Sifang Street
Tea Horse Road market square flooded nightly by mountain water to wash its stone paving clean.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Sifang Street in Lijiang follows a nightly ritual the old town's traders knew well: after the last stalls closed, someone would open a sluice gate west of the square and let mountain water from Black Dragon Pool pour through every lane. You'll hear how Lijiang's canal system channels snowmelt from Jade Dragon Snow Mountain into three branches that thread the alleys, and why this square sat at the end of the old Tea Horse Road, the last trading post before goods turned toward Tibet. Look at the paving underfoot and see if you can tell why the flood always drained rather than pooled.
This audio guide was created using AI.
Similar places
Wuyi Street Exit/Entrance
Narrow lane splitting off the old market square, its stone gutters still carrying mountain-fed canal water.
Shuhe Ancient Town
Naxi water town whose three-tiered spring wells still ration drinking, washing, and laundry water by gravity alone.
Qinglong Bridge
Stone Ming-dynasty arch bridge over a spring-fed river that has run continuously for four centuries.
Large Water Wheel
Twin wooden waterwheels, one large and one small, spun by a mountain stream at the old town's gate.
九鼎龙潭
Twin spring-fed stone basins where sacred fish drift undisturbed beneath a snow-peak reflection.
Ancient Tea & Horse Road Museum
Ming-dynasty chieftain's palace with rare frescoes blending Taoist, Buddhist and Naxi deities, now a tea-caravan history museum.