Writing Workshop Reflective Essay Yanling Guo

Gushing snow water was running down from the pure Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. This mountain is regarded as a god by the Naxi minority in Southern China. When I was standing on the ground, and looking up, there was a clear blue sky, surrounded by divine mountains and pure air. It made me feel like I was melting into the nature. But all of a sudden, I heard my cousin calling my name out loud and he was telling me that we should go to Blue Moon Lake; so I had to go and leave this place in my heart. Later we were in a bus travelling around the high mountains and talking about the places that we liked.
Time went by fast as we chitchatted about these things. After a few minutes, we arrived at our destination. As expected, there was a pure blue lake showing up in front of my eyes. I was shocked by this sudden beauty of nature. I never thought that I could ever capture such a wonderful view in my whole life. I could see that the lake was very deep and that the water was as clear as glass. The bottom was coated with a layer of white sand, and the surface was shining as if pure blue angels were dancing on the lake. There was one more special thing here that we wanted to see; it was the yaks. They are animals that only can live in high cold mountains. Luckily enough, we not only had a chance to see them, but we also got to sit on their backs and ride them. It was kind of a scary experience because they were big animals and they didn’t look friendly. When we got close to them, the owners helped us get on their backs. I kind of hugged my Yak to retain my balance. When I touched its fur, it felt so warm and comfortable. It made me feel like I should take quick nap on its back. But it didn’t want to remain still, and was always moving around a little bit. It seemed like they were complaining because I was too heavy for it.
Later it got darker and darker and it became colder and colder on the mountain. My cousin and I decided to take the cableway transport to the bottom and on to our next place - the old town of LiJiang. This was a peaceful lovely small town besides the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. Running snow water went through this small town and local people lived in old architectures type houses by the water. They were not as modern as we are in the city, but the people appeared happier compared to us. This is a great minority, still enjoying their own culture without outsider pollutions. Because of globalization, most of the diverse cultures in China are disappearing at a higher speed, but these people remained the same as they were years ago. I saw their unique written language, completely different than what we used in mainland China. Each of their characters were so lively that I couldn’t help to touching the strokes of characters. I felt like they had different interesting stories to tell me.
I heard the yo-heave-yo and the good smell from far away. Until now we didn’t realize that we were hungry, so we followed our noses and found out where the smells came from. We found that the locals made Yak meat into strings and barbequed them with their special sauce. The most attractive thing was that they used yaks as material. We bought a lot of it without any hesitation. When I had the first bite, it tasted crunchy but when the meat got inside to my mouth, it got softer and softer until it melted it into my body. This interesting mouthful of meat tasted more like the combinations of beef with chicken.
After finishing feeding our stomachs, we went to an ancient music performance, which was listed as one of the disappearing culture heritages of China. In order to get there, we needed to take a small boat to the small town where they performed. As soon as we arrived, I could feel that the environment was a contradictory mix of simple and magnificent splendor. There were three horizontal lines consisting of 20 performers on the stage. The elder performers sat on the front of the stage and played all kinds of different ancient instruments that I had never seen before. They were so focused that it made me feel like they were not just performing their music but also their life experiences. The second line on the stage was made of young handsome boys wearing their cultural clothes and beating their drums with all their emotions. In the back were six girls dancing around the stage. Their dance steps were so slight and elegant, each one of them touched my heart and made me so spiritual. I will never forget this wonderful performance for the rest of my life. They made me appreciate more those ancient diverse cultures that are part of the fabric of life in China. I left this wonderful place feeling that it was my responsibility to protect my culture and not let those valuables disappear from our sights.
As an outsider, I accidentally entered into this utopia, a divine land. In here, I can escape the pressure of study, avoid the fast-speed life in modern society and get to enjoy the diverse culture and peaceful scenery. LiJiang, this small town brings spiritual satisfactions to me and I was able to settle down myself and relax completely.