Clement weather is just one of the allures of Lijiang, an immensely popular destination in Yunnan where history and nature intertwine in remarkable ways.

Photographs by Christopher P. Hill

*Left to right*: A cobbled street in Baisha, the oldest Naxi settlement on the Lijiang Plain; one of the resident lamas at Fuguo Temple.

It’s an April afternoon in the Old Town of Lijiang, and the stone lanes that run beside willow-lined canals are packed with Chinese tourists. Photo studios offering ethnic costumes and makeup services do brisk business here; everywhere I look, ladies in embroidered tunics and elaborate headdresses pose on small arched bridges or in ornately carved doorways for that perfect post on Weibo or WeChat. One elfin girl in a fur-trimmed red robe even totes a bow and arrow, looking like she’s stepped out of a cosplay convention.

Lijiang, with an urban population somewhere north of a million, attracts tens of millions of domestic visitors annually, and not just because of its Old Town’s evocative architecture or historical links to the legendary trading route known as the Tea Horse Road. Home to the Naxi, an ethnic minority whose ancestors migrated here from the Tibetan Plateau some 2,000 years ago, this northwestern corner of China’s Yunnan province is also steeped in natural beauty. Just outside town, the lofty peaks of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain are laced with ice and snow throughout the year, lending an alpine feel to the surroundings. Farther north, the massif’s slopes tumble down to the Jinsha River — a major tributary of the upper Yangtze — forming Tiger Leaping Gorge, one of the world’s deepest and most dramatic river canyons. Two hours south of Lijiang along a newish expressway lies the blue expanse of Erhai, a scenic lake where fisherfolk still use cormorants to catch carp. And find me a more idyllic climate. With an elevation of 2,400 meters, the plain around Lijiang enjoys near-perfect weather year-round; even in the depths of winter, the skies are blue and daytime temperatures hover around 14°C.

Spurred by the Old Town’s 1997 designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site and facilitated by new roads and rail connections, tourism has boomed around this trinity of culture, history, and nature over the last two decades, with the concomitant sprawl of hotels, guest houses, restaurants, and assorted other hospitality-related businesses. Happily, the place where I’m staying is well away from the crowds. It’s the Club Med Lijiang, an outpost of the Paris-based all-inclusive vacation group.

*Left to right*: A staffer at Club Med Lijiang in the traditional attire of the Miao, another of the area’s ethnic minorities; the resort’s rooms feature Naxi textile designs.

Opened in 2021 in the countryside north of the city, Club Med’s fifth property in China is a low-rise compound of garden-fringed walkways and stone-clad buildings with tiled roofs topped by ornamental ridges. Amid its pops of color and family-friendly vibe, Naxi design details predominate. On the wall behind the faceted stone reception counter, a fan-like installation evokes the folds of a Naxi dress. The decor in the main restaurant includes traditional cooking implements and stoneware, while panels above the buffet stations are adorned with the pictograms of Dongba script, an ancient writing system still used by a handful of Naxi shaman. So too the wood-paneled rooms and suites, each with a balcony, where local textile designs appear in cushions and wall hangings. But it’s the views of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain that steal the show, particularly from the lobby, where an A-shaped bank of windows perfectly frames the nearby peaks.

This being a Club Med, there’s plenty to do on the grounds. One building contains a rock-climbing wall, water slides, and a sizeable gym. Outside, a jogging track runs past bocce ball and paddle tennis courts, a mini football pitch, a flying trapeze, and an archery field. Daily activities programs range from yoga and jazz dance lessons to Frisbee tournaments and tile-cat painting, the latter a reference to the fierce-looking feline figurines that stand guard on the rooftops of traditional Naxi homes. And every night, the theater puts on a cabaret or acrobatics show performed by the resort’s spunky hosting staff (or gentiles organisateurs — GOs — in Club Med parlance). Emceed by the property’s equally spirited Taiwanese general manager, Zack Lee, they may not convey the nonstop party spirit found at Club Med’s beach resorts, but they’re good fun.

*Left to right*: A terrace at Club Med Lijiang looks out to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain; a table at the resort’s main restaurant, Baisha.

More sedate diversions await at the spa, where treatments feature Dead Sea minerals mined by Israeli beauty brand Ahava. There’s also a tea salon that conducts tastings of Yunnan’s prized pu’er. I sample a chunk of 16-year-old tea from the mountains overlooking Erhai lake. Its earthy flavor peaks and mellows over the course of two dozen infusions.

Of course, there are off-site excursions as well. One morning I join an outing to Fuguo Temple, set on a hill high above the plains of Lijiang. Beyond an entrance shaded by Chinese cypress trees, the Tibetan Buddhist lamasery rises in terraces from a flagstone courtyard. Dating to the Ming era, the complex has been rebuilt several times over the centuries, but the feel is still ancient. At its uppermost pavilion, a dozen or so monks are solemnly chanting their morning prayers. The hall reverberates with the sound of horns and drums.

Another day I head off after breakfast to visit the old streets of Baisha, just 10 minutes down the road from the Club Med. I’m told this is the oldest Naxi settlement in the area, predating even Lijiang; and though its Old Town area is relatively compact, it is not quite as overrun as Lijiang’s historic quarter — at least not in the mornings. I watch Naxi grannies in blue caps and sheepskin capes stroll the freshly swept cobblestones as businesses set up for the day. Near the old town gate, a group of elderly gents are bent over a game of mah-jongg. One courtyard residence houses a school where masters teach the art of Naxi silk embroidery. Elsewhere, local artisans can be seen hammering copper sheets into bowls.

*Left to right*: The Club Med Lijiang’s lobby building at twilight; pork sausages on a street-side grill in the Old Town of Baisha.

The street food is also enticing: plump pork sausages and yak skewers cooked over charcoal; crepes filled with rose jam; roasted chestnuts; bubble tea made from fresh yak milk. At one stall, a lady is grilling up a batch of foraged mushrooms. Seasoned with garlic and chili powder, they’re delicious.

Finally comes a much-anticipated excursion to Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The plan is to take China’s highest cable car up to the massif’s largest glacier, at an elevation of more than 4,500 meters. Oxygen bottles are handed out on the bus ride to the drop-off point. But then our tour guide, Yong, informs us that the lift is closed due to strong winds. Instead, we’ll be taking a lower cable car to a meadow below the tree line. This is disappointing, but not nearly as much as the lines awaiting us at the visitors’ center, where we queue for two hours just to get on another bus that will take us to the cable-car station. I ask Yong how many people visit these slopes each day. He shrugs. “Ten thousand?” When we finally reach it, the meadow is scenic enough: a swath of golden pastureland backed by spruce forests and rocky ramparts. “The Naxi say that people and nature are brothers,” Yong says. With that, he ushers us back down the mountain.

Back at the visitors’ center, we end the afternoon on a higher note watching Impression Lijiang, an outdoor extravaganza staged in a purpose-built amphitheater backdropped by Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Created by veteran Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou, the long-running show features hundreds of traditionally costumed performers — some mounted on galloping horses — in a grandiose song-and-dance tribute to the Tea Horse Road and the folklore of the area’s ethnic minorities. Like so much of Lijiang these days, it’s the stuff of touristic fantasy. Still, with the snowy peaks beyond us gleaming brightly under the warm spring sun, it’s hard not to be impressed.

A scene from the Impression Lijiang show, staged at the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. — A scene from the *Impression Lijiang* show, staged at the foot of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

Nightly rates at Club Med Lijiang start from US$570, including food, drinks, and on-site activities.

This article originally appeared in the August/September 2024 print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“In the Land of Eternal Spring”).

Lijiang in the Limelight

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