The Shaxi Market Area, located in China’s Yunnan Province on the historic Tea and Horse Caravan Trail that links Tibet with Southeast Asia, is the most complete surviving example of a trading center along this route. The Shaxi Market contains an intact theater, guesthouses for merchants, a temple precinct, and is surrounded by protective gates. (...)
The Shaxi Market Area, located in China’s Yunnan Province on the historic Tea and Horse Caravan Trail that links Tibet with Southeast Asia, is the most complete surviving example of a trading center along this route. The Shaxi Market contains an intact theater, guesthouses for merchants, a temple precinct, and is surrounded by protective gates. The complex was founded by an early Tibetan Buddhist sect. Clues to its early social and cultural makeup are found in a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) mural of a female Buddha. This female representation of Buddha suggests a matriarchal society in Shaxi, along with a multiethnic population. Following the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, trade between Tibet and Yunnan ceased and the market area fell into decline. At present, the mountainous region is primarily inhabited by the Bai, a Sino-Tibetan ethnic group, which once dominated large parts of Yunnan Province. Since the 1960s the area has become increasingly poverty-stricken and the traditions of the Bai have steadily faded.
