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Trailing Behind

Nanjiluo, a fragile and remote Alpine area, has become a popular hiking destination, even though it is not open for tourists. Competing interests are wrangling with a mess of red tape over balancing conservation and economic development

By Wang Yu Updated Dec.1

Hikers in the mountains of Nanjiluo, Yunnan Province, August 2024. The area is supposed to be closed to visitors (Photo by Wang Yu)

Despite its remoteness and poor conditions, lately travelers seeking a different experience have flocked to the Alpine area of forests and lakes of Nanjiluo, nestled in northwest Yunnan Province, not far from the border with Myanmar.　

Despite the increasing popularity, Nanjiluo is not officially open for tourism, much as local people are trying. This situation, experts on tourism and the environment say, is due to competing interests. Government officials say that until there is an approved plan on making the area both safe and with enough facilities for tourists, entry should be banned. Meanwhile, both tourists and residents are taking the matter into their own hands, and it is hard to stop them.　

Nanjiluo is located in the remote Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the mountainous northwest of Yunnan Province, part of the Himalayan range. In the local Lisu ethnic language, it means a place for herding horses and sheep. Complicating matters of jurisdiction, Nanjiluo is also inside the World Natural Heritage Site of Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, where the headwaters of the Nu River, the Lancang (Mekong) River, and the Yangtze flow in parallel from north to south in Yunnan Province.　

Often shrouded in fog, these alpine virgin forests mixed with fir trees and lush rhododendrons spread through mountain gorges at altitudes of over 3,400 meters. Waterfalls plunge down the moss-green mountain slopes, with glacier-fed lakes of crystal water dotting the landscape. Rare alpine plants and fauna find a home in the forests and mountain of the remote region.　

On social media platforms, Nanjiluo is portrayed as a fairyland, and described as “God’s last teardrop left in the human world.”

Around the hiking trails of Nanjiluo, fragile alpine vegetation has been trampled and destroyed, Nanjiluo, Yunnan Province in August, 2024 (Photo by Wang Yu)

Fragile Ecology

In Badi Village in the foothills of Biluo Snow Mountain, villager Zhao Ping invested 3 million yuan (US$30,000) in a restaurant and homestay. Road S237 runs along the southern bank of the Lancang River and passes Badi, which is on the hiking route to Nanjiluo. Zhao is happy her business has done well, but now she is anxious. Showing a photo of Alpine Lake No.5 in summer 2023, Zhao told NewsChina: “You can see how beautiful and pristine the grassland and flowers near the lake were, but now they’ve been trampled and destroyed [by hikers].”　

Tourists coming to Nanjiluo can either take a three-hour hiking route or a six-hour hike, both of which pass the lake.　

Hiking along the route in July, the NewsChina reporter saw the area of destroyed vegetation near Lake No.5 was about the size of a basketball court. Because the rain renders the established track muddy, hikers walk on the vegetation, expanding the trampled area.　

Alpine vegetation is fragile. Professor Kuai Yanli, member of the Academic Committee of Landscape Environment Planning and Design of the Urban Planning Society of China told NewsChina that in some alpine tundra belts over 2,000 meters, ground cover plants, although they appear like meadows, are actually perennial shrubs like alpine rhododendrons, which take 20 years to reach this height. “One step and it may destroy it completely. They’re very fragile and they don’t recover easily,” Kuai said.　

To enter Nanjiluo, visitors first go through Achidaga Village. To protect the environment, the village committee set up a checkpoint and set a daily visitor limit of 200 people. Organized and regulated by the village economic association they set up themselves, villagers offer accommodation and pick-up services for hikers to access the mountains in off-road vehicles. Non-local vehicles are not allowed.　

The access track, a zigzagging dirt road, is dilapidated and dangerous. Online posts remind hikers that these village-operated vehicles are not officially licensed, therefore it is unlikely insurance would pay out in case of an accident.　

In April 2017, Weixi County government, which administers the area, sold the tourism development rights to a private company. These rights were sold on to what eventually became Weixi Tourism Investment Company.　

Xiong Yinqiang, general manager of Weixi Tourism, told NewsChina that since 2017, the company, under its various iterations, tried to negotiate with Weixi County tourism authorities to prepare facilities at the scenic spot, but it was unsuccessful. The company has already spent 2.37 million yuan (US$340,000) to survey and map the area.　

In June 2022, after gaining approval from Weixi County government, Weixi Tourism was able to start commercial hiking tourism in Nanjiluo. They maintained a track and installed a gate and monitoring system at the village entrance, agreeing with Achidaga Village to partner in the hiking program.　

According to the agreement, vehicles are purchased by villagers, and each tourist is charged 300 yuan (US$43) for a round-trip, of which 50 yuan (US$7) was allocated to the village committee.　

