Orville Schell recently wrote about his journey to Yunnan with WildChina, discussing the climate change issues on the Tibetan Plateau. However, what is beyond the melting glacial peaks in the region?

WildChina’s Alex Grieves sat down with Jia Liming, WildChina’s Director of Operations, to get a sense of the diverse natural and cultural wonders that exist between the Yangtze and Mekong Rivers.

Alex Grieves: How did you initially get involved in Orville Schell’s trip? Why were you a part of this experience?
Jia Liming: In early 2009, Mei [Zhang, WildChina's founder] told me that Orville [Schell, Asia Society's China scholar] wanted to write about glaciers in China. As a member of the Operations team and someone who is quite familiar with Yunnan, I was asked to explore which routes would be most appropriate for the trip and to travel with the group.

AG: What route did you end up taking?
JL: We essentially went in a large loop. We first drove alongside the Yangtze River to Deqin, and then followed the Mekong River south again, first to Cizhong and then to Weixi. We visited the Mingyang Glaciers and Lijiang’s Jade Dragon Mountain, both of which are, or are home to, low latitude glaciers.

AG: What impressions did you take away with you while on this route?
JL: The journey down the Mekong River is simply incredible; it really is as if one is traveling through time. When you’re on the route, you travel through a myriad of contrasts: high to low altitudes; Tibetan to Lisu culture; buckwheat crops to rice fields; different styles of architecture; and colder to warmer climates. It’s amazing what one can see on just one 9-hour drive.

AG: What was your strongest impression from the trip?
JL: Driving past a Lisu village at sunset. As we passed by, I saw farmers singing in the fading light while working with cows in the rice fields. They seemed incredibly content. That was a really powerful moment. More generally speaking, the drive from Cizhong to Weixi is incredibly beautiful – there is no industry in these areas, and the natural beauty is untouched. One thing really interesting about the this area is that many villages are driven by clean energy and sustainable practices. The government subsidizes their bio-gas for cooking and heating, which enables the community to waste less and preserve their natural surroundings. It’s also very well-organized, and should serve as a model for other rural communities in China.

AG: Tell me more about the Lisu minority and their community.
JL: The Lisu people are an intriguing ethnic group, as about 20 percent of them are Catholic. Many can be found in Myanmar, since a large number of them emigrated to that area in the past.

Want to learn more about Yunnan and the Tibetan Plateau? Send us a tweet @WildChina, or email Jia at liming.jia@wildchina.com.

The February 1, 2010 edition of the New York Times features a piece on Jiuzhaigou Valley, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in China’s Sichuan province that consists of a natural wildlife and forest area.

Jiuzhaigou has experience a significant increase in visitors recently, which reflects the upward trend in domestic Chinese travel in the past year. The New York Times reports, “while the [travel] industry lost ground in Europe and the United States, China’s tourism sector posted a 9 percent jump in revenue 2009, to 1.26 trillion renminbi [Yuan], thanks to domestic demand.”

Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve in Sichuan province (Souce: NYTimes.com)

WildChina has done service work in Jiuzhaigou, and guests on our journey Tracking Wild Panda Footprints, which was featured on Away.com, witness the incredible natural scenery here. Here’s what we have to say about the nature reserve:

With its lush alpine scenery, turquoise lakes and multi-leveled waterfalls, Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve has long been a haven for nature lovers. Jiuzhaigou, where film director Ang Lee filmed breathtaking landscape scenes for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and World Biosphere Reserve. There are fixed travel routes for eco-friendly buses to drive along, with private vehicles restricted from entering the park—extremely important, given that there are 2.5 million visitors each year. Discussion on how to successfully manage mass tourism is always a heated topic here.

Want more information on Jiuzhaigou? Send us a tweet @WildChina or ask Alex at alex.grieves@wildchina.com.

This Friday, February 5, will not be a regular work day for those of us at WildChina.

At the end of this week, we will be involved in our company annual off-site day. However, while in past years we have had company-wide meetings and events, we have changed our plan for this year.

Our new associates Derek, Cameron, Echo and Haiying have organized a day of service for WildChina at Bethel, “a not-for-profit organization that provides foster care, education and professional training for Chinese orphans who are blind or visually impaired.”

On Friday, we will be working at the foundation, located just outside of Beijing, to aid the orphans in constructing a greenhouse.

We are really looking forward to helping such a great organization that combines care and education for orphans with the ideas of sustainable community and environmental protection.

Stay tuned for a blog post on how our day of service went!