Occupying the region for at least 3,000 to 4,000 years, the Bai are the second-largest minority group in Yunnan, as well as being one of the oldest. The 2000 census identified just over 1,800,000 individuals as Bai and speaking the Bai language, 80% of whom live in the Dali Bai Nationality Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province. In Guizhou, the Bai can also be found in Bijie, and in Sichuan they live near Xichang. Throughout their history, the Bai have dominated by controlling the richest agricultural lands, either administering the region for others or ruling outright through a number of prominent families. Scattered throughout the Shaxi valley are sixteen Bai minority villages. The population of these villages ranges from a couple hundred to a few thousand in the main village of Sideng, with about 22,500 for the entire valley.
Shaxi retains the vestiges of a matriarchal society, but in the twenty first century, this now extends only as far as children taking the family name of their mother. The Bai—the "white"—revere the color, which they regard as noble and is the main color of their traditional dress. An unmarried girl always combs her hair into one pigtail, tied with a red string at its end, and then coils it over her head. In general, girls enjoy dressing up like beautiful camellia flowers on special occasions, and so it is hardly surprising that they are referred to not as 'miss' or 'young lady' but as 'jin hua' or 'golden flower'.

Bai Religion

白族是一个具有多元宗教信仰的民族，人们信奉佛教、道教及本主信仰。其中本主信仰是白族全民信奉的宗教。本主一词的含义是“本境最高贵的守护神”。本主大致可分为自然神、部落神和英雄神三类。自然神大多是与农业生产有关的雨神、龙王、龙母等。英雄神中，很多是同野兽搏斗，为民除害的英雄人物。你可以在很多神社中看到制作简单的，骑着猛兽的英雄人物。至于部落神，各地供奉的十八堂本主、七十二景帝等，几乎都是南诏、大理时期的君主或宰臣。
在较为偏远的地区，仍有一些白族保持着万物有灵的原始信仰，你可以找到各种不同的神祇被人供奉：山神、谷神、雨神、龙王、龙母等等。他们相信精神力量可以治愈疾病、并且给予他们庇护。在沙溪目前仍有有女性的巫师，在白族的精神生活和信仰中扮演着重要的角色。

公主的传说： 传说唐太宗李世民为了加强与吐蕃的同盟关系，派遣宗室女文成公主从唐朝都城西安，出发前往吐蕃，与吐蕃王松赞干布联姻。与文成公主随行的马队携带着大量的礼物，其中包括释迦佛像、各种珍宝、金玉书橱、360卷经典等，而其中大量的普洱茶则是我们最感兴趣的部分。同许多唐代贵族一样，文成公主是一位佛教徒，她带着真诚与信仰前往西藏，并极大的促进了当地经济、文化的繁荣昌盛。甚至传说布达拉宫、大昭寺、小昭寺的建立，都与文成公主有着千丝万缕的联系。 虽然这是一个引人入胜的故事，但茶叶贸易早在文成公主之前很多个世纪的汉代就已经存在，但故事足以表明，产自云南的普洱茶对于西藏来说，是多么的重要。

The Yi or Nuosuo ethnic group are historically known as Lolo, and number more than four million in Yunnan Province, most of whom are concentrated in an area hemmed in by the Jinsha and Yuanjiang rivers, and the Ailao and Wuliang mountains. Huaping, Ninglang and Yongsheng in western Yunnan form what is known as the Yunnan Lesser Liangshan Mountain area. The Yi's traditionally live in the mountainous areas, herding and hunting with susbsistance agriculture. The are likely descended from Tibetan and Naxi people and they practice a form of animism, led by a shaman priest known as the Bimaw. They still retain a few ancient religious texts written in their unique pictographic script, similar to the DOngba writing of the Naxi in Lijiang region. Their religion also contains many elements of Daoism and Buddhism. The Yi around Shaxi are scattered in Shaxi high mountain areas, mainly cultivating potatoes, corn, wild honey and Chinese traditional medicine such as ginseng. Vast forests stretch across the Yi areas, where Yunnan pine, masson pine, dragon spruce, Chinese pine and other timber trees, lacquer, tea, camphor, kapok and other trees of economic value grow in great numbers. The Yi of Shaxi can be seen in the valley particularly around market days. The women are distinguished by their brightly colored yellow, green and red clothing, often accompanied by ornate head dress.

