Shaxi Village

Shaxi lies on the Tea Horse Trail, which leads from the tea-growing regions in southern Yunnan to Tibet. It was a hub for trading tea to Tibet and horses from Tibet to China, as far back at 650 A.D. The other branch of this route went from Chengdu, thorugh Ya’an (where we visited the pandas) – and from Ya’an, people had to carry the tea over passes as high as 5000 m. The strongest porters could carry 250 to 300 lb. loads, but it was extremely slow going and dangerous. The rule of thumb for porters was 7 steps up, and rest; 8 steps down, and rest; 11 steps flat, and rest…

We stayed two nights in Lao Ma Dian, which is co-owned by our friend, Lynn Yew. It opened a little over 4 years ago, after having been tastefully restored with all of the creature comforts (we even had our laundry done for RMB 20).

The building is directly on the car-free central marketplace of the town, which also includes a Buddhist temple, a Bai Theater (which has been restored with assistance with the ETH Zurich), and – last, but not least – a café that made really good coffee, including cappucino.

The café was run by a very friendly local guy, Mr. Zhang (who even invited us for lunch one day and takes his coffee seriously). He also offers internet access for those without computers, such as the three young Israeli graffiti artists and musicians we ran into. Walti had a long conversation with one of them, who said he was surprised to see that life for the average Chinese seems to be much less repressive than in Israel. He was totally fed up and ashamed by the political leadership of his country (fascist Prime Minister Liebermann) and may not return. He told how the entire culture had been infiltrated by the occupation and how he would be harassed by the police 3 or 4 nights a week on his own block. Of course, being a China neophyte, he didn’t see behind the curtain in China yet. Even running a small business is a challenge for an entrepreneur who wants to be independent. Many local government/Party officials have their fingers everywhere they smell money and are not always polite in taking advantage of their power position.

The local people are rice farmers and use the roads as a convenient means of drying the ripe stalks: Cars, trucks and cyclists like us help to separate the grains from the stalks as we drive through large piles. Yunnan is one of the most diverse, but poorest provinces in the country, home to 26 of the 56 “official” ethnic groups in the country and with an annual income of only about RMB XXX.

On our day off, June 1st, we were treated to China’s Children’s Day festivities (which take place throughout the country every year). Schools from throughout the area converged on the market square just ouside our hotel for a morning of singing and dancing performances by groups of school kids, many in their traditional ethnic dress (Bai minority, which makes up 80% of the population in the area).

The spectacle was witnessed by many grandparents, proudly displaying their grandchildren.


Despite the government slogan on the wall of the town square promoting the 1-child policy, China has begun to loosen its policy for more and more categories of citizens, not the least because of demographic problems (rapid over-aging, imbalance of the male to female ratio).