Famous Mountains

According to local mythology the father of all mountains in the province is Laojunshan, southwest of Shigu in western Lijiang. At 4247 metres it is far from being the tallest, but it is certainly one of the prettiest. It stands near the prefecture's junction with Nujiang and Dali, with scarcely a hamlet within a day's walk in any direction. More bears and wild cats live in the vicinity than people. Stepping down its slopes are dozens of clear, clean ponds, ringed by dense fir and pine forests and, in spring time, blooming azaleas. Known as 99 Dragon Pools.it is, because of its difficult access, the least visited of Lijiang's natural beauties.

Easier to see and explore is the great massif that dominates Lijiang Plain---Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Its name stems from the imagination of the ancient Chinese who, when looking at its thirteen peaks from the east, pictured dragons lying in the clouds. The permanently snow-capped mountain figures heavily in the folklore of the local Naxi, who have bestowed names on all its glens, creeks, crags and groves, and is sacred to Tibetans as well. It was accorded official status as a sacred mountain during the Nanzhao era and the oldest temple at its base dates to that time.

Jade Dragon's tallest peak measures 5596 metres, just 200 metres more than Habaxueshan, its neighbour just north across the Jinshajiang in Zhongdian County. From its confluence at Qiaotou with the Chongjiang coming down from Zhongdian, north to the riverside Naxi town of Daju, the Jinshajiang runs right between the two snow mountains in a trench called Tiger Leaping Gorge. It got its name because a hunter was chasing a tiger through here once upon a time and when his prey came to the narrowest part of the gorge it escaped with a mighty leap across the river.

Haba Snow Mountain

The other famous mountain in the northwest is Meili Snow Mountain, near the town of Deqin. Rising to 6740 metres it is far and away the highest in the province. Local Tibetans know it as Kawa Gapo, invest it with great sacred power and make pilgrimages to it in the winter months. A sizable glacier slides down its southern face and can be reached on foot in a day's journey from the starting point on the road, a few kilometres north of the viewpoint above Deqin.

Tibetans and Naxi are not alone in viewing certain mountains as sacred. The Mosuo look upon Lion Mountain on the shore of Lugu Lake as the manifestation of their most important deity-the Goddess Ganmo. Several mountains in western and central Yunnan are sites of religious veneration, home to Daoist and Buddhist temples and monasteries. Among these are Shibaoshan in Jianchuan County, Jizushan in Binchuan County, Weibaoshan near Weishan, Xiushan in Tonghai and Lion Mountain in Wuding. Even animists revere certain mountains because of myths or culturally important legends associated with them. Examples of these include Tanhuashan, north of Dayao, where the Yi heroine Miyilu played out her tragic role, remembered today in the Festival of Putting Up Flowers, and Luofengshan in Heqing, where the Bai carry out rituals to mark the vernal equinox.