Nirvana Moonlight City, the Living Code of the Ancient Tea Horse Road

On the stone slabs of the Ancient Tea Horse Road, the sound of horse hooves still lingers. Dukezong, a millennium-old fortress known in Tibetan as the "Moonlight City," is not just a specimen in textbooks. It has transformed from a beacon tower of the Tibetan cavalry during the Tang Dynasty into a living museum on the Yunnan-Tibet trade route, with the adventurous spirit of caravan traders still flowing through its bones. Under the golden glow of the prayer wheels, Tibetan-style carved houses and Han-style tiled roofs create a harmonious symphony—not a cultural patchwork, but a symbiotic wisdom forged through a thousand years of migration. Reborn from the fire in 2014, Nirvana has taught the ancient city to negotiate with time: butter lamps still dance at the fingertips of thangka painters, but the new wood grain is etched with more resilient growth rings. When dusk seeps into the white walls of Guishan Temple, you will find the starry sky here closer than legend. Moonlight is not a decoration but a light illuminating every night traveler on the stone path searching for the original code of "Shangri-La." Located at the junction of Yunnan, Sichuan, and Tibet provinces, the snowy secret land of Dukezong Ancient City sits in Jiantang Town, Shangri-La City, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province. At an altitude of 3,300 meters on a plateau basin, it is like a moonlight gem embedded on the Ancient Tea Horse Road. Geography and Transportation: · Location: The ancient city stands proudly in a basin surrounded by mountains, just a 10-minute drive from Shangri-La Airport, a strategic choke point on the Yunnan-Tibet route · External Transportation: ✈️ Air: Direct flights to Shangri-La Airport, then a taxi ride (about 20 yuan) to the city 🚌 Land: About 4 hours by car from Lijiang, passing through the Tiger Leaping Gorge and the Jinsha River natural barriers 🛣️ Self-drive: National Highway 214 runs through the area; prepare snow chains for high-altitude driving Tour Routes and Experiences: 1. Moonlight Square (ancient city core) → Explore the old workshops at Pijiangpo along the bluestone path 2. Climb 108 steps at Guishan Park → Spin the world’s largest gilded prayer wheel 3. Diqing Red Army Long March Museum → Experience intangible cultural heritage skills at the Thangka Painting Academy 4. Night stroll: Listen to string dance rhythms in Tibetan-style bars while gazing at the sky closest to heaven Practical Information: · 🎫 Tickets: The ancient city is free to enter (some special exhibitions charge separately) · 🕒 Opening Hours: Open year-round, with May to October, the rhododendron season on the plateau, as the best time to visit · 💡 Tips: Temperature difference between day and night can reach 15°C; bring windproof jackets and altitude sickness medication This millennium-old city reborn from Nirvana welcomes modern travelers’ pilgrimage and exploration with the inclusive spirit accumulated from the Ancient Tea Horse Road.