Chuxiong Yizu Ancient Town

In the high plateaus of Yunnan, a modern town resurrected a lost medieval kingdom. Chuxiong Yizu Ancient Town stands on the exact soil where Gao Liangcheng, Prime Minister of the Dali Kingdom, built the fortress of Dejiang City during the Southern Song Dynasty.

Though Dejiang fell to ruin centuries ago, its memory survived in the oral epics of the Yi people. In 2004, builders began a 3.2-billion-RMB project to rebuild this heritage. Local stonemasons and carpenters worked to recreate the historic homes of the Wuding and Chuxiong Tusi chieftains. Today, the thirteenth-generation Bimo priest, Lu Chengxiong, still recites ancient prayers over the central sacrificial fire pit, keeping the spiritual lineage unbroken. Nearby, master embroiderers like Jin Ruiru guide the hands of thousands of rural women, pulling rough, colorful threads through hand-spun cotton to transform home-spun textiles into global fashion.

The town covers 3,161 acres, structured into seven Fangs and fifty courtyard complexes. The architecture blends Yunnan's "Yi Ke Yin" and "Sanfang Yizhaobi" styles with Beijing-style courtyards, featuring grey bricks, black tiles, and pointed cornices. An engineered water network feeds Taohua Creek and Camellia Creek, sending cool, murmuring streams directly past residential doorsteps. At the heart of the town, Bimo Square holds a massive bronze relief scroll of the "Chamu" creation epic, where visitors can touch the cold, heavy metal detailing the birth of the universe.

This architectural complex functions as a living cultural hub. During the Torch Festival on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth lunar month, the smell of roasting mutton and woodsmoke fills the air, and the rhythmic thud of dancing feet echoes across the plazas during the Left-Foot Dance. As night falls, the crackle and heat of the bonfire in Bimo Square echoes the ancient fires of the Dali Kingdom. The stone pathways, polished by millions of footsteps, connect the medieval past with a living, breathing present.