Hole in the Clouds


Tag: Lijiang

The Sun Sets On Yet Another Place We've Never Been

Feb 18, 2014

As today's contribution to the occasional series "Places We've Not Been and Have No Business Trying to Write Anything About," please consider this roofscape scene taken in Lijiang village, a UNESCO World Heritage site high in the hills of southwest China, near the border with Myanmar.

Human habitation in Lijiang has been continuous since before there was such a thing as a roofscape, or even a roof; paleolithic cave-dwellers were here. The ancient Silk Road passed through here. Townspeople grew wealthy through trade and tribute, and they began to rebuild their town in more elaborate, decorative styles.

Civilization was flourishing here in the thirteenth century. And fortunately for some, within about eight hundred years, give or take, the tourists showed up.

landscape   sunset   China   village   Lijiang   UNESCO World Heritage Site   Yunnan   (Image credit: Trey Ratcliff via Stuck in Customs)