Preserving the soul and waterways that keep history alive

Editor's note: A number of Chinese cities have maintained their cultural memory in the form of historical neighborhoods that have only added to their multilayered charm and vigor with the passage of time. China Daily is taking readers on a journey to some of these timeless areas, where efforts on the preservation and vitalization of heritage are setting examples. In this installment, we wander about Yunnan province's Old Town of Lijiang, which remains as a thriving community where customs are woven into the everyday.

Mu Li usually wakes to the sound of running water. "When I was a child, we fetched drinking water from the river before 6 am. After that, the river was for washing vegetables and clothes," recalls Mu, who was born and raised in the Old Town of Lijiang, Southwest China's Yunnan province.

"The elders always told us: Never throw anything into the river, or your mouth will rot."

For generations, such unwritten rules had governed daily life in the Old Town, where waterways have long been both a lifeline and a guardian.

Mu still prefers to describe herself simply as "a child who grew up in the Old Town". For more than two decades, she has worked in a series of local government roles dedicated to the ancient town's management and preservation. "I've never really left," she says.

Founded during the late Song (960-1279) and early Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties, the Old Town of Lijiang has stood for about 800 years. According to Mu, people of the Naxi ethnic group first established settlements in Baisha, an ancient town north of Lijiang, before gradually moving south to Dayan — the historical name for the area that later became today's Lijiang Old Town. Drawn by a basin sheltered by surrounding mountains, they built their homes around the waterways.

"The mountains block the wind and keep the valley warm," Mu says.

They diverted a single stream through the settlement. Over time, it branched into three waterways, around which houses, lanes and markets gradually took shape, following the natural contours of the land.

"Few settlements of this scale have preserved such an integrated water system," Mu says.

More than 350 stone and wood bridges link homes, courtyards and winding alleys. Water has never been merely ornamental. It supplied drinking water, sustained daily life and agriculture, and helped regulate floods.

Every week, residents near the town's Sifang Square still open the wooden sluice gates to release water from the Yuhe (Jade) River, allowing it to cascade down the gently sloping square and wash the stone streets clean.

"The covers used to be open," Mu says with a laugh. "But tourists kept falling in, so we had to close them."

Even the paving stones tell a story. The streets are paved with locally quarried five-colored stone from Yulong (Jade Dragon) Snow Mountain, traditionally known as wuhuashi. Today, many locals call it "Unity Stone".

"People of the Han, Bai, Yi, Tibetan, and Naxi ethnic groups have lived and traded here for centuries. The new name reflects that shared history," Mu says.

Refusing to sell

A few steps away from the bustling streets stands Hengyugong, a traditional courtyard completed in 1875. It is a classic Naxi residence, featuring a four-sided courtyard. Covering more than 600 square meters, the compound comprises four wings arranged around a central quadrangle. The courtyard still holds Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) gilded carvings on its doors and windows.

Li Junxing, affectionately known as "Uncle Six", is its fourth-generation keeper. "I've been running this museum for 16 years," he says. "It's a living museum because we still live here."

Visitors tour the front courtyard while his family continues everyday life in the rear residence, separated only by a single wooden door.

When a devastating earthquake struck Lijiang in 1996, Hengyugong emerged almost unscathed.

"Look at the walls," Li says, pointing to the weathered masonry. "There isn't a crack. The whole courtyard stays level."

The Li family traces its roots in Lijiang back about 400 years, when their ancestors arrived from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, to serve the Mu family. During the Qing Dynasty, the family shifted from scholarship to commerce, establishing the Hengyugong trading house in 1868. The present courtyard followed seven years later.

Every morning, Li wipes down the wooden doors and sweeps the courtyard before welcoming visitors. "A house needs people. Only when people live in it does it stay alive," he says.

In the center of the courtyard lies a pebble mosaic resembling an ancient copper coin. At its center sits a raised stone.

"This is our family's stumbling stone. Every time someone trips over it, they're reminded not to stumble over money."

Every object, Li emphasizes, has been passed down within the family.

He usually opens an old account book dating to the late Qing Dynasty when greeting guests.

"It tells us what our great-grandfather was doing. He traded silk with the Jiangnan region (the southern regions of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River)," he says.

Carved wooden panels, porcelain and an old pair of eyeglasses fashioned from bamboo sit nearby.

Buyers have been knocking on the family's door for decades. Each time, Li turned down the offer.

"An ancestral home cannot be sold," he says.