5 Days in Liangshan

Lakeside walks around the roughly 31-square-kilometre Qionghai at 1,510 metres, the 1985 museum on Lushan documenting Liangshan Yi history and the 1956 reforms, and the Ming-era Datong gate at dusk.

1. liangshan qionghai lake
2. liangshan lushan
3. liangshan yi slavery society museum
4. liangshan xichang old town

Cable car toward the 4,359-metre glacial peak on the Puge side, boardwalks over ice-carved lakes, azaleas in May-June, and the clay pinnacles of the Huanglian earth forest on the return.

1. liangshan luoji mountain
2. liangshan huanglian earth forest

Reserve ahead for the centre about 60 kilometres northwest — founded in 1970, first mission 1984, Chang'e-1 lifted off 24 October 2007 — then Ming-Qing streets of Lizhou on the old southern trade route.

1. liangshan satellite launch center
2. liangshan lizhou ancient town

An honest long-transfer day — about 260 kilometres and five hours via Yanyuan County to the alpine lake at 2,690 metres, whose waters straddle Sichuan's Yanyuan and Yunnan's Ninglang counties; the Sichuan shore villages sit quieter than the Yunnan side.

1. liangshan lugu lake

The grass marsh on the Sichuan side and its long boardwalk over the reeds, a slow lakeside morning — the lake reaches depths of about 93 metres — then the five-hour drive back to Xichang for the evening train or flight.

1. liangshan lugu grass marsh