The Customes of Lijiang

Next stop on our holiday was Lijiang, a World Heritage site in China, and a very beautiful place to visit. This city is a must see if you are planning a trip to China any time in the future. In one of the stores we watched a raw silk demonstration. The caterpillar or silkworm moth spins a cocoon that is processed to yield silk fiber. Inside each cocoon are two silkworms casings. The cocoons are soaked in water so that they are more pliable. Next they are pried apart with the tips of your fingers so that the silkworms can be removed. After three or four cocoons have been de-silkwormed they are stretched together over a half-circle stretcher and then hung from the ceiling to dry.

We were also able to watch many Naxi women performing their traditional dance. They all wear they same costumes and dance around in a circle to Naxi music, usually a woodwind/flute sound. We were even able to join in on their dance circle a couple of times but weren’t able to keep up with these well rehearsed ladies. Every town needs a good medicine doctor. I am not sure if his head piece is really necessary when it come to healing sick people but it does go with his outfit.