Picture: Su Jinquan

    Jianchuan has continuous mountains and criss-cross canyons. In ancient times, caravans were mainly used for salt industry. They were carried on human backs first, and then developed into mules and horses for transportation. Due to traffic congestion, production was very backward. There were three caravans in the ancient town. They became horse pot heads only by "fighting gangs". Shaxi people began to embark on the road of commercial development in order to make a living. The life of driving horses is very difficult, but due to the pressure of life, they have to raise livestock to replace labor. Mules and horses have become the most important means of transportation in Shaxi area.

     Rice and broad beans are produced in Sideng and other street areas, and merchants from all over the country also gather in Sideng to transport tea by horses. Sideng Street in Shaxi can be connected to the surrounding salt wells, and the local people rely entirely on mules and horses to transport and sell salt. At that time, the Ancient Yunnan-Tibet Tea-Horse Road used Sideng Street as a transportation transfer station, bringing together tens of thousands of caravan teams, which brought prosperity to Shaxi's economy and culture. In order to defend the customs and increase local revenue, the local government began to set up checkpoints to strictly investigate illegal salt and increase salt taxes.

     In essence, Shaxi takes the salt road transportation and marketing line as an important post station, not tea production and tea processing as the core. Due to its important geographical location, Shaxi chooses the surrounding Qiaohou, Misha, and Laji salt wells. It is the salt industry, which benefits from transportation. It is not the "tea-horse road" called by modern academics, but a "transfer station" on the salt road transportation.

     Shaxi is connected to Tibet. Tibetans live on salt and tea. Their eating habits cannot be separated from buttered milk tea, but buttered tea must use salt and tea as ingredients, and a lot of tea, salt and cloth are sold to Tibet. Shaxi also connects Yongping, Dali, Baoshan and Fengqing. Merchants there brought their goods to Shaxi one by one. Sideng Street became an important market town on the ancient tea-horse road transportation and sales route.

     It is located in Shaxi in the northwest of Dali, facing Eryuan Shaoping Pass in the middle of Luoping Mountains in the east. The horse driver was very tired from the long journey from Shaxi to Misha, so he had to rest halfway. In the Ming Dynasty, the local control Duan Liang strengthened the defense pass, and set up Xishan Pass at the Maping Pass at the junction of Shaxi and Misha. From the north to the south, the Heijiang River flows through Eryuanqiao, and then merges with the Lancang River and flows into Southeast Asia and other countries. Tea merchants from Baoshan, Fengqing, and Dali areas traveled from south to north, crossing mountains and ridges to Shaxi to do business, and the Qiaohou salt well is close to Shaxi, so Dashuguan was set up in the direction leading to Shaxi and Qiaohou. It is called Nanka sentry pass. Jianchuan is the south gate leading to Shangri-La and even Tibet, and also the north gate in the direction of Dali and Eryuan. Jianchuan also set up a checkpoint on the discounted slope leading to Eryuan and Dali, called Dazhepo Post. It is close to Niu Street in Eryuan. In order to prevent salt merchants from evading tax through Shaxi from Diannan to Lanping, a section of the road from Shaxi to Diannan has also set up a dark sentry. This section runs from Diannan to Shaxi Dayakou, the village there is also called Mingjianshao, it can lead to Baoshan intersection to the south.

     In ancient times, the purpose of stationing soldiers to guard the customs was to increase local finances. A large number of officials began to strictly control the salt industry and rely on salt taxes for expenditure. Generally speaking, as an ancient economy, the development is completely dependent on the caravan. They opened up the path of the ancient transportation line, developed various cultures, and brought benefits to the local area. Our commercial development today is inseparable from the ageless national business foundation,

If business and travel channels had not been opened up in the past, and friendly exchanges with other countries had not been established, Shaxi’s business card would not have been brilliant, let alone a world cultural heritage, and the Shaxi nation would not have developed to this day.

     Commercial culture is the foundation of tourism culture. The commercial economy brings prosperity to the place. The former Shaxi horse-driving team left traces of life for future generations. resources for the benefit of future generations. Today's Shaxi is like a passion in a dream, giving tourists a wonderful enjoyment, which is worth cherishing by Shaxi people.

     Shaxi is the history of Shaxi, a monument of civilization with profound national heritage. This ancient town has regained its splendor from the past, the prosperity of the nation, and the people live and work in peace and contentment. It's like the green mountains are always there, the passion of the water, the feelings of someone's dream, will definitely accomplish a lot.

     To relive old dreams and find traces of ancient caravans, invite friends from far away to explore and pursue their dreams in Shaxi. The ancient town of Shaxi will make you linger and forget to return.