LegendWhy Lijiang has no wall
People say the Mu would not build a city wall, because the character for their name, 木, inside a square wall, 口, makes 困: trapped.
Source: A favourite Lijiang story; historians give other reasons, such as trade
The story
In 1382 the Naxi chief Ajia Ade submitted to the new Ming dynasty. The founding emperor gave him a Chinese surname, Mu, "wood", and made his family hereditary prefects of Lijiang. For twenty-two generations the Mu ruled the Naxi and guarded this corner of the empire, until the Qing replaced them with regular officials in 1723.
The Mu loved Chinese books and poetry. Their palace stood at the foot of Lion Hill, its halls laid along a single axis like a small Forbidden City. In 1639 the traveller Xu Xiake came as the guest of Mu Zeng and wrote that its palaces were as fine as a king's.
Part of Old Town of Lijiang. Also there: Black Dragon Pool, Baisha, Shuhe.
What is here
One ticket covers the mansion and its museum. Lion Hill and the Wangu Tower have their own ticket.
| Part | Ticket |
|---|---|
| The archway and Council Hall | Main ticket |
| The Wanjuan Tower | Main ticket |
| The towers and Sanqing Hall | Main ticket |
| Lion Hill and the Wangu Tower | Own ticket |
If you have one minute
Under the Zhongyi archway
The stone archway in front of you carries two words, loyalty and righteousness: the Mu family's promise to the emperors. Behind it a straight axis runs about 370 metres up to Lion Hill, past the council hall, the library and the temples.
Almost everything you see was rebuilt between 1996 and 1999. The old palace had been burned in the wars of the 1860s, and what remained was ruined by the earthquake of February 1996. With help from a World Bank loan, craftsmen from Lijiang's peoples rebuilt it on the old ground, following the late-Ming plan.
The Mu ruled from here, but they were also Naxi. Inside, Han Chinese halls stand next to Naxi, Bai and Tibetan carving, and Daoist and Buddhist shrines next to dongba writing.
Things people often get wrong
"This is the original Ming palace." It is a careful rebuilding of 1999 on the old site.
"The Mu were kings." They were hereditary officials of the Chinese empire, with great local power.
People who stood here
We searched Chinese sources first for this list, then English ones.
- Ajia Ade, called Mu De (first Mu prefect, d. 1390)He submitted to the Ming (1368–1644) in 1382 and received the surname Mu from the founding emperor. The main buildings of the palace were begun in his time.
- Mu Gong (prefect and poet, 1494–1553)He wrote poems in Chinese. A selection, the Snow Mountain Poems, was taken into the imperial library of the Qing (1644–1912), the Siku Quanshu.
- Mu Zeng (prefect and poet, 1587–1646)The most famous of the Mu. He built temples, collected books in the Wanjuan Tower and invited Xu Xiake to Lijiang. A portrait shows him in the robes of a monk.
- Xu Xiake (traveller, 1587–1641)He spent some weeks with Mu Zeng in 1639, helped edit his poems and taught his son. A bronze of the two men, given by Xu's clan in 2015, stands in the old town.
Go deeper: six stops up the axis to Lion Hill
Walk up the axis from the archway to the top of the slope. One to two hours. Guides in Naxi dress lead tours in Chinese.
1. The Zhongyi archway
A stone archway of three bays with lions in front. The original was put up with the emperor's permission to honour the family's loyalty.
2. The Council Hall
The great hall where the Mu received officials and judged cases. Look at the chair at the far end, covered in a tiger skin.
3. The Wanjuan Tower
The "tower of ten thousand volumes", the family library, was first built in 1530. It held Chinese classics, Buddhist scriptures, dongba books and the Mu chiefs' own poems. After 1723 the books were scattered.
4. The Hufa Hall and the family rooms
Behind the library are halls for family affairs and the rooms where the family lived. The carved doors and windows mix Han, Bai and Naxi patterns.
5. The Guangbi Tower and the Yuyin Tower
Two towers climb the slope. The Yuyin Tower was built to receive the emperor's edicts: here the family knelt to hear the words from Beijing.
6. The Sanqing Hall and Lion Hill
At the top of the axis stands a Daoist hall to the Three Pure Ones. Beyond it, Lion Hill rises over the old town, with the tall Wangu Tower on top. From up here the grey roofs of Lijiang spread to the foot of the snow mountain.
The palace and the same years elsewhere
The Mu received their name in 1382, the year the Ming took Yunnan. Their rule ended in 1723, the year after the Kangxi emperor died, when the Yongzheng emperor began replacing hereditary chiefs across the south-west.