Liangshan 凉山Liángshān

About Liangshan

Liangshan, in the mountainous far south of Sichuan, is home to China's largest Yi community, and its Torch Festival, held each summer, is a public holiday lasting several days. Xichang, the prefecture seat, enjoys mild, sunny winters beside Qionghai Lake, with Luoji Mountain rising to the south and the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the hills to the north. To the west, Liangshan shares Lugu Lake with Yunnan, and Huili Ancient Town keeps its old shopfronts near the southern border.

What to eat in Liangshan

• Tuotuo meat (坨坨肉)
• Liangshan tartary buckwheat tea (苦荞茶)

Featured places in Liangshan

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  Xichang & Qionghai Lake 西昌与邛海

  A sunny lakeside city at the heart of Yi country, ablaze with torches each summer

  Best time: Nov–Apr (dry and sunny); late Jul–early Aug for the Torch Festival · Time needed: 1–2 days · 4A scenic area

Listed sites in Liangshan

9 sites in Liangshan are on the official lists. Those with a page of their own link to it; the rest open as cards on the map.

• Huili Ancient Town 会理古城 4A scenic area · on the map
  Huili, in the far south of Liangshan near the Yunnan border, has been a county seat since the Western Han dynasty and was named a national historic and cultural city in 2011.
• Huili Conference Site 会理会议纪念地 4A scenic area · on the map
  In May 1935, after crossing the Jinsha River on the Long March, the Red Army spent about two weeks around Huili, and the Communist Party's Politburo held an enlarged meeting at Tiechang on the outskirts of the town.
• Jianchang Old Town, Xichang 建昌古城 4A scenic area · on the map
  Jianchang is the old name of Xichang, and its old town on the north side of the modern city keeps stretches of the former city wall and the Datong Gate, with lanes of older houses, teahouses and snack stalls inside.
• Kaidilila Hot Springs, Ningnan 凯地里拉温泉 4A scenic area · on the map
  A hot-spring resort in Pisha town, Ningnan County, in southern Liangshan.
• Lingshan Temple, Mianning 灵山寺 4A scenic area · on the map
  Lingshan ('Spirit Mountain') is a forested mountain scenic area about 17 km east of Mianning town, centred on Lingshan Temple, a Buddhist temple whose halls are built up the hillside.
• Luoji Mountain 螺髻山 4A scenic area · on the map
  Luoji Mountain is a range running south from Qionghai Lake near Xichang, with summits above 4,300 metres.
• Mahu Lake 马湖 4A scenic area · on the map
  Mahu is a deep mountain lake in Leibo County, in the far east of Liangshan, formed where glaciers dammed an old river valley and measured in 1982 at 134 metres at its deepest point.
• Yihai Lake (Yihai Alliance Site) 彝海 4A scenic area · on the map
  Yihai is a small mountain lake in northern Mianning County where, on 22 May 1935, during the Long March, the Red Army commander Liu Bocheng and Xiaoyedan, a leader of the local Yi Guoji clan, swore brotherhood in a blood oath, allowing the army to pass through Yi territory.
• Boshiwahei Rock Carvings 博什瓦黑岩画 National heritage site · on the map
  Boshiwahei is a group of large boulders in the hills of Wanchang township, Zhaojue County, incised with Buddhist figures and dated to the Tang and Song periods, when this region lay within the Nanzhao and Dali kingdoms.

On the map

Open Liangshan on the illustrated map to see its outline, its places and listed sites together, and to add them to a trip.

Learn more

• Wikipedia
• Official website
• Wikipedia (Chinese)