The Forbidden Love Story That Haunts China’s Most Beautiful Mountain Town | Lijiang, Yunnan
Something burned in us after Guilin. Not dissatisfaction — the opposite. Guilin answered some questions and quietly opened new ones.
So we fly northwest to Lijiang. Two hours in the air. Somewhere between takeoff and landing, the China we thought we were starting to understand shifts again.
What Lijiang gives us: a sacred mountain at nearly 5,600 metres where you can rent oxygen cans and a warm jacket at the entrance. Dozens of brides in white gowns being photographed against snow-capped peaks at high altitude. A story about that mountain and love — one that nobody puts in the brochure. A gorge so deep that Asia’s longest river squeezes to just 25 metres across. A 300-year-old monastery where monks still live. And an ancient town sprawling in every direction that gets us completely, thoroughly lost — and teaches us, the hard way, that Google Maps does not work in China.
🔗 Our private China tour was arranged by ChinaTours.com https://www.chinatours.com
private guides and drivers in every city,
📍 PLACES WE VISIT IN THIS VIDEO
• Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (Yulong Xueshan) — 5,596m, 13 peaks
• Blue Moon Valley & Spruce Plateau — 4,500m
• Lijiang Old Town — UNESCO World Heritage Site, 800 years of continuous habitation
• Bai Sha Village (White Sand Village)
• Tiger Leaping Gorge (Hutiao Xia) — one of the world’s deepest gorges
• First Bend of the Yangtze River
• Zhiyun Temple — a four-culture monastery built in 1727, still active today
• Black Dragon Pool Park
00:00:00 — What’s waiting in Lijiang
00:00:44 — Who we are
00:01:19 — Our China tour operator
00:01:52 — Arriving in Lijiang
00:02:41 — Hot pot & local food
00:03:30 — Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
00:05:04 — The Spruce Plateau
00:06:34 — Brides everywhere
00:07:06 — The love story nobody mentions
00:08:16 — Marriage in China: the honest story
00:12:20 — Why we skipped the show
00:12:37 — How we travel (private vs group)
00:13:30 — Bai Sha Village
00:14:13 — Lijiang Old Town
00:15:19 — The evening market
00:15:46 — Getting lost (Google Maps fails in China)
00:16:34 — Day 3: heading to Tiger Leaping Gorge
00:17:02 — The ancient Tea Horse Road
00:17:36 — Tiger Leaping Gorge
00:18:49 — First Bend of the Yangtze River
00:19:15 — Zhiyun Temple: the hidden monastery
00:20:54 — Rural China through the window
00:21:40 — Black Dragon Pool at dawn
00:22:21 — Farewell to Lijiang
#China #Lijiang #YunnanChina #ChinaTravel #retirementtravel
31 Comments
We went into this video thinking we were there to see mountains and scenery. We came out thinking about love, family, tradition, and how fast a society can change while still carrying its history. These are complex topics, and we know we're seeing them as outsiders. We welcome your perspective — especially from those of you living this reality. We are BZ Travel – UNFILTERED JOURNEYS. YouTube is not legal in China, so sometimes we wonder where some of the comments are coming from?
🔗 We booked our China tour with ChinaTours.com. https://www.chinatours.com
The interesting part is that the Westerner is always seeking the dark side of any happiness. Not to judge the YouTuber, but just generally curious that the mindset is so strong. But just wondering when they are wandering around Europe and North America. When they see happy couple will they think about the same question, such as this happiness must have some dark side I need to find it? Or they will just generally believe that life can be good for the local.
Hahaha, foreigners are so easy to be misguided by their "guides."
About the Bride Price, it's not all around China. It's just a tradition. And most of the money will give back to the Bride for the "start up money" of the new family. It's a very nice video by the way.👍👍👍
The scenery is well-presented, but the descriptions of the local culture are rather one-sided, and many are quite outdated. In a country where the language and culture are completely unfamiliar, it's virtually impossible to fully grasp the true situation in such a short time simply through tourism. While the intention to increase the video's depth is understandable, the result is truly disappointing.
