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Jianshui Travel Guide

Last updated by fadri at 2015/11/4

Jianshui Overview

Jianshui is located in southern Yunnan on the north bank of the Red River’s midstream. It has a wide stretch of land, temperate climate and long history. Dating back to the Paleolithic Age, there were human beings inhabiting here. From the ancient times, Jianshui has been called “the Home of Foodstuff”. Besides, Jianshui had prosperous culture at that time, so that it has been celebrated as “Famous Literature Town” and “Another Hometown of the Sage Confucius in southern Yunnan”. The style of study was booming in Jianshui.

After the foundation of PRC, a great variety of cultural and historical relics were found in Jianshui, such as ruins of Palaeohuman, scrapers and figuline pendants which were found in the Swallow Cave in the Neolithic Period dating back to over 3,500 years ago, bronze swords, hoes and figulines which were found near the Longcha River in the Warring States Period and other historical and cultural bronze stuff found in the town of Qinglong, showing that the culture of bronze once flourished in the area and bearing witness to the development and creativeness of the Jianshui people.

Distinctive folk residences are one of the main components of the ancient city. There are a great variety of residences of different nationalities, such as old earthy single-storey houses of Yi and Dai nationalities, bamboo houses of Hani nationality and the tile-roofed houses of Han nationality with high quality and great quantity, all of which are well preserved.

Besides, the folk residences of Han nationality, centered in the urban district of Jianshui, characterized by the Zhu’s Garden and the Zhang’s Garden which are national scenic areas of Jianshui. The scenic spot is consisted of the Swallow Cave, Lin’an Ancient Aity and Red River area with karst landscape, culture relics and a strong tinge of folk customs.

With variational weather and a marked change in topography, people can enjoy different stereoscopic climate landscapes within one hour’s drive, including Torrid Zone, subtropical zone and temperate zone. And the fantastic underground landscape, consists of the Swallow Cave and Yandong Cave, attract people a lot, too.

Besides the natural beauties, a large number of ethnic attractions also please the eyes, such as the Confucius-worship dance, Manggu-drum dance and Long-street banquet of Hani nationality and the Cigarette-case dance and festive lanterns of the Yi ethnic minority group.

In Jianshui, there are a variety of folk residences, such as the well-preserved black brick quadrangles of Han nationality with a great quantity, mushroom and bamboo tile-roofed houses of the Hani nationality, the earthy houses of the Yi nationality and the earthy single-storey houses of the Dai ethnic minority group, all of which have high cultural and touristic value. Especially the Zhu’s Garden, Zhang’s Garden and other traditional folk residences are all treasures in the “Museum of Folk Residences” of Jianshui.