good shape, opera was playing there when in festival. I could imagine the atmosphere when the play was on, heads coming out from windows and door frames, human bodies filled all the spaces in front of the theatre, dogs barking and chickens slided cross the air, childern crying and.... "where are you from"? the question broke my drifting thought. They told me the best time to see the opera would be New year.
Back down to the market in Changxin, like the local said "beside the market in Yunlong, our market will be the busier", it could if not the rainy weather. And also in the south
end of the town was a huge cattle market too.
Sunday also market in Yunlong(@1700m), it looked busy even in rainy day, same like in Changxin, Bai dominated the market, and here in Yunlong area they could easy identified by their heavy embroidered shuolder bag, as you wouldn't see many costume dressed people, beside the shoulder bag, some women got more needle work on their front apron. Anyway... I didn't expected much of minority scene before came to Yunlong area, it was more on historical sight. Soon it will be the Ghost Day in China, July 14th is the gate opening day of Hell, so people can send gifts to their past relatives by burning paper imitating presents, so in the market there was this additional item for sell, paper money, paper jacket and shoes, houses...just like in Qingming day. In Yunlong area the Bai said they took this day more serious than the other area, no wondered every buses came to Yunlong was full as many people came back to pay respected to their ancestor.
Note
Minibus Changxin to Yunlong 10 yuans
11/8/08
rain the whole day, I went to Baofeng, no more than 15 minutes
away, a small village also by the Bi river with a stone bridge. They got couple of temple around the hilltop above the valley. All of them could dated back to almost 400 years ago. But the same story...all of them had been destroyed during the disaster 10 years of our cultural revolution, the Baiyi Court was under renovation and locked, but there was an old stone fountain with the dragon head nozzle could be seen on the outside. from the name it's more likely someone home than a temple. Over look on the other side if the valley, stand on the small hilltop was another 150 years old Xiufeng pagoda. The 5m high pagoda made into 6 section, each with engraving figures. From there you could have a great view of Baofeng town and its valley. Baofeng must be another trading town in the old day, and most of the houses still look pretty old and the small street inside are still in old stone path.
Note
Minibus Yunlong to Baofeng 5 yuans
14/8/08
The most important sigth in Yunlong area was Nuodeng village, it was existed 2000 years ago, and when the salt well
had been find, the village expanded and became an important trading center. Tax office had been setup in the village, it brought big income back to the central empire. Official had been send to this post from Fujian, and that the Ancestor of the Huang families, the biggest name in present Nuodeng village. It was only 7km from Yunlong town, although you could walk the distant in 3 hours, but it was mostly on the motorway, I better paid 15 for the tuktuk ride. Or if you find someone who could took you hike through the old horsr-troop trail, it could be an interesting walk, but not many people knew the route nowaday. Approaching Nuodeng, you would see the old salt well at the entrance of the village, hide inside a shabby wooden structure with a broken tiled roof, and it was flooded by rain water. "you wouldn't be able to see how we produce salt because it had been diluted by rain water" the local said. The village was built on the side of the mountain, you need to walk up and down all the time, most houses are came down from Ming or Qing dynasty, you could still
see many beautiful engraving at the front door. The most famous sight ws the Yuhuangge, it was a compact consisted of the idea of Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. Through the beautiful front gate you could reached couple of temple, the confucius temple was a surprised, as in the old day confucius temple was only allowed to built in big township, so you could imagined how important and rich Nuodeng was. Next door was the Guandi temple, and the pavilion of the Yuhuangge was on the far left. As usual, most of the historical thing had been destroyed during the cultural revolution, still...some had been hide and was save be the locals, and you could view those remains in some local's houses that posted as a small museum. Now renovating work had be underway in all these temple, you could see brand new Confucius statue, and soon everything will be look like any other old town or village in tourist area, the same colour in same style. Now there was 4 local guesthouses provided simple accommodation, people are friendly enough in this village. You could feel how eager they want to get into tourist business, they wanted their childern learn English,
and with a new movie crew planning to be here in a month, the whole village provided them with all the help they need, hoping it would help bigger the name of Nuodeng. You would wondered how the village could became that poor when they wwre so rich in the old day. Same old story, people in Nuodeng never need to do farmimg work in the old day, with the income from salt, the became business man, education and study, became an official was the target in Nuodeng's live, salt was still produced 50 or 60 years ago, but once the Republic was find and land and properties reformed, everything belonged to the party, and then the disastrous cultural revolution turned everything into a deep hole. Nuodenger turn themselves into agriculture work, something that they wasn't good at, nowadays they still grow only corn in their land mostly. No wonder they were so eager when they saw the light with the hope of tourism with their old glory past. Nuodeng still a nice village to visit, and the local could prepared some good dishes as they did had a cultural history, the ham was a superb that was seasoned by
the Nuodeng salt, and the bean cracker and fried pork was another delicious local snack, I also had chicken with wild papaya, it could easily beat any Thai cuisine. Anyway...with so many old town or villages already in te tourist market in Yunnan, what would be the future of Nuodeng? No idea and hope it will coming out with less commercial touch.
Nearby Yunlong had another sight that call the Taijitu, the Bi river making it way down in a curve and incidentally created the figure of the Taiji with the land. Interesting sight.
Note
Every Friday morning a small market will be held in Nuodeng.
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Estelle
non-member comment
very interesting to visit in details. It's rare on the net. Thanks