My Favorite Ancient Town in China | Shaxi, Yunnan

My Favorite Ancient Town in China | Shaxi, Yunnan

Dali and Lijiang are two of the most popular destinations in all of China. But what if I told you that on a short detour halfway between these two cities lies an ancient town that is more intimate, artistic, and far less commercialized? This is Shaxi. Tucked away in Jianchuan County, Shaxi Ancient Town is beloved by artists and craftsmen from all over China, yet still relatively unknown to international visitors. I can confidently say this town is a must visit in Yunnan. Join us on our trip to this charming little gem. Continuing our trip in Dali Prefecture, we made it over to Shaxi. Shaxi was a very important stop on the Tea Horse Road, which was a network of paths and caravans ranging from Sichuan to Yunnan to Tibet. Right now, we are in front of the guxitai, the ancient theater stage on Sideng Street. This is the most iconic landmark in the entire ancient town. This stage was used for ethnic celebrations and performances, while the square around it was a spot for social gatherings. The stage structure itself is simply gorgeous. Just look at all these detailed patterns and colors that cover the entire structure. Behind this stage, there is also a small exhibition hall about the caravans of the Ancient Tea Horse Road. It’s quite interesting here, with many of the tools they used in the past. Tea bowls, tea boxes, teapots, and all kinds of tea-related tools. Even though their journeys were rough, they were still quite particular about the art of drinking tea. Today, this square is surrounded by many cafes, artist studios, and workshops. You can even attend some of these workshops yourself. Right now, Rika is going to go experience something that’s very popular and a very traditional practice here in Yunnan, zaran, tie-dye. If you go to any ancient city, any ancient town here in Yunnan, you’ll see a lot of these blue blankets, t-shirts, and dresses. Those are all made from tie-dyeing. Rika is going to go tie-dye a dress. There’s so many dresses to choose from. Rika is taking quite a long time to decide which one she wants. The design looks quite distinctive. And I don’t have this style of dress. I’m excited to see what it looks like after dyeing. Butterflies in large, medium, and small sizes, they look quite beautiful. It seems very beautiful in my mind, but I’m not sure what it’s like in reality. The process is to clamp these wooden shapes tightly onto the dress. So when you dye it, the color wouldn’t soak through that area, and it’ll make an outline of the shape. The front has already been clamped, now it’s time to start clamping the back. The ideal look is that this dress has a ring of small butterflies. This whole tie-dye process, when they first explained it to us, it seemed really simple. They said we can do it in 20 minutes. But after working on it, Rika has been here for almost one hour already, and she’s still at the part where she’s trying to put the little butterflies onto the dress. It really is a lot more complicated than it seems. And now, it’s finally time to dye the dress. Here in Yunnan, the blue dye is a natural color from a plant called banlangen. The dye is extracted through fermentation, and the fabric is dipped into the dye multiple times to give it different color intensities. So the first layer is the lightest, and she’s going to give it three different shades of blue. The final step is to rinse off all the excess dye and remove the clamps. Once the fabric dries, the vibrant blue will stay. The dyeing process was much faster than I expected. I feel like it we finished it in less than ten minutes. Maybe the dyeing method I used was also relatively simple. I just wanted a gradient effect. It gives a feeling of blue sky and white clouds. For now, I am quite satisfied with this color. But I think after drying in the sun, the color will fade and become a little lighter. There are some faint butterfly patterns at the bottom of my dress. During the entire process, the dyeing step was actually very simple. I spent more time choosing the dress and designing the pattern in the beginning. It’s quite fun. This is actually our third day here in Shaxi already, but for the previous two days, we got a terrible stomach bug that’s been going around Yunnan. And honestly, it’s very uncomfortable. We literally just stayed in a hotel and didn’t do anything at all. Now we’re finally feeling better, so we can get out of bed and explore Shaxi. So I guess this video won’t have too much food tour elements, but luckily there’s still so much to do around this area. Right across the old theater stage is the Xingjiao Temple. Built during the Ming Dynasty, this temple is over 600 years old. When you head inside, you’ll enter a beautiful courtyard with these majestic old trees. With the leaves creating shade and patches of light on the ground, this temple is a tranquil escape from the busy town center. Some believe the theater stage was built across from the temple, so that the gods can enjoy the performances along with the people. And now it’s time to explore the alleyways and all the little shops in Shaxi. Unlike the white color scheme of Dali, Shaxi features a more wooden and earthy tone. These wooden buildings give the town a natural and grounded atmosphere. Flowers, plants, and trees can be found at every single corner. And a small stream flows gently alongside the street. Everywhere you go, you can hear the birds chirping and the wind rustling through the leaves. Even though this ancient town is vibrant and busy, walking through these streets still feels peaceful and relaxing. Around Shaxi, there’s a lot of little artists’ workshops, arts and crafts stores. And just so we walked into one store, the owner is actually from Beijing. A couple years ago, she backpacked all the way to Yunnan. And then because COVID started, she got stuck here. And then she decided to open a store here in Shaxi and stayed here ever since because she just fell in love with this place. She really is quite a character. She does arts and crafts. She does painting. She does sewing. As you can see, one of the columns on the building, she put a knitted cover around it. It’s really cute. And since Rika just recently started getting into knitting and sewing, they were exchanging ideas and having a short chat as well. It’s a really interesting store. So when you’re here in Shaxi, you gotta go check it out and support her business. Why does this dog look like he’s about to cry? Around the outside of the old town, we reached the xi part of Shaxi, the little river, the little stream. The leaves are starting to grow from the trees already. So look at this willow behind me. It’s really beautiful, flowing in the wind. Here by the river stands the iconic Yujin Bridge, a historical landmark of the Tea Horse Road legacy. Back in the day, this stone bridge served as the most crucial link connecting both sides of the Heihui River, enabling the passage of horses, traders, and caravans. Though it collapsed and was rebuilt many times through the centuries, it still remains a symbol of the region’s trade history. The river here is actually really peaceful and since the water is shallow right now, we can walk down here. And behind me, you can see that bridge form a perfect circle with the reflection. And the cutest thing is, there’s so many ducks here. It’s so funny when they dip their head under the water and stick their butt out. Ducks are such amazing little creatures. The late afternoon is a great time to stroll along the riverbank and enjoy