📍 Location: Mordo Mountain Town, Danba County, Ganzi Prefecture, Sichuan Province, the core area of Zhonglu Tibetan Village, at an altitude of 1700-5000 meters. It was awarded the title of "Best Tourist Village" by the United Nations in October 2025, becoming the first in Ganzi and the second in Sichuan.
🏔️ What makes it so special: 22 ancient watchtowers over a thousand years old + traditional Jiarong Tibetan dwellings, on the World Heritage Tentative List. Constructed of schist and yellow mud, they have stood for millennia. In March, pear blossoms turn the Tibetan village into a "sea of fragrant snow." A living cultural museum: Guozhuang dance, Jiarong embroidery, coming-of-age ceremonies—you can dance, wear, and try them out!
🌸❄️🍂 Seasonal Activities:
· Spring (March): Pear Blossom Music Cycling Season: Free admission, cycling + music, live-action mini-drama "Coming-of-Age Ceremony Under the Pear Blossoms"
· Winter (December-January): Dairu Festival: Whitewashing walls, making dough figurines, pickling sauerkraut, burning incense, climbing watchtowers, bonfire and pot dance
· Autumn (October): Public Archaeology: Han'eyi Neolithic Site, open every Saturday afternoon
🎮 How to Enjoy:
🧵 Intangible Cultural Heritage Crafts: Embroidery, clay sculpting, watchtower climbing, pot dance, making butter tea and tsampa
🥾 Light Hiking: Sunrise from the viewing platform → Mid-mountain meadow, chance encounters with musk deer, macaques, and yew trees
🏡 Stay in Tibetan Villages: Yinxitang, Dejikangwa, Kesaxikang, old Tibetan houses + modern facilities
📚 Forest School: The first of its kind in Tibet, offering ecology lessons and a watchtower restoration experience.
🍖 Culinary Delights:
🐷 Danba Fragrant Pig Leg: A provincial-level intangible cultural heritage, the hind leg of a Tibetan fragrant pig is air-dried, fragrant whether hand-shredded or charcoal-grilled.
🐔 Jiarong Hot Mixed Chicken: Fragrant with hot oil, spicy and flavorful.
🍄 Matsutake and Yak Hot Pot: Matsutake season is in September and October, a bite that warms you to the core.
🥬 Sauerkraut Noodles/Buns: A famous saying in Danba goes, "If you don't eat sour food for three days, you'll walk unsteadily."
🔥 Fire-baked Flatbread: Baked in fire pit ash, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
🍵 Butter Tea + Tsampa + Highland Barley Wine + Zaza wine + Blood Sausage, finished with Danba apples and pears.
🧭 Tips:
🚗 Chengdu → Danba County → Jikai Village, explore the village in the afternoon, stay in a guesthouse and eat Tibetan food in the evening, hike to photograph the sunrise the next day.
📅 Spring and autumn are the best times to visit, and winter sunbathing is also worthwhile.
🎫 Some activities are free; book your room in advance during peak season.
🍽️ Tibetan food is plentiful and reasonably priced; order the braised pork leg in advance.
In Jikai Village, ancient watchtowers stand, pear blossoms burst forth, the Guozhuang dance begins, and braised pork legs are being torn apart. Stay there, slow down, and be completely captivated by this Tibetan village nestled in the clouds.