Slideshows Yunnan
Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture 怒江傈僳族自治州

North of Bingzhongluo the road ends and Tibet begins: a narrow dirt track, still wide enough to carry supply trucks, follows the Nujiang up to Chawalong, a small commercial center for the scattered Tibetan villages beyond. Beyond it, transport is by caravan only. The trail winds perilously along arid slopes, sometimes with spectacular views of the snow mountains, until it reaches Bitu, connected by road to Tibet.

Bingzhongluo, at the northern end of Yunnan's stretch of the Nujiang, remains a charming backwater wedged between the snow mountains of Gaoligongshan and Biluoshan.

Dozens of churches, thousands of Christians: Christianity in the Nujiang valley is an unlikely, but thriving, survivor of European missionary work. Over the Holy Week Lisu, Tibetan and Nu Christians gather at their churches for services strangely familiar, yet decidedly unique.

The Nu people in northern Nujiang celebrate the arrival of spring with worship at a small cave near Bingzhongluo where they collect water dripping down from the stalactites.

The Angry River as Nujiang translates from the Chinese remains to this day a remote region inhabited mainly by Lisu, Nu, Tibetans and Dulong.