In the end of 1987, a large scale of colorful cliff paintings were founded in the four places named Xiaochanluo, Huajizu, Nikejian and Baiyunwan, which are located in Chengri Village in Shangri-la County of Yunnan province. This is the first time that the cliff paintings have been found in the northeastern Yunnan. For a long time, Shangri-la has been a place that many foreigners want to go when they come to study Mandarin in Yunnan. The cliff paintings make it more attractive. Besides, it provides precious material evidences to research the social history of Naxi people and the origin of Dongba Culture.
In total, there are six spots in Zhari Cliff Painting, spreading in the south and north directions of Zhari Village. Most of them are red colored and only one spot is characterized by the blue color. Some experts think it was drawn by red hematite powder. The paintings were drawn on the green rocks along Jinsha River, at the middle of mountain or at the top of the mountain. The straight line distance from the riverside to the top of mountain is about 2000 meters.
In accordance with the introduction of the foreign students who have visited there when they come to learn Chinese language in China, the main contents of the cliff painting are animals, including the recognizable patterns of sheep, goat, cattle, horse, deer, boar and tiger and so on. In addition, the heads of most animals are facing to the south and only a few of them facing to the north. The pictures are simple in lines but vivid in images. The largest one can be as long as 23 meters and 4 meters in height.
On the rock with the area of 3.4 square meters, 15 animals patterns were spread, some of which have only heads but the animals are connected and overlapped. The cliff paintings in Mushengmu are almost the same with those in Zhari no matter in contents or the drawing ways. The highest of the paintings are 5.4 meters while the lowest are only 30 centimeters. The largest cliff painting is the pattern of a head of cattle as long as 2.14 meters. On the contrary, the smallest one is a painting of a sheep with only two centimeters long. After a long time weathering and exposure to the air, most patterns of the cliff paintings become vague but those in some spots still preserved perfectly.