Gongshan and Dulongjiang

This is the last frontier in Yunnan, the most remote and least accessible county in the province. A hump of territory extending west of the Nu River into the space between southeastern Tibet and northern Myanmar, Gongshan County has two distinct halves. The eastern half comprises the upper reaches of the Nu River and its flanking mountain ranges-Biluoshan on the left bank and Gaoligongshan on the right bank. The watershed crest of the latter neatly divides the county. The Dulong River valley runs down the middle of the county's western half, with the Dandanglika Mountains forming the boundary with Myanmar.

Peaks in this county occasionally top 5000 metres and are altogether higher, colder, steeper and more densely forested than in Fugong County. Yet the riverbeds of the Nu and the southern part of the Dulong are less than 1000 metres, giving the county great geographical variety. That, together with the presence of warm air currents from the Indian Ocean and its position beyond the monsoon line, endow the county with what is called a "stereoscopic climate." The high mountain zone is dominated by snow, thick-leafed, tough little shrubs and plants and furry animals. The middle zone is temperate, full of trees, all sizes of mammals and birds. The lowest zone is tropical, replete with flowers, bamboo, insects, reptiles and amphibians.

The Nu River enters Gongshan from Tibet and flows southeast past Bingzhongluo, the northernmost township, and literally makes loops nearly all the way around the two "toes" of Biluoshan. These are low elevation tablelands that jut out from the base of steep mountains south-east of Bingzhongluo. The river then flows south to the county seat, turns southeast to the border of Fugong County, then cuts directly south all the way to Liuku and beyond. The highway from Fugong crosses the Nu just before Gongshan. But there the good road ends and only a rough dirt road proceeds north to Pengdang and Bingzhongluo on the right bank and an even rougher track leads west over Gaoligongshan to Dulongjiang township.

Transportation is still in its developing stage in Gongshan. Not so long ago these roads were mere pony trails. Twenty tributary streams feed the Nu River and for centuries the only way to cross them was by rope bridge or rattan suspension bridge. Many of these are still in regular use, but steel suspension bridges have in recent years been installed at many places along the Nu. The older generation here not only grew up without such convenient bridges. They also had to walk through tunnels that their ancestors cut into the sheer cliffs on the banks.

The Dulong valley is even wilder. The river's elevation is 1200 m higher where it enters the county than, 96 km straight south, where it exits into Myanmar, to eventually link up with the Irrawaddi. There are places where the river, bounded on each side by steep slopes covered in emerald green forests, looks like a white silk scarf laid upon a watery staircase to the sky.

Over 40% of the county is covered in forests, harbouring a tremendous diversity of plant and animal life, including rare mammals like the tiger and the takin. It is one of Yunnan's least densely populated counties, home to Nu, Lisu and Tibetans in the east and Dulong in the west. Tibetans began settling in the extreme north of the county in the late 18th century. They established the Puhua Monastery near Bingzhongluo in 1882 and made some headway converting nearby Nu to a form of lamaist Buddhism.

Competition arrived the same year in the form of the first French priest to arrive in the county. In 1904 the first Catholic church was erected in Baihanluo, in the Chinese style. The original was destroyed the year after, but faithfully rebuilt and outfitted with a French bell donated from the mission's homeland. A one-story wooden building with carved screen doors and windows, tiled roofs with upturned eaves, its bell tower stands over the front entrance, with frescoes of Christian themes on the walls and ceiling of the entrance arch.

Five more Catholic churches went up in different Nu and Lisu villages in the upper part of the canyon. Protestants were late arrivals. Not until 1925 did an American missionary begin preaching in Gongshan. In 1933 the first Protestant church was established in Gongshan, followed by a half dozen more the next few years.

The foreign missionaries left in 1949 and have not returned. The churches suffered attacks in the Cultural Revolution, but all of them have re-opened and are active places of worship, not merely relics of a bygone era. Religious activity attracts a good percentage of the Christians of Nujiang, but many are also non-religious by habit or even clinging to traditional animism.

Remote as it is, Gongshan is not without its modern amenities. The city sits on a flat protrusion of land just above the river, with a fine view of the mountains to the north, usually snow-capped. It has an assortment of modern administrative buildings, a long market, capacious cultural centre and Dandang Park. Villages beyond the county seat are in general closer to the river or mid-way up the slopes beside the tributary streams. Little rice is grown in the area, compared to maize and buckwheat, the staple fillers in the local diet.

Hunting supplements agriculture as a source of food. Every boy in Nujiang grows up knowing how to use a crossbow. The crossbow, and skill with it, is such a part of the Iocal male image that at festivals and market days a young Nu or Lisu man walks around with one slung over his shoulder, plus hangs a dagger from his belt. Without these he feels incompletely attired. A quiver goes with the crossbow, too, consisting of a bamboo tube to hold the arrows, which is often covered in animal hide or uses a strip of hide as its strap. Occasionally they carry their arrows in a shoulder hag of bear skin or monkey hide.

The crossbow is the main hunting tool, for Nujiang men are not trappers, except in the rivers and streams. Here they use homemade fish traps of split bamboo as well as ordinary fishing nets and poles. One other important use of the crossbow is defence; not personal defence but defence of the field. Upper Nujiang farms are close to the forests, which are home to bears and such animals as takin, wild ox, antelope and others that will raid a ripening crop if allowed the opportunity. Just before harvest Nujiang farmers stay in field huts to keep watch over their crops and repel predators with the crossbow.