Yunnan's Honghe: Historic towns, ethnic nationalities and a unique cross-border railway

Mt Baohua Temple Gejiu. Temple on Xiushan Hill Tonghai 2000.  [Photo by Bruce Connolly/chinadaily.com.cn]

The next morning a new chapter started as a bus carried me onwards over a hilly road passing rows of maturing sugar cane. Goats grazed wherever they could. A branch of the narrow railway wound close to the highway before we pulled in to Jianshui. After the modernity of Gejiu it felt initially like a town where time had stood still. Its charm soon emerged. Close to the bus station rose the crimson walls of squat Chaoyang Tower - a gate structure dating from former encircling defensive walls. Originally built by the Hongwu emperor in 1389, it felt a precursor for the grand Ming structures of Beijing. Several times I would climb onto its terrace to view the tiled rooftops and narrow, winding alleys of the older town. Jianshui was one of the earliest developed cities in southern Yunnan, dating back to the Tang Dynasty. It grew as a place of trade, culture, art, pottery and more. Its thriving, bustling alleys reminded me of Lijiang pre-tourism. Beyond lay an increasingly modern city.

Days would be spent exploring the alleys where sections specialized, for example, in bamboo scaffolding poles; back baskets; fish traps; circular wooden tobacco pipes; orange colored tobacco; herbal medicines; metal tools and so much more. Every step passing low-rise adobe brick buildings revealed more and more curiosities. Tofu and goat cheese were roasted over charcoal grills. There would be open-fronted shops, some for local doctors, dentists, hair salons, general stores. Street markets attracted large crowds, people frequently wearing ethnic costume. A school was within an ornate single-floor courtyard structure. Children crowded around adjacent food stalls offering spicy fried potato snacks for just 2 jiao (0.2 yuan)! I often frequented an outdoor one-table cafe, to enjoy 2 yuan bowls of spicy noodles in soup. On wider streets, cows, some with red flowers attached to their harnesses, pulled carts passing men carrying goods suspended from shoulder poles. People got around by bicycle or three-wheeled motorcycle taxis. I, as usual, walked everywhere.

Jianshui's Confucius Temple, dating back to 1285, was modeled after Shandong's Qufu Confucius Temple and throughout history also had operated as a school - many small study rooms lined its walls.