Top Tourist City Lijiang Old Town Strengthens Cultural Protection

Local government support for his loyalty to cultural protection infused confidence in He - a middle-aged man from Naxi minority which encouraged him to start an experience center in 2016 in crowdest area of the Old Town and gives him 400,00 a year for the daily expenses.

Preservation Of Heritage

A two-story cultural courtyard which reflects the traditional Naxi characteristics cover about 300 square meters. The local government gives it to us to promote cultural heritage. To exhibit the traditional values, the premise is divided into several rooms for the demonstrations and classrooms.

He and four other Naxi guides serve 14 hours a day. "During peak seasons, we barely have time to even take a sip of water," he said. Even though It is quite hard, we feel gratified in guiding people about culture and traditions. He said further.

There were 17 free cultural exhibition sites in the Old Town of Lijiang, including He's as of last year and local government is supporting this cause and planning to open 12 more such courtyards this year.

Such initiatives are the right domain to promote the culture of Lijiang, and at the same time, it gives the right understanding of culture to the visitors, especially those who are really interested in the cultural heritage of the country in a pragmatic way.

Moreover, the experience center operated by He eventually has collaboration with the travel agencies as well as schools and more than 7000 students each year get to know about the Naxi culture by the means of free training classes.

The Views

The local government has proposed a specialized annual fund of 10 million yuan for cultural protection in the Old Town especially to preserve the ancient Chinese city and abandon the commercialization of tourism development.

"China's cultural face to the world, Lijiang, the Old Town has been the essence for the traditional legacy. In order to maintain the traditional cultural heritage that is the aim of all the buildings of the Old Town. Dancing halls, Internet bars, and others that are incompatible with the ancient Old Town have been closed.

The local government and the Global Heritage Fund have restored and renovated a total of 299 traditional houses and 236 yards so far.

In order to increase the cultural influence over the tourists, a number of folk artists come to Old Town to show their skills and talent. In addition, more than 90 sets of books describing the tales of Lijiang and the Naxi's culture have been published and released till now.