LegendThe dragon of the spring
As at Black Dragon Pool, people say a dragon lives in the Jiuding spring and keeps the water flowing, and the temples by the spring were built to honour it.
Source: A belief shared across the Lijiang plain
The story
Shuhe lies under Jubao Hill, where the Jiuding Dragon Pool spring rises and runs through the village in clear channels. Its Naxi name is usually given as Shaowu, the village under the high peak. It is one of the three parts of the Old Town of Lijiang on the World Heritage list, with Dayan and Baisha.
Caravans on the tea and horse roads, carrying tea from Yunnan to Tibet and bringing back horses and wool, rested here. Shuhe's men were famous leather workers, making saddles, harness and boots for the caravans. Its small market square, like the one in Dayan, is called Sifang Street.
Part of Old Town of Lijiang. Also there: Black Dragon Pool, Mu Mansion, Baisha.
What is here
Shuhe is free and open all day. Some temples and small museums inside may charge.
| Part | Ticket |
|---|---|
| The old square and Qinglong Bridge | Free |
| Longquan Temple and the Hall of the Three Sages | Free or small fee |
| Jiuding Dragon Pool | Free |
If you have one minute
On the Qinglong Bridge
This single stone arch over the Qinglong River was built by the Mu chiefs in the Wanli years (1573–1620) and is often called the largest old stone bridge in the Lijiang area. Its steps are worn smooth by four centuries of feet and hooves.
Look down at the water. In Shuhe, as in Dayan, the people kept three pools for each spring: the first for drinking, the second for washing vegetables, the third for washing clothes. Find the three-eyed well.
Things people often get wrong
"Shuhe is a quiet, untouched village." Since the early 2000s a large new town of shops and inns has been built around the old village. Walk north past the bridge to find the older, quieter part.
"The Tea Horse Road was one road." It was a network of mule and horse tracks between Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet.
People who stood here
We searched Chinese sources first for this list, then English ones.
- Mu Zeng (Naxi ruler, 1587–1646)The Qinglong Bridge was built under the Mu family in his time.
- The muleteers of the tea and horse roadsLeaders of caravans, Naxi, Tibetan, Bai and Han (206 BC–AD 220), who brought trade, news and goods from Lhasa and India to Lijiang. Their bells were the sound of the village.
- Peter Goullart (writer, 1901–1978)A Russian who lived in Lijiang from 1941 to 1949 running cooperatives. In Forgotten Kingdom he described the caravans and the leather and wool workers of the villages around the town.
Go deeper: five stops from the gate to the spring
Enter from the arch at the east, walk up through the new town to the old square and the bridge, and on to the spring. Two hours.
1. The gate and the new town
The painted arch at the entrance is modern, like the streets just inside. Keep walking; the old village is ahead.
2. Sifang Street and the Qinglong Bridge
The old square where caravans once traded. Around it, shops sell leather goods, the old craft of the village.
3. The Longquan Temple and the Hall of the Three Sages
At the north of the village, by the springs, stand the Longquan Temple and the Hall of the Three Sages, Ming and Qing temples of the Mu family's time.
4. The Jiuding Dragon Pool
The spring under the hill, the beginning of Shuhe's water. Its clear pool feeds the channels you followed through the village.
5. The fields and the snow mountain
Walk out of the village to the east and the fields open toward Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. In winter they are bare and gold, and the peak stands white above them.
The village and the same years elsewhere
The Qinglong Bridge was built in the Wanli years, when the Jesuit Matteo Ricci reached Beijing in 1601.