The Missionary Trail: Catholic Footprints in Northwestern Yunnan

First Stop: Lijiang, Yunnan Province

Yunnan Province—which literally means “South of the Clouds” due to its location just south of the Tibetan Plateau—is home to some of the most diverse cultures, ecology, and terrain in China. The city of Lijiang lies in the shadow of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and has entranced visitors for centuries with its singular architecture, quaint bridges, and narrow canals. Although Lijiang has transformed from its quaint roots into a tourist hub, there are still quieter side lanes to explore that hold encounters with Lijiang’s Naxi residents who depend on the mountain water that flows through the town’s canals. Classified as a World Heritage Site in 1997, Lijiang is a charming home base for accessing Yunnan’s authentic and lesser-known communities.

Arrival in Lijiang

Today is the day, the start of your China Adventure Club adventure. Step off the plane in Lijiang and meet your local guide in the airport arrivals hall. They’ll be waiting to welcome you and will have your private vehicle on standby, ready to whisk you off to your hotel for check in.

Welcome Dinner in Lijiang

Join your fellow guests for a Welcome Dinner. During dinner, you’ll get to know each other, your local guide, and learn more about the journey ahead.

Meals included: dinner

Drive to Tacheng

The ride from Lijiang to Tacheng will take around 3.5 hours.

On the Way: Shigu Old Town

We’ll make a stop in Shigu Old Town, once a bustling market town along the Ancient Tea & Horse Caravan Trail. Here, stroll around town and barter with locals at the fresh produce market (keep an eye out for local delicacies such as wild honey and rainbow trout).

The town takes its name from the large, carved stone drum that is said to crack at the outbreak of a conflict. It is also the site of a sudden, sharp bend in the Yangtze River, called the first bend. Here, the water flows slowly and it has long been a place for passing armies to make the crossing. The Red Army itself passed through this area during the Long March in 1936.

Visit a Family in Hada Village

In Yunnan’s luscious tapestry of alpine farms and fields, Hada village sits in an unforgettable spot. In this culturally and ethnically diverse community surrounded by Weixi County’s countryside, you’ll stop in to visit a local family. With them, you’ll learn about life as a farmer in rural China. More than a simple cultural exchange over tea, you will go as far as learning how to make two staples of the local diet: soy milk and tofu.

Meals included: breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Tacheng Snub Nosed Monkey Sanctuary

Deep in the mountainous forests of northern Yunnan lives one of China’s strangest, rarest, and most adorable creatures. The snub-nosed monkeys in these parts were once the stuff of legend, coveted for their fur and the supposed medicinal properties of their bones. These monkeys were first discovered and documented by the same French and Swiss missionaries who built the churches in the region, spreading the fame of these creatures to Europe in the late 1800s. Today, they are protected by nature reserves like the Tacheng National Park, where you’ll head into the wild with a local conservationist and hopefully catch a glimpse of these rare and endangered primates in their natural habitat.

Xiao Weixi Catholic Church

The Xiao Weixi Catholic Church was erected in 1870 by French and Swiss missionaries. Combining Western and local architecture styles into the final building, one hailing elements of both a traditional Chinese temple and a European Catholic church, complete with vineyards for the church wine. This building is believed to have the longest history of all the missionary relics left in Weixi County, it is also the best-preserved.

Drive to Cizhong

The ride from Tacheng to Cizhong will take around 4.5 hours.

Cizhong

Hidden away among the misty, terraced hills above the Mekong valley, the picturesque village of Cizhong was settled by French Catholic missionaries 150 years ago. Today, the town is home to Lisu, Yi, and Tibetan people, who still tend the vineyards the French grew and attend the church built in a captivating blend of Chinese and European architectural styles. You’ll have the chance to sample the local wine and attend a Catholic service on this bizarre but unique edge of the Tibetan plateau. Afterwards, a priest will show us around and speak about daily life.

Meals included: breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Cizhong Church

Cizhong Church was first built in 1867 by French missionaries from the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris. It was destroyed during the Tibetan Revolt of the early 1900s and rebuilt in the center of the town. Originally built in a predominantly European style, you’ll notice today that during the reconstruction a Chinese pavilion was added to the top of the bell tower. The church survived the wrath of the Cultural Revolution as it was being used as a primary school at the time and even today, it continues to be the center of the local community. Inside the church, you’ll see where Red Guards erased religious drawings on the walls and you’ll hear villagers singing Catholic songs in Tibetan as their ancestors once did.

Xiaoling Vineyard

Besides religious and architectural concepts, French priests also introduced the very European practice of grape cultivation and wine production, both in Cizhong and downriver in Xiaoweixi. They also accumulated a large library of books in both French and Chinese. Today, we will visit one vineyard called Xiaoling, managed by local Tibetans, and have the chance to taste some of their fine wines.

Drive to Dimaluo

The ride from Cizhong to Dimaluo will take around 4 hours. The drive will pass by forest, snow-capped mountain pass (Mt. Biluoxueshan pass is around 3,890m above sea level).

