Experience Yi Ethnic Wedding Tradition in October in the Stone Forest

August 27 saw the launch of the Yi ethnic wedding tradition experiencing event in the Stone Forest Geopark, Kunming. The event is aimed to inherit, develop, innovate and promote the Yi ethnic culture of Shilin County where the Stone Forest is geographically located.
 
As part of the Karst Landscapes Travel Zone in Southeast Yunnan, Shilin County is striving to become a world-class travel destination with boutique Karst tour routes which broadly cover the Stone Forest (Shilin County, Kunming), the Jiuxiang Caves (Yiliang County, Kunming), the Origin of the Pearl River (Zhanyi County, Qujing), the Jiulong Waterfalls (Luoping County, Qujing), the Alu Ancient Cave (Luxi County, Honghe), the Huquan Eco Garden (Mi’le City, Honghe), the Hani Terrace Fields (Yuanyang County, Honghe), the Puzhehei Resort (Qiubei County, Wenshan), and the Maotianshan Mt Zoolite (Chengjiang County, Yuxi) etc. Among these sites of the zone, the Stone Forest is the quintessence of the Karst landscapes in the world and the Hometown of Ashima.  

Because of the dissolution of limestone by wind and rain which commenced in the Permian Period (about 270 million years ago) and is ongoing, the Stone Forest reflects the evolution of the earth and is regarded as the Bonsai of the God and the Sculpture Museum of the Nature.
 
Who is Ashima?
According to legend, the Stone Forest is the birthplace of Ashima, a beautiful girl from the Yi people who was forbidden to marry her true lover Ahei (a Yi boy) and in anguish turned into stone in the Forest that still bears her name today.