Why go
Heshun owes its character to emigration. From the late Qing, local men walked the caravan roads to Burma and beyond, and the remittances built solid stone mansions in a style that mixes Bai, Han and a hint of foreign ornament. The lanes are paved in local volcanic stone and run beside a clear stream.
The heart of the town is the library, an elegant two-storey building where villagers still come to read. Around it stand the ancestral halls and the old market square. Heshun feels inhabited — schoolchildren, farmers and old men playing chess outnumber the visitors.
- Heshun Library, a working community library founded in 1924
- The washing pavilions over the river, built for women doing laundry
- Blue jacaranda blossom along the lanes in April–May
- The old caravan courtyards of the Wanzilou mansion complex
Where to go
Walk up from the entrance along the stream, past the washing pavilions, to the library. Then loop through the market square, the Heshun Philosophy and Culture Hall, and the Wanzilou merchant house. The fields on the far side of the river give the classic view back over the tiled roofs.
Around Tengchong
Heshun is the base for Tengchong's volcanic landscape: the Dead Volcano Park, the Rehai hot-spring valley with its boiling pools, and the Jade Market in town. The jacaranda blooms in late April turn the lanes blue-violet, which is the town's most photographed season.
Getting there
- Taxi or bus from Tengchong airport or town, ~15 min
- Founding
- Ming dynasty (1400s)
- Library
- Founded 1924
- Stone
- Volcanic basalt