Yet soon after commercial hiking started, conflicting interests caused disputes. Diqing Forestry and Grassland Bureau received complaints claiming that Nanjiiuo was at risk of chaotic tourism, and the unclear ownership of the tourist operation was causing disputes among local people.　

The Forestry and Grassland Bureau of Diqing Prefecture sent a notification to Weixi County government, reminding them that Nanjiluo is part of another scenic area, Julong Lake. According to the rules for this protected area, a licensed third-party organization must first have a blueprint for tourism activities and then seek official approval. Without this, construction inside the area is prohibited.　

In October 2022, Weixi Forestry and Grassland Bureau ordered Weixi Tourism to stop all construction and tourism at Julong Lake Scenic Area, and prepare a plan for the area. If they gained provincial approval, they could legally restart the business.　

But later, local authorities took back Nanjiluo tourism rights, and Weixi Tourism was forced out. On August 30, 2023, Weixi County banned tourists from entering Nanjiluo.

Paradise Found?

The ban was hard to implement and since 2023, more and more hikers have entered Nanjiluo. Promoted by social media platforms, it has become a celebrated hiking paradise.　

Villagers from Achidaga, who were either herders or had migrated to cities for work, returned to take advantage of new income opportunities. Some ferried hikers up the mountain by motorbike or minivan, making three round trips daily. Even during winter, when there was deep snow, tourists still came, despite the risks.　

Weixi authorities tried to ban entry to Nanjiluo through measures such as issuing notices and setting up a checkpoint. But managers told NewsChina that it was difficult to implement the ban.　

“Nanjiluo still hasn’t been given tourism approval. Villagers receive the hikers privately. We can only enhance mountain patrols and persuade tourists not to go when they arrive at the checkpoint,” said Li Qingtian, director of the Forestry and Grassland bureau of Weixi County. Li told NewsChina that although there are dozens of forest rangers, they have no legal power to prevent tourists from entering the area.　

Yang Wenwu from Weixi County Transportation Bureau told NewsChina that Biluo Snow Mountain area where Nanjiluo is located spans several counties, so even if main entry points are blocked, hikers can get in via different routes.　

Mao Xuegang, head of Badi Township and former deputy director of the County Bureau of Culture and Tourism, said they lack resources. “We just don’t have enough resources financially or technically to enforce the ban, and we don’t have enough people to patrol,” he told NewsChina.

No-guilt Trips

This spring, Achidaga villagers approached the village committee, seeking ways to negotiate with authorities to lift the ban. They proposed the village should be allowed to manage and operate hiking activities collectively.　

Li Xuemei and Mao Xugang, deputy county magistrates of Weixi, told NewsChina that the county government has started to look at alternative ways to optimize rather than control tourism development in Nanjiluo. “There’s no question that the government should be strict in carrying out law-based administration, but in the case of Nanjiluo, if the government remains so tough, the ban will only see village resentment rise,” Li Xuemei said.　

“Because they want to maximize revenue, villagers are opposed to outside investors running commercial tourism. So we’re thinking about allowing the village to set up an association to operate hiking tours. This could be more effective and provide better regulation than private businesses run by individual households,” Mao said.　

According to a village driver, of the 300 yuan charged per passenger, 100 yuan (US$14) goes to the village committee, and the driver keeps 200 (US$29). Drivers can make up to 800 yuan (US$114) a day, a lucrative income in a poor area. They can add to this by working as a hiking guide. If on average a driver-guide works 20 days a month, they can earn around 28,000 yuan (US$3,989) before expenses. The average annual income for rural Diqing Prefecture in 2023 was 13,447 yuan (US$891).　

Driver-guide Yu Cunguang from Achidaga told NewsChina that her son had been a guide in Shangri-La City, the capital and main town in Diqing. Now he has returned to the village to work, making much more than before.　

Accommodation brings additional income. Statistics from Weixi government show that from June 6, 2024 to the end of July, the economic association of Achidaga Village received some 14,000 tourists, earning around 2.08 million yuan (US$300,000).　

“Achidaga has 402 households and 1,257 residents. It was the most remote and poorest village in the county,” Mao said. Tourism has undoubtedly improved prosperity in the village and in the surrounding area, but there are problems, including the safety of uninsured tourists and vehicles operating without permits.　

Weixi Transportation Bureau has looked into renovating the notorious dirt road with its 43 precipitous bends, but it has no financial support. “So the village vehicles can never get legal passenger vehicle operating licenses for those roads,” Yang Wenwu said. They discussed the issue, and decided that the pick-up services offered to tourists can be interpreted as tourists’ renting vehicles and hiring drivers from the village association. The two parties have a hire contract relationship, which is the only way these vehicles can avoid being labeled as operating illegally.　

