I've been twice in the last 20 months to this area because I found it so beautiful the first time (April 2004). But when I returned a few weeks ago (November 2005), I found so much development going on that I had the feeling one needs to travel quickly to this area before it loses all its natural charm. Very modern four and six-lane highways are being put up--wonderful in some regards, but isn't part of the romance of a place getting there? Modern, gleaming gas stations are springing up to support the road networks. China Mobile cell phone towers are everywhere, creating wonderful cell service but definitely not wanted in the scene view. The city of Dali seems to be in competition with the city of Lijiang; they're now building their own "old town completely with running spring". Zhongdian meanwhile is building its own new "old town" -- and all of these while featuring quaint cobbled streets and Naxi and Tibetan houses, sell the most dreadful tourist trinkets (plastic "Tibetan" beads, tin "silver jewelry", fake old coins, Tibetan "dreamcatchers", Naxi t-shirts, etc. etc.) We returned to a wonderful valley near Zhongdian to discover it had turned into a major construction site where they are building--yes! another new "old city" and a chairlift to haul hundreds of tourists daily up over the once pristine valleys and peaks. Pretty soon we'll probably have white water rafting camps along the rivers. Can't something be done to explain that these sites should be preserved, that they are a part of our natural heritage and heritage they already have (or had). You can't build heritage. What I discovered was the real culture being destroyed for a new Epcot style "cultural experience for tourists". Go quickly.