Li Huaixiu Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum

At No. 55 Huimin Lane in Yilong Town, Shiping County, a traditional four-sided courtyard house stands as a sanctuary for voices that have echoed across Yunnan for seven centuries. This ancient residential dwelling, now operating under an "ancient architecture, new use" model, preserves its historic timber frame while serving as the Li Huaixiu Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum. Visitors entering the free-admission site step directly into a living archive, which forms a key part of Shiping County's pan-museum group.

The heart of the building is its central open-air courtyard, converted into an intimate courtyard theater. Here, the sky serves as a ceiling for performances of the Yi Seaweed Song and the Yi Cigarette Box Dance. The Seaweed Song, a state-level intangible cultural heritage, originated as love calls across the waters of nearby Yilong Lake. Its soaring, high-pitched vocal glides mimic the rising waves of the lake, filling the courtyard with acoustic resonance.

The museum's existence is tied to the personal journey of national first-class actor Li Huaixiu. At age twelve, she began learning these songs from village elders. At sixteen, she traveled to Kunming to join the Yunnan Minority Cultural Transmission Center, founded by composer Tian Feng. Early students there endured lean years, planting vegetables and raising poultry to sustain their studies. In 2006, Li Huaixiu and her brother, Li Huaifu, won the gold medal for ecological singing at the 12th CCTV National Youth Singer TV Grand Prix, bringing their ancestral music to national prominence.

Inside the quiet side rooms, the scent of aged wood mingles with research archives and heritage artifact displays. Visitors can touch the smooth, hand-carved four-stringed lutes fashioned by elderly local craftsmen. Nearby, the rhythmic, hollow clicking of wooden cigarette boxes used in the traditional dance offers a tactile connection to the performers who have trained here.