The village clings to the stone outcrop, a tight mass of dwellings, alleys and stairways cascading toward the river. A skirt-like defensive wall runs the length of the village between its two opposite gates. Baoshan Stone Town is split into two clusters, where a dense, cliff-bound core and a newer spillover on the adjacent slope connect at a narrow pass.
Penetrating the crisp early morning air are the sounds and scents of a village stirring awake: the grunt of pigs in their pens, the smell of fresh animal dung, glimpses of life shuffling inside house courtyards, the rustle of flowing water and Naxi folk music playing from outdoor speakers.
I am in a remote village in Yunnan province, China. It is built on a rock outcrop in the lower half of a river gorge. Three sides of the outcrop are sheer cliffs and the last side slopes down the hill towards the jade-green Jinsha River in the valley below. Across the river, the terrain rose steeply to mountainous heights.
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