Dulong River Valley in Yunnan is a faraway and mysterious river valley that the students who are learning Mandarin Chinese should know. It is located at Gongshan County in Nujiang prefecture of the northwestern Yunnan. In the river valley area, the most altitude reaches as high as 4,963 meters while the lowest can be 1,000 meters.

Every year in November, the Dulong river valley almost loses all contact with the outside. The reason is that the snow is as thick as more than ten meters so that it blocks all things outside the snow. Some students who learn Mandarin in China may be told that only when in August of the next year can the snow melt and becomes the busiest season of the valley.

The source of Dulong River is Chayu in Tibet. It lasts for 150 kilometers from the north to the south of Yunnan. The average width of the river is about 40 meters. Those who study in China must have heard about that the people on both sides of the river can hear each other talking but they need walk three days to see each other.

The water in the river flows rapidly. Therefore, it is impossible to go to the other side by taking boat. But people may walk more than ten days to some faraway places. So, people there contact between two sides by “flying” over the river. Foreigners who study Chinese in Yunnan should know that the first tool for flying over the river is the suspension bridge. Even though they carry many staffs with them, they can across the river by the bridge easily.

Another kind of flying way that the students who learn Mandarin in Kunming may have heard about is the patent protector. In fact, both of them are all dangerous. But Dulong people are all skillful when crossing them because they have strong power to live in this hard condition.

About the Dulong people, another thing attracts foreigners who learn Chinese in China may be the local women with the face tattooed. There are two types, one is to tattoo pattern on the whole face named “man wen”. Another is on two sides of the face, named “ban wen”. The custom is mysterious but today those female are rare.

Therefore, Dulong River Valley is a mysterious place with extreme climate, dangerous environment and unique customs. People should go there to experience themselves.