Cultural Tour of Baoshan Stone City

Baoshan Stone City in Lijiang is a mysterious and magical place. Located in the Jinsha River valley, it is 120 kilometres away from the Old Town of Lijiang. This circular tourist route integrates the history and culture of the Naxi people, the extraordinary architectural art of the stone city, and adventure exploration at the perilous Taizi Pass.

In the Western Han Dynasty, Baoshan Stone City belonged to Xielong County of Yizhou Commandery, and it came under Yongchang Commandery in the Eastern Han Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, seven Mosya brothers settled here, occupying seven stockaded villages including Luobang (today’s Baoshan) and Daku (present-day Daju Township). Centred on ancient Baoshan City, they formed a powerful village alliance.

In the first year of the Baoyou reign of Emperor Lizong of the Southern Song Dynasty (1253 AD), Möngke, the Mongolian Great Khan, ordered his younger brother Kublai to lead troops south to conquer the Dali Kingdom. Leading the middle route army, Kublai crossed the Jinsha River on leather rafts at Fengke Ferry in Lijiang, crossed Taizi Pass, marched into Baoshan, and then proceeded through Daju to the Lijiang Basin. The famous line “The Yuan army crossed the river on leather rafts” in the long couplet of Daguan Tower in Kunming records this very event.

Mai Liang, ancestor of the Mu chieftain clan, was a powerful Naxi tribal leader. He judged the political situation wisely and surrendered to the mighty Yuan army, personally going to Labo to greet Kublai. In the Naxi language, Baoshan means “stockaded village of white stones”. Inspired by this meaning, Kublai renamed it Chahanhuluhan, which stands for “white mountain stronghold”.

According to folk legends, Mai Liang’s ancestors belonged to the You clan, one of the four major Mosya clans. The clan gradually prospered after migrating and settling in Baoshan White Stone Village. Even today, place names in Baoshan such as Youbengu (the settlement of the You clan) and Youluwa (the rocky village once inhabited by the You clan) serve as evidence supporting this story.

After Mai Liang submitted to the Yuan Dynasty, Kublai appointed him to official posts including the governor of Chahanzhang Pacification Commission. Chahanzhang literally means “white Qiang people”.

In the 14th year of the Zhiyuan reign of the Yuan Dynasty (1277 AD), the Mu clan established a county here, which was promoted to a prefecture three years later in 1279. It governed today’s Daju, Dadong, Baoshan, Mingyin, Fengke, as well as Baidi, Haba and Dongba in Zhongdian County. It was one of the seven prefectures under the Lijiang Circuit Pacification Commission and was an important historic town of the ancient Naxi kingdom.

The settlement earns the name Stone City because it was built on a huge boulder shaped like a giant mushroom. In the Naxi language, it is called Labalupanwu, meaning “Baoshan White Stone Village”.

Covering an area of 500 to 600 square metres, the city faces the Jinsha River on one side and is surrounded by sheer cliffs on the other three sides. Only on the southwest side stands a natural stone gate leading outside. Once the gate is closed, the whole place becomes an enclosed fortress, fitting the description: One man holding the pass can stop ten thousand enemies.

Married Naxi women here wear black headscarves, and their costumes differ greatly from those of Naxi people in other regions. Locals speak fluent western Naxi dialect, while communicating among themselves in a local subdialect. Roughly one hundred households live inside the city.

Entering through the stone gate, you will see houses built along the undulating rock terrain. Rugged stone lanes wind and twist. The flagstone roads here are completely different from those in the Old Town of Lijiang, which are paved with variegated flower stones. The paths in Baoshan Stone City are chiselled directly out of solid bedrock, with rough steps carved into the steep slopes. Villagers still drive cattle, sheep and transport manure along these rocky roads every day. The stone lanes inside the ancient town resemble hand-chiselled mountain trails.

Many local residents have channelled the native rock to make water ditches, stone vats, benches, stoves, beds, and even feeding troughs for livestock.

On the eastern side of the city stands a gate tower. Beyond the terraced farmlands below rushes the surging Jinsha River. Looking north from the tower, the towering and precipitous Taizi Pass comes into full view, with jagged peaks piercing the clouds.

Kublai’s army marched down through this pass. Since he was the crown prince of the Mongol Empire, the mountain pass has been known as Taizi Pass ever since. Historical documents also refer to it as Snow Mountain Gate Pass, which once marked the boundary between the Mosya people and the Tubo tribes.

Lijiang Prefecture Chronicle records: “Snow Mountain Gate Pass, 260 li northeast of the prefecture seat and northeast of the former Baoshan Prefecture, stands on the border between Mosya and Tubo lands, naturally guarded by steep cliffs. It was here that Kublai, the imperial brother of the Yuan Dynasty, broke through the stone pass when marching from Tubo into Dali.”

It is said that the Mu chieftain inscribed ten characters on the rock face of Taizi Pass: Labuo Taizi Pass, where hands can almost touch the sky, and the characters can still be distinguished today. Nowadays, a safe mountain trail leads across the pass.

The hiking adventure at Taizi Pass can be connected with the ancient trail hiking tour starting from Yongning.