ABSTRACT

Lashihai is a shallow alpine lake and wetland approximately eight kilometers southwest of Lijiang City, the famous tourist destination in Yunnan Province. In China's pre-reform era this seasonal lake and its surrounding wetland expanded in summer and autumn during the rainy season, and contracted in winter and spring. This chapter discusses how China's current modernization projects have jump-started tourist development in Lijiang and how this affects the use of Lashihai Lake and Wetland. Close examination of contemporary China's rapid globalization, as seen in Lijiang's explosive tourism development, reveals the multiple effects on the natural rhythms of lives surrounding Lashihai, affecting plants, animals and humans at a historically unprecedented pace. The chapter also analyzes a local NGO that has been involved in conservation efforts to protect the lake and wetland. The globalization reach has, however, also brought about a gleam of hope in stemming the environmental degradation tides.