Every mottled wall bears the imprint of its time.

Zizhiluo, the first liberated area in the Nujiang region, is located on a mountain ridge 2,023 meters above sea level in the Biluo Snow Mountain. Once an important post station and market on the Ancient Tea Horse Road, it became the central city of the Nujiang River Basin, bustling with people and horses. Over thirty years ago, it was the seat of the Nujiang prefecture government. Over twenty years ago, it was a prosperous county town. Today, it still retains the layout and style of the 1960s and 1970s, as if time has stood still, eternally preserving the town's history like a living fossil. People come here to search for lost childhood memories and historical traces, to reminisce, and to explore the past. It is often sentimentally called the "City of Memory" or the "Abandoned City." Entering the village, you'll see the most "magnificent" building in the village—the former library's Octagonal Tower. This tower, a new landmark of the county town, was built by craftsmen specially invited from Dali shortly before the county was abolished. The surrounding walls still bear the marks of that era. Walking along the main street, you can see many Soviet-style buildings, which were once bustling government buildings, police stations, credit unions, garment factories, and supply and marketing cooperatives, all seemingly narrating the past hustle and bustle. Strolling on the bluestone slabs, the abandoned schools and the broken walls of the school buildings seem to still echo with the sound of reading from the past... The charm of Zizhiluo lies in walking on its old streets, as if traveling through time back to decades ago. Every abandoned building and every mottled wall bears the imprint of its time, recording an era and a period of history like a living fossil.

Post by DONALD CUNNINGHAM | Mar 14, 2025