Meals included: breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Baihanluo Church

A mystifying blend of western and Chinese architecture, Baihanluo is a church like no other, set in the bucolic wilds of northwest Yunnan. Built by French catholic missionary Annet Genestier at the end of the 19th century, the structure was razed to the ground by an angry mob in 1905, only to be rebuilt soon after. Standing beneath the vaulted ceiling by candlelight is a transcendental experience, as is the wild fruit wine – a legacy of the church’s French origins – said to be among the region’s finest.

Dimaluo Village

Visit Dimaluo, a Tibetan community in a forested valley of Yunnan. Its predominantly Catholic heritage reflects the work of early French-speaking missionaries. Nearby Lisu, Nu, and Dulong communities add to the region’s cultural diversity.

We will enjoy a dinner at at Aluo’s guesthouse, the ingredients are just from the villages, fresh and organic. The guesthouse is the house of Aluo’s father and his grandfather.

Meals included: breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Zhongding Church

Of the many religious structures in this curiously catholic corridor of Yunnan, the Zhongding church is the most famous. The building, with its twin belfries, is vaguely South American in style but with the distinctive Chinese flourish of curved temple eaves framed by the snow-dusted mountains beyond. The current structure is from 1996 and is smaller than the 20th-century original, the latter having been destroyed during the Cultural Revolution when the anti-religious fervor sweeping China reached this remote section of Yunnan.

Wuli Village

Tread the storied trail of the Tea Horse Road past splintered wooden bridges to reach tranquil Wuli, the definition of pastoral idyll. Around 60 households makeup the village, whose quaint wooden structures on the luxuriant slopes of the Nujiang Valley make for a dreamlike apparition. The ancient trading route is precipitous at this point, a narrow path hewn into sheer cliffs that all but cuts Wuli off to the outside world, creating a self-sufficient, pollution-free village paradise in this hidden corner of Yunnan.

Qiunatong Church

Qiunatong is the end of the road in Yunnan, the final village before arriving in Tibet proper, and it is truly a case of saving the best until last. This Nu settlement is an irresistibly charming ensemble of wooden homes with slate roofs, surrounded by fruit trees and set against virgin forested slopes, which give way to snow-capped peaks as the terrain climbs to the north. An equally endearing church stands at the center of the village’s cobbled lanes, which are freely occupied by the local cattle, donkeys and dogs.

Bingzhongluo

Lose yourself in the dramatic landscapes of Bingzhongluo, the self-styled gateway to Tibet nestled 350-kilometers into the Nujiang Valley. The town is more substantial than the surrounding settlements, and it makes for a striking visual and cultural experience to see low-rise administrative buildings rather than wooden huts set against the same dizzying canyon backdrop. A melting pot of the region’s ethnic communities, Bingzhongluo also offers markets, restaurants and an exciting hubbub that can’t be found in the sleepy hamlets further down the valley.

First Bend of the Nu River

In the northwestern corner of Yunnan, the Nujiang river courses out of Tibet with an abrupt, handbrake turn. The resulting curve is a sight to behold, reminiscent of Arizona’s famous Horseshoe Bend but with the lush, verdant coverage familiar to the highlands of Southeast Asia. On the far bank, as the river contorts an impossible 180 degrees, a small patchwork farm sits encircled by water on three sides. This scene encapsulates the emotive beauty of the entire Nu Valley, and is easily appreciated from the well-placed roadside viewing platform.

Drive to Gongshan

The ride from Dimaluo to Gongshan will take around 1 hour.

Meals included: breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Drive to Liuku

The ride from Gongshan to Liuku will take around 5 hours.

On the Way: Laomudeng Village

Laomudeng means ‘the place people like to come’ in the local Nu language, and it is exactly that. The village is more prosperous than its neighbors, having benefitted from increased tourism to area in recent years thanks to the indescribable views it affords down the Nujiang Valley, especially at dawn, when heavy, moisture-laden clouds rest atop the canyon slopes. The church at the heart of the village is more utilitarian than some, but is nonetheless one of the biggest and the center of a thriving religious community in Laomudeng.

Meals included: breakfast, lunch, and dinner

Drive to Dali

The ride from Liuku to Dali will take around 3.5 hours.

Next Stop: Dali

Tucked between Cang Mountain and Erhai Lake, Dali is a Ming-era town that has retained much through the ages. It was once the chief city of Yunnan and the capital of the Nanzhao Kingdom, an empire that at its peak, stood up to the imperial Chinese armies. Though the Nanzhao Kingdom fell long ago, the indigenous Bai ethnic minority who comprised its population still accounts for the majority of the residents of Dali and surrounding villages.

Your guide will return you to your hotel at the end of the day or escort you to Dali airport, journey ends.

Feel free to continue exploring the coffee regions and missionary history around Dali as extended trip. Or let your Travel Designer know if you need any help.

Meals included: breakfast