The Yangtze, as the Jinsha River, runs south through western Yunnan alongside the Mekong and the Salween, three great rivers flowing almost parallel in deep valleys. At Shigu, about fifty kilometres west of Lijiang, the Jinsha makes an abrupt turn - a hairpin of well over a hundred degrees - and heads north instead, cutting the famous gorges and eventually reaching the sea at Shanghai. Had the bend not happened, the river would have continued south to join the Red River system and China's geography would be entirely different. It is one of the great turning points of a river anywhere.
The site
The bend itself is broad and flat: the river spreads out at the turn into a wide, shallow reach with gravel islands, and from the low bluff above there is a long view up and down the valley. Shigu village sits at the bend, with the stone drum that gives it its name - a drum-shaped stone slab, carved with inscriptions that record a military crossing of the river in the sixteenth century. A monument and a viewing platform mark the outlook, and there is a small museum and a memorial hall in the village.
The valley around it
The land here is Naxi and Bai farming country, terraced with wheat, maize and tobacco, and the valleys west of Lijiang are considerably quieter than the old town. The road west from Shigu continues up the Jinsha towards the Tiger Leaping Gorge, so the bend makes a natural first stop on a drive through to the gorge and on to Shangri-La; the terrain between the two is among the most dramatic river country in Asia. The river at this point is fast and cold, fed by snowmelt from the Tibetan plateau.
Practical notes
Shigu is around an hour and a half from Lijiang by road, with no convenient public transport, so a car and driver or a booked tour is the practical option. The site is free to walk; the village museum charges a small fee. It is usually combined with the Tiger Leaping Gorge and the Stone Drum area for a full day, and with the tea-horse road villages if you are heading north. Spring and autumn are the best seasons; the summer monsoon brings cloud and rain that can obscure the valley, and the river runs high and brown after the rains.