Great video, very good script and narration, as usual!
The part about marriage sounds caricaturistic but I understand that you got it from a short day of conversation with your guide. Anywhere in the world, marriage is a cultural thing deeply shaped by the ethnic's historical evolution and material reality. In China, it differs widely by regions, by ethnics, by social level, and by family preference too.
Looking forward to your next video.
0:16 – what a gorgeous view! 😮
love your writing and voice!
As a travel creator, I’d say don’t go spouting off about another country’s politics, culture and customs if you don’t know much about it.
Take the land ownership thing you talked about last time and this whole bride price topic — what you said was inaccurate and really one-sided. You haven’t lived there or done any in-depth research after all.
People who’ve never been to China might think your takes are well-researched and insightful, but they’re not. You’re just misleading everyone.
Great video you guys have there, provides real experience. Let me share a little on the "Bride Price" or betrothal gifts, which you only got half the story. The Cai Li (彩礼) or Pin Jin (聘金) serves as a symbolic gesture of goodwill because part, half or all the money are given to the couple, known as Return of Money (Hui Li / 回礼). Refusing to return any money is seen as greedy, and is helping the new couple start their life.
In addition, there are 4 or 5 points / pieces of Gold (四 or 五点金) depending on region, set of gold jewellery gifted by the groom's family (usually the mother-in-law) to the bride. 4 pieces: necklace, pair of earrings, ring and bracelet, 5 pieces have two bracelets. And the Groom will get a pair of trousers from bride family to symbolize wealth and he wears the pants (boss) in this new household.
Other exchange of symbolic items (过大礼) are Roast Pig, signifies the bride's purity and virginity, which the head and tail are returned to groom family to bless the new couple "good from beginning to end." Another is Pig's Trotters (or Canned Pork Leg), represents the groom asking the bride's mother for forgiveness for "taking away" her daughter. It is a gift specifically to honor the bride's mother.
As for the big lavish wedding banquet, is paid by friends & family through Hong Bao (red packets) as gifts by guests. Where they will usually pay a little more than the cost of wedding per person share. And some "tables are given" to bride family, to invite their friends and family. Say like 8 out of 20 tables for guests. Each table usually sits 10 persons. "Given meaning" costs for these tables bore by groom, but Hong Bao money is collected by bride family (usually for her mother).
There are lots of symbolism in Chinese weddings, much is symbolic gesture of goodwill rather.
I am Chinese, and I never heard the Chinese state media call unmarried women over 27 “left over women”. That will cause a riot among the Chinese women! Maybe there is something lost in translation between you and your Chinese guide.
Thank you for visiting China and producing such high quality videos! Even as a Chinese, I haven’t visited those places. Your videos make me want to quit my job in New York then fly back to China for an early retirement. Thank you again! I have started to know my mother country more. ❤❤❤
China is beautiful ❤️❤️❤️ thank you for sharing ❤
Good afternoon! Great appreciation of your info! Would you mind of sharing with me the needed contact information for traveling? Thanks
The bride price has changed a lot, depends on which area of China you come from.
You Folks are the best travel ops on the planet .. Thank You ..I'm on my way …Stay Blessed !
Obligatory did… oh nevermind!
Thanks for sharing your video. Pls bear in mind what your guide tells you is a dramatised version of the reality. After all that is their job. To keep you engaged in your trip. He/she is not a qualified social study professional.
Chinese and Western customs, cultures, and histories are different, so you can't interpret China using Western methods. Perhaps what you understand isn't what you imagine.
剩女—早就没有这个词啦 过时好久了
💗💗💗
本视频对于婚姻在中国的描述已经相当程度的落后于时代了，可能你们也只是听到了若干导游的描述，但中国如此之大，人口如此之多，一家之言并不能简单的就拿来当成事实描述，个人的眼界是有限的，务必多听取各方意见，而不是把从几个人嘴里听到的内容就当做现实。
U r doing exactly d opposite direction from d usual practices where normally tourists would arrive in Kunming then to Dali n onwards to LiJiang to acclimatise with d higher altitude moving northward…however looking like u both had no issue even at d highest point of LiJiang so bravo to u both! Was there more than a decade ago n always loved n look forward to revisit LiJiang again!