To avoid vegetation destruction by tourists, Mao organized villagers to pave the hiking route with stones. However, Lu Guoju, deputy director of Yunnan Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau, expressed his concerns about the legality. “Any construction activities inside the scenic area should be approved, so the priority is to ensure there is a plan first,” he told NewsChina.

Lake No.5, one of the most popular scenic spots at Nanjiluo, suffers the most harm from inconsiderate hikers, Nanjiluo, Yunnan Province, August 2024 (Photo by Wang Yu)

To protect the alpine vegetation around Lake No.5 Lake, people from Badi Village laid paving stones to make a marked path (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Bogged Down

This year, He Lichun, director of the Culture and Tourism Bureau of Weixi County and his colleagues have tried to find a way to legalize tourism in Nanjiluo. But these attempts are bogged down amid the unclear responsibilities of different government agencies.　

According to He, Weixi County government had a tourism plan for Julong Lake Scenic Spot incorporating Nanjiluo as early as 2003 when the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas was listed as a World Natural Heritage Site. The problem is the northern part of Julong Lake Scenic Area is in Deqin County, and it does not belong to Weixi County. According to the Tourism Law of China, Weixi County must get approval from the county government for tourism development.　

“When reviewing the plan, Weixi County said it had gone beyond our borders into another county’s territory. So they didn’t grant approval,” He said.　

But faced with an influx of tourists and realizing the risks of violating regulations and other safety uncertainties, Weixi County government is trying to prepare a valid plan for legal tourism development in Nanjiluo.　

In 2023, He asked a tourism development company in Beijing to compile a General Plan for Nanjiluo Tourism Scenic Area (2023-2035) at a cost of 750,000 yuan (US$106,860).　

This time, it only covered the area within Weixi’s domain. In November 2023, officials involved in tourism, ecology, natural resources, planning, water affairs and transportation at the provincial, prefecture and county levels in Yunnan approved the plan.　

However, to He’s surprise, he was stymied by more bureaucracy. When the plan was presented to county’s forestry and grassland bureau for the record, He was told there was a problem. Yunnan Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau then said that as Nanjiluo is part of a national scenic area, it needs a plan for the scenic area, rather than the tourism plan they had made.　

The right to examine and approve plans for scenic spots was transferred from housing and construction agencies to forestry and grassland agencies after a national institutional reform of ministries in 2018. So the plan for Nanjiluo approved by the Culture and Tourism Bureau was completely wrong.　

In 2005, the general plan of the Three Rivers Parallel Scenic Area was laid out by Yunnan Provincial Department of Housing and Construction. It was approved by Yunnan Provincial Government before gaining approval from the State Council. It was then approved for implementation by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development.　

The general plan defines the scope and scale of Julong Lake Scenic area, and specifies that the features of the scenic spot are “characterized by plateau lakes” and that its main functions are for scientific investigation, ecology and cultural tourism.　

Yet there has never been any specific plan for Julong Lake scenic area. Professor Kuai said that because the Three Parallel Rivers area spans several prefectures and regions, it is a complex case involving cross-regional governance and cross-regional joint protection. According to Kuai, if a scenic area is within the domain of a county, it can formulate plans. However, since Julong Lake scenic area spans the counties of Weixi and Deqin, it must be done by the next level of government, which is Diqing Prefecture.　

Wu Bihu, director of the Research Center for Tourism Development and Planning at Peking University told NewsChina that many areas do not know which agency they should apply to for permission to develop tourism.　

“In 2018, the management of scenic spots was theoretically transferred to the State Administration of Forestry and Grassland, but during this period, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development proposed different opinions, claiming that scenic spots not only require nature protection, but also cultural protection. The State Council recognized this claim,” Wu said.　

He said there was still competing supervision of scenic spots by dual authorities from both the housing and construction department and the forest and grassland agency. These issues must be “straightened out” before the ministerial restructuring is completed, Wu said.　

The plan for the Three Parallel Rivers was made in 2005, and it is out of date, Wu said. “At that time today’s popular self-driving and hiking activities were not as common as now,” Wu said.　

According to Lu Guoju, Yunnan Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau is preparing to update the overall plan for the Three Parallel Rivers area.　

Kuai Yanli believes this will be a good opportunity to close regulatory loopholes.　

“It’s really necessary to take this opportunity to make blurred boundaries clear and establish which areas can be developed or not. We need to clarify the procedures local governments should follow when developing tourism. System design should solve the contradictions between development and conservation,” she said.　

He Chunli still feels helpless. “We don’t have any good solutions now. We’re just waiting for the first heavy snow [to stop tourists coming]. It can’t come soon enough,” he said.

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Trailing Behind