Lijiang Ancient Town Lijiang Old Town, originally a village, is
located on the outskirts of the present-day city of Lijiang,
Yunnan Province. The old, original village is built around the
concept of a network of canals that were intended to provide
water to each and every household. The source of the water is
Hei Long Tan (Black Dragon Pool), a natural spring from which
arises 3 small rivers, denoted simply as the East, West, and
Middle rivers. From these 3 rivers, a clever network of walled
canals was dug, with the walls of the canals forming one side of
the foundation of the canal-side houses. Many of the canals are
rather narrow, not more than 8-10 meters wide. In fact, most of
the Old Town's houses stand so close together and in such an
orderly fashion that it is said that their roofs, seen from
above and at a slight angle, form neat rows that suggest the
teeth of a comb. Lijiang Old Town covers an area of about 4
square kilometers and lies 2,400 meters above sea level. It was
built during the late Southe