I was about to watch this 3rd episode but after reading the comments I decided not to. What happened to staying neutral and just explain what you see during travel as you stated you would, in the first clip. Instead of reading off "content" from various, probably outdated bias or unverified sources.
同胞们，博主不过是一堆老夫妻旅游，没必要这么专注于他们的“inaccurate social commentary" 我觉得文化自信，就是不需要太defensive。我们自己对美国社会肯定也有很多inaccurate opinions 对吧。我觉得老太言语中非常的开放豁达
Hello from Singapore. I am a Malaysian Chinese in Singapore for decades. I watched parts of your china journey video but couldn't finish the entire video due to some of your tone and the way you bring up topics that you clearly have no idea about. This has been a clear trend whenever I speak to Americans and the white race in general, especially those using English as their first/only language. Why is your confidence so over the roof? Do u know what is humility and honesty? It takes practice but please make more effort. Also, on your comment about YouTube access. I have 5 Chinese in Guangzhou and Shanghai reporting to me at work and I know a hundred more white collar Chinese workers and they ALL have access to YouTube, some of them watch it daily. So…do not assume Chinese don't access YouTube, that is a completely misinformed lie from western media. It is blocked in china, but any Chinese below 50 will access VPN daily and check fb, YouTube, Instagram, what have u. I hope that helps, have fun travelling.
Less than 10% of China has been exploited by the whole world
The practice of bride price in China stems from the deep-rooted preference for sons over daughters. Traditionally, the bride price was regarded as a formal betrothal gift from the groom’s family. Since a bride has to leave the home where she grew up and move to an unfamiliar place to live with her husband’s family, the bride price serves as a form of social security for her.
However, the pervasive bias in favor of boys has triggered severe consequences. Many families opt for abortions when they learn they are carrying a baby girl. In poorer regions, some families may give birth to infant girls only to bury them alive, sell them to childless acquaintances, or even unknown strangers. This has created a stark gender imbalance in certain areas, with far fewer women of marriageable age than men, driving the cost of bride prices even higher.
In some other regions, the entire bride price paid by the groom does not belong to the bride herself. Instead, her parents use the money to fund weddings or purchase housing for her younger or elder brothers. For this reason, parents in such areas have a strong incentive to demand inflated bride prices.
去年夏天去的，云南很美，所以今年我选择贵州
你在中国总共就呆了20天请不要急于当个指点江山的中国通。你就是在导游那里听了几个猎奇的故事，也不分历史还是现实，就急于扩大到污名整个社会。再纠正你一下，丽江的水源是高山融化的雪水绕城长流不息，结果你不知道听了哪个250的导游说是就靠一口井。想想丽江有多大面积有多少旅游人口，可能靠一口井吗。你连这种常识判断都不具备，就不要在那里急于侃侃而谈居高临下当起了教师爷。
Your pinned comment seems to be implying that some comments in the comment section come from the Chinese government. To give you some context, you might have underestimated two things: First, there are tens of millions of overseas Chinese students, expats, and professionals living worldwide who have completely open internet access. Second, for millions of tech-savvy young people in mainland China, staying connected with the global internet is no secret at all. To be precise, your content was actually shared on Bilibili, a major Chinese platform. And yes, while those uploads were unauthorized and edited out your subjective political views, they went viral. This is why so many Chinese people intentionally looked you up on YouTube—to watch the genuine, "unfiltered" version. It is highly ironic and uncomfortable for them to put in that effort to support your "unfiltered" content, only to be met with your skepticism and insinuations about who they are. Plus, don't forget that the travel agency you partnered with is itself a company based in Xi’an, China. If international internet access were really "illegal" in China as you implied, you wouldn’t even be able to coordinate and get such a seamless private travel experience in the first place. Let go of some arrogance and prejudice, and just share the travel itself.