The Southern Silk Road, better known as as the Ancient Tea Horse Caravan Road predated its more famous northern counterpart by at least 300 years, The first written records of the route are from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), which was locally known as the Nanzhao Kingdom period (649-920), but trade had been taking place long before this time. From the hillside plantations of Simao and Xishuangbanna the muleteers brought pu'er tea; Burmese traders, often accompanied by Indian monks bought hides and animal bones, for use in in Chinese medicine. Salt, an essential commodity before the advent of refrigeration, came from Qiaohou, south of Shaxi, and from Yunlong across the mountains to the west, along with silver from Misha, and nearby Heqing. As well as felt, silk and precious stones came that most valuable of medicines, opium, perhaps Yunnan's largest cash crop at the time. All of these and more were traded with Tibetans for items such as musk, rare fungi and exotic medicines, found in the frigid mountains to the north. The main village of Sideng became an important staging post for the caravans, and the whole valley flourished in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The market square became famous throughout the southwest, and attracted traders from a wide range of cultures that only enhanced the profitability of the Tea Horse Road. Hani from southern Yunnan brought tea and rich cloths. Naxi from Lijiang brought timber, Muslim Hui bought yak furs and horses. The wealth generated by all this trade is clearly evident in the ornate local architecture, with their imposing gate towers and spacious courtyards. At the center of all this, stands the Qing dynasty theater, directly across from the 400-year old temple, dedicated to as wide a range of faiths as the merchants and pilgrims that turned this remote village into a vibrant trading hub, which lasted well beyond the end of the Qing Dynasty (1614-1911).
The caravan routes finally died out around 60 years ago, when the newly formed People's Liberation Army began its advance on western Tibet, and requisitioned every pack animal they could find. The centuries old trade routes came to an abrupt end by 1950, when the communists' ban on private markets put the last nails in the coffin. The locals quickly reverted to agriculture and passed the last few decades in relative isolation.
More recently, the World Monument Fund added Shaxi's market square to its Watch List of 100 Most Endangered Sites in 2001. By this time squatters had taken over much of the village, and many of the buildings had decayed to the point of collapse. In 2002, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH) and the People's Government of Jianchuan County jointly established the Shaxi Rehabilitation Project (SRP) to protect and revitalize the cultural and natural heritage of Sideng Village and the Shaxi Valley. With USD1.3 million in funding from the World Monument Fund they hired a Swiss conservation expert Jacques Feiner, who had previously made his name at Yemen's old city of Sanaa, one of the earliest centers of population in human history. His approach has been to restore rather than rebuild, using traditional techniques and materials wherever possible. Apart from the restoring the temple and the stage, the entire market plaza was drained and relaid, which has led to a number of major awards, including a UNESCO Award of Distinction for cultural heritage preservation.
For those interested to explore more about the Tea Horse Road's history, culture and legacy, we highly recommend Peter Micic's blog, the Tea Horse Road project. Peter is a skilled translator and writer, with a passion for Chinese history in this part of the country. He explores old tree plantations, writes poems and follows the original sections of the Tea Horse Road to give readers a first hand experience of what it was like to travel with the ancient mule caravans. An excellent source of this storied route's visual history is the award-winning documentary Delamu, which follows one of the last muleteers through the rugged Nujiang region of Yunnan. Along the way are intimate portraits of the indiginous people who still live along the Tea Horse Road.

'白族崇尚白色，其建筑外墙大多以白色为主调。白族民居的主房一般是坐西向东或坐东向西，这与大理地处由北向南的横断山脉形成的山谷坝子的特点有关，东西房向可以依山傍水，又能很好的阻隔大风的侵袭。 白族民居的平面布局和组合形式一般有"一正两耳"、"两房一耳"、"三坊一照壁"、 "四合五天井"、"六合同春"和"走马转角楼"等。采用什么形式，由房主人的经济条件和家族大小、人口多寡所决定。白族民居的大门大都开在东北角上，门不能直通院子，必须用照壁遮挡，照壁的墙上一般写"福"、"寿"等寓意吉祥的文字。 白族一切建筑，包括普通民居，都离不开精美的雕刻和绘画装饰。木雕多用于建筑物的格子门、槎头、雀替、吊柱等部份。卷草、飞龙、蝙蝠、玉兔，各种动植物图案造型千变万化，运用自如。更有不少带象征意义的，如"金狮吊绣球"、" 麒麟望芭蕉"、"秋菊太平"等等情趣盎然的图案作品。白族木雕巧匠们还特别擅长作玲珑剔透的三至五层"透漏雕"，多层次的山水人物、花鸟虫鱼都表现得栩栩如生。
"粉墙画壁"也是白族建筑装饰的一大特色。墙体的砖柱和贴砖都刷灰勾缝，墙心粉白，檐口彩画宽窄不同，饰有色彩相间的装饰带。以各种几何图形布置"花空"作花鸟、山水，书法等文人字画，表现出一种清新雅致的情趣。富于装饰的门楼可以说明白族建筑图案的一个综合表现。一般都采用殿阁造型，飞檐串角， 再以泥塑、木雕、彩画、石刻、大理石屏、凸花青砖、瓷器等组合成丰富多彩的立体图案，显得富丽堂皇，又不失古朴大方的整体风格。
白族很讲求住宅环境的优雅和整洁。多数人家的天井里一般都砌有花坛，种上几株山茶、 缅桂、丹桂、石榴、香椽等乔木花果树。花坛边沿或屋檐口放置兰花等盆花，种花爱花是白族的传统风尚。

There are two banks with ATMs in Shaxi town. As you head up the market street away from the old town, the road turns to the right and after a series of shops and small restaurants, you will see the Post Office on your right and just past it across the street is the 农村信用社 (Nóngcūn xìnyòng shè) or Rural Credit Cooperative. Look for the bright orange facade with the ATM up the steps next to the door. The 中国农业银行 (Zhōngguó nóngyè yínháng) Agricultural Bank of China ATM is closer to the big stone and waterfall that mark the entrance to the old town. Facing away from the steps, cross the main street and continue directly up the street ahead. The bank is about 30m up the street to your right on the corner of a small side street.

As you head up the market street away from the old town, the road turns to the right and immediately across the street, on the same side as Xilu Restaurant, you will find a China Mobile shop. There are other shops selling mobile phones on the other side of the street but they may not be authorized dealers. All will have spare batteries and accessories.