Slideshows Yunnan · Dali · Jianchuan
Shaxi Old Town 沙溪古镇

Remnants of colour still show on the stone carvings at Shibaoshan, revealing that the Buddhist images were once brightly painted.

Light falls through the cracks of the Baoxiang cave temple on Jianchuan's Shibao Mountain 石宝山, illuminating the Buddhist statues

Followers of Jianchuan Azhali Buddhism perform a candle dance in Shaxi.

With the official programme curtailed, it is the unorganized folk part of the annual Singing Festival in Shibaoshan that continues to thrive.

Pictures from the Opening Ceremony of the 2019 Shibaoshan Songfest.

Shaxi's Xingjiao Temple is one of the oldest temples surviving in Yunnan, constructed in 1415 during the Ming dynasty. Particularly remarkable are the wall paintings under the eves.

In 2009, at the Shibaoshan Singing Festival, traditional dress in the Dali was more prevalent than it is today, and the dress was often still hand-made, rather than shop-bought.

Bai folk music star Li Baomei 李宝妹 and the Shibaoshan Bai Folk Music Art Troupe perform in her home village Shilong 石龙村.

Around the time of the Taizehui in the second lunar month is also Shaxi's annual livestock fair, where on the far side of the river all sorts of domestic animals are traded.

Rhesus Macaques have settled the forest around Shibaoshan's Baoxiang Temple, thriving on ample tourist handouts.

Azhali Buddhism was prevalent in the Dali region from Nanzhao times, until suppressed by the Ming and Qing dynasties. In the Jianchuan area it lives quietly on.

The crumbling courtyard of the Ouyang Family, just near Shaxi's famous market square, is one of the last unaltered compounds from the caravan era.