The millennia-old salt fields of Tibet's Yanjing

The ancient salt fields of Mangkang Yanjing have a history of 1300 years. Located on both the east and west banks of the Lancang River in Naxi Nationality Township, Yanjing Town, Mangkang County, Tibet Autonomous Region, it is the only place in China that still preserves the most original manual salt sun-drying method. The salt fields of Yanjing not only retain a unique salt-making technique in the world, but what's more magical is that the salt produced from the same brine source, using the same equipment and the same processing skills, turns out to be red and white in color. The salt on the east bank of the Lancang River is white, known as 'white salt', while the salt on the west bank is light red, known as 'red salt', also called 'peach blossom salt'. Scenic spot introduction (Image 1), the sign is erected on the mountain road on the east bank of the Lancang River The 'white salt' on the east bank of the Lancang River (Image 2) The 'red salt' on the west bank of the Lancang River (Image 3) A close-up view of the 'red salt' drying process (Image 4) The rows of sheds are the salt fields, and the fortress-like structures in the distance are the brine wells (Image 5) The stalactite-like salt crystals hanging everywhere on the top of the sheds (Image 6) The red and white salt bought at Yanjing, the locals say to soak feet with red salt and eat white salt, but we used both for foot baths (Image 7) Yanjing's special delicacy 'Jiajia noodles', the highest record of this restaurant is 103 bowls, our highest record is only 12 bowls (Image 8) PS: 1. When we went there, the gate of the scenic area next to National Highway 214 (free of charge) was not open. A little further on, you can drive through another road. Visitors can only go to the west bank, and the road conditions after crossing the river were very bad at that time, and parking was extremely difficult. After parking, local residents would come to charge a fee (10 yuan), and we didn't care whether it was official or not, considering it as poverty alleviation. 2. There will be children following you selling salt, 10 yuan a bag, we also considered it as poverty alleviation and bought one bag of each white and red. 3. There is the only Catholic church in Tibet near Yanjing, worth a visit if you have time.