all the nature around Shaxi. Another popular time to photograph or visit the bridge is early in the morning during sunrise. So tomorrow morning, I’ll show you what that’s like. I like to buy Caishen (god of wealth) souvenirs wherever I go. But this Jiama is probably a local god of wealth in Yunnan. It smells quite nice, with a hint of woody fragrance. I think even just after being in Shaxi for one day, I can already confidently say, this is my favorite ancient town in Yunnan. Yes, it is commercialized, but I think it’s commercialized in a good way because every single store, it’s not selling exactly the same thing. If you go to like Dali Ancient City or even Xizhou, you’ll find the stores are selling more or less the same items, the same dishes. But here, the little different artist stores, artist workshops, they all have their own unique style. And unlike places like Dali Ancient City, you don’t get those super loud speakers blasting in your ear. Here in Shaxi, the community feels very tight-knit. It feels peaceful. I think pre-COVID, Shaxi was a very unknown place. But then a Chinese TV show came here to shoot and it completely blew up this town. Of course, this transformation might feel drastic for people who are living here, for local people here, but at least for someone who’s just visiting for the very first time, the vibe, the atmosphere still feels elegant and tranquil. I almost forgot the most important thing of today. I need to pick up my little dress. This is the result after drying. This blue is indeed much lighter than when it was still wet. There’s also a bit of teal color. It’s more or less what I imagined. It would be even better if the color transition here were a bit more natural. Since our stomachs are still recovering, we’re not a hundred percent yet. We can’t have the most spicy or super salty Bai dishes that’s very famous here. So instead, we got some more vegetarian dishes. But we still managed to order one of their specialty dishes. This one’s called shuhua chaodan. I honestly have no idea what shuhua is. Literally, it means “tree flower.” This little plant, you can eat it in a stir fry. You can eat it in a cold dish. It really looks quite strange. It looks like some roots, but apparently it’s like some sort of moss. I think that’s the sort of family it’s in. Let’s try it. It has a natural saltiness to it. It’s a little bit chewy, a little bit crunchy. I feel like the thing that it reminds me of the most in terms of texture is jellyfish. And it’s also a little bit salty, like the seawaterness of the jellyfish. I don’t know, it’s really hard to describe. But it’s not bad. And mixed with the soft egg, it’s a great combination, actually. Just like everywhere we go in Yunnan, we’re once again here to see the sunrise, to try and avoid the crowd. We’re going to go up to that bridge. But before then, we’re here at this field. Ah, it looks like it’s harvested already. Otherwise, this place would also be so green like the place we saw in Xizhou. This field is completely barren. I think it used to have lots of canola flowers on here. But it’s okay, this is not the reason why we came to Shaxi. Let’s go over to check out the bridge. Every morning here in the ancient town, there’s this small street food breakfast street. They have all sorts of things from mixian, ersi, the typical Yunnan food. But we’ve had that too many times already. So I got some wontons, some dry mixed wontons. It actually looks pretty good. It smells really good from that sesame oil. Other than tie-dyeing, another common workshop you’ll find in Dali and Shaxi is for Jiama woodblock prints. Jiama is a religious paper that the Bai people used to communicate with the gods. Traditionally, the artwork is printed onto paper with carved out wooden blocks like these. Each store has its own unique Jiama designs. Even though we didn’t take this workshop on our trip, we still got some more contemporary Jiama style stamps. So we can take a bit of that luck with us on our trip. We turned into this street full of little stalls. There’s not a single shopkeeper here. Everything is self-service with QR code payment. Of course, they’ve still installed some surveillance cameras. You can’t help but feel that the people here are just way too chill. All the shops are just left open like this for everyone. Then you can freely choose whatever you want. It’s actually getting really cold here in Yunnan. So after watching the sun rise and strolling the old town for a little bit, we’re here to have lunch. We’re gonna have some mushroom hotpot to warm ourselves up a bit, warm up our stomachs. Mushroom hotpot is always such a great thing to have in Yunnan. The wild mushrooms here in Yunnan are world-famous, and mix that with a chicken broth, it really is heavenly. Now we have to wait for this to boil until the sand timer runs out and then it’s safe to eat. We’re gonna add some potatoes into the broth to make it cook a little bit longer. The timer has finished I’m not sure how long it is. Maybe like 15 or 20 minutes. Okay, try some of this mushroom chicken hotpot. This makes me so happy. The chicken broth with that rich earthy mushroom taste, it’s just so good. I feel like Rika found a new obsession. She wants to do another tie-dye. But this time not a dress, she wants to tie-dye one of these little headbands. Here in Yunnan The most traditional tie-dye color is blue. But now she wants to go do a tie-dye that’s a different color. She wants to do a green one. You can tie-dye into different colors. They’re just less common. What plant is usually used for the yellow dye? Gardenia flower. If it turns too green, you can soak it in yellow one more time. It’s a bit darker than before, but still quite beautiful. It kind of looks like a spinach color. Is it okay? Yes it is. It looks like the texture and pattern of some sort of plant. Even though the twisting method is very simple. But I think this pattern is quite interesting. It actually took us quite a while to find a nice cafe here in Shaxi even though there are so many of them. I guess maybe our standards are a little bit too high. But in the end we were wandering around a little bit outside of the old town, and we found this tree house looking cafe. As you can see, we’re surrounded by trees surrounded by nature. I love the atmosphere and decor of this place. We ordered two teas since we cannot drink coffee right now. I got a date and longan tea and Rika got a lemon tea. Cheers! Tastes really healthy. Before coming here, I thought Shaxi was going to be a place that’s similar to the other ancient towns in China, similar to Dali Ancient City, similar to Xizhou, similar to Shuhe. But this old town completely blew my expectations away. We had such a wonderful time here. I mean obviously for the first two days, we were really sick and we couldn’t do anything at all. But everything else we got to experience here made up for those two sick days. If you come to Yunnan, a typical itinerary definitely includes Dali and Lijiang. So if you’re gonna go from Dali to Lijiang or vice versa, you gotta stop in Shaxi. Because Shaxi is literally in the midpoint of those two cities. It’s really easy to get to by bus or by car. So we’re gonna spend the rest of the day chilling at this cafe, chilling in Shaxi, enjoying this perfect weather. If you’re loving this video and this entire China travel series be sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to JHMedium if you haven’t done so already, for more China travel videos coming soon. Thank you guys so much for watching, and see you guys next time. Bye bye.

