The mountain guarded by the Sanduo god, the Dongba scriptures of the Naxi, the caravan tales of Sifang Street — Lijiang turns the poetry of life into daily practice.
The Naxi say Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is a sacred mountain, and the god Sanduo lives above the snowline.
In Naxi legend, Jade Dragon Snow Mountain is the body of the god Sanduo — the protector of the Naxi, clad in white armour with a spear in hand, who once appeared on the battlefield on a white horse. Every year on the eighth day of the second lunar month, the Sanduo Festival, people come from all directions to worship at the mountain's foot. Look up: thirteen snow peaks run like a silver dragon, and the Naxi believe that is the god's form left among humans.
The Naxi record their world in Dongba script — the only pictographic writing still in use. The Dongba creation epic tells that humans and nature are brothers born of the same mother; if humans harm nature, they will be punished. That is why Naxi village rules still say: do not cut trees on the sacred mountain, do not pollute the water. Ancient stories became the simplest kind of ecology.
Lijiang was a key town on the Tea Horse Road; the stones of Sifang Street were polished bright by caravan hooves. Muleteers carried Pu'er tea from Pu'er to Lhasa and traded it back for salt and medicine. The caravans are long gone, but at dusk Sifang Street is still lively — Naxi elders dance in the square and visitors learn their steps around the fire.
At ten at night the old town's bars grow loud; I turned into a lane and heard Naxi music coming from an old house. The Dongjing tunes are slow and long, like snowmelt running over stone. In Lijiang, the ancient and the modern stand that close — the mountain has stood beside the town for ten thousand years, and the life at its foot begins anew every day.
