Lijiang is located within the northwest part of Yunnan Province, in the southeastern part of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the northwestern part of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Lijiang got its name because of the beautiful Jinsha River. On the junction of the Tibetan Plateau and the Yungui Plateau, Lijiang has under its jurisdiction the Naxi Autonomous Prefecture, Yongsheng County, Huaping County and the Ninglang Yi Autonomous Prefecture.

   

Lijiang has a unique culture and a long history of over 800 years. It is called the Oriental Venice and Gusu of the Plateau. It is mainly inhabited by the Naxi Ethnic group. Lijiang has beautiful landscapes and has a year-around warm climate. Lijiang has the only pictographic writing still in use - the Dongba characters; the relics of the stone city, where people lived in stone caves; the Baisha Mural under the national protection and the Naxi Music which is called the living fossil with the flavor of the poems of the Tang and Song dynasties. Approved by the World Legacy Committee of the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization, Lijiang was put into the list of the world cultural legacy in 1997 (Only Pingyao of Shanxi Province and Lijiang of Yunnan Province are put into the world cultural legacy list due to their ancient style and features). The Committee called it "an exceptional ancient town set in a dramatic landscape which represents the harmonious fusion of different cultural traditions to produce an urban landscape of outstanding quality."

Endowed with plenty of hills, basins and valleys, Lijiang has a rich reserve of land, forest, minerals and tourist resources. Lijiang is the ideal destination for nature lovers and anyone interested in ancient people groups and their customs. The scenery in Lijiang is a wonder of the world. The Yulong Snow Mountain is the glacial of modern times in the southernmost of the Northern Hemisphere, enjoying the fame of the Glacial Museum and the Kingdom of Flora. the Old Man Peak, also called the Kingdom of Azalea, is the treasury of the botany genes of the mountain cross-section. There is also the Chibi Scenery, where one can see the sunrises and sunsets three times one day, and the camellia tree with ten thousand camellia flowers.

Lijiang Prefecture includes the heritage site of the Old Town of Lijiang as well as picturesque nearby surroundings. The most popular scenic spots and tourist attractions in Lijiang City are Jade Dragon Snow Mountain, the Black Dragon Pool, the Jade Peak Monastery and the Tiger Leaping Gorge. The tourist undertaking in Lijiang began to develop fast, and Lijiang has become one of the famous tourist spots in China.