Halfway between Dali and Lijiang lies an ancient town that is more intimate, artistic, and far less commercialized than those two cities. This is Shaxi. Tucked away in Jianchuan County, Shaxi Ancient Town is beloved by artists and craftsmen from all over China but is still relatively unknown to international visitors. I can confidently say this town is a must-visit in Yunnan. We’ll experience the local tie-dyeing, learn about the history of the Ancient Tea Horse Road, and explore the arts and crafts of this town. Join us on our trip to this charming little gem.

Visited During: March 2025

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VIDEO CHAPTERS:
00:00 – Ancient Theater Stage 古戏台
02:00 – Tie-Dye Experience 扎染
04:54 – Xingjiao Temple 兴教寺
06:25 – Exploring Shaxi
08:20 – Yujin Bridge 玉津桥
11:05 – Exploring Shaxi Continued.
14:34 – Sunrise
17:12 – Shaxi Arts and Crafts
20:27 – Treehouse Cafe

GEAR:
Main Cameras: Fujifilm X-H2s, Fujifilm X-T4, DJI Pocket 3
Lenses: Fujifilm 18-120mm f4, Fujifilm 35mm f2, Tamron 11-28mm f2.8
Drone: DJI Mavic Air 2
Action Camera: DJI Action 5 Pro
Phone: iPhone 14 Pro
Sound: DJI Mic & Deity D3 Pro