Dali, then Lijiang, or the other way around. It's a beautiful little Yunnan itinerary, showing more and more, and inevitably more tourists how beautifully sky, stone, and water came together in old China. You can get pretty good pizza now in Dali, a good thing considering all the young people with the munchies there. And not one but two restaurants on the perimeter of Lijiang have sushi. Both cities should have amusement parks and Mickey Mouse costumes running around by 2012.

Sixty kilometers south of Dali lies another ancient city, one smaller and as of yet not so well-known as its neighbors. Its name, Weishan, comes from weibao, treasure, and indeed it is precious as a remnant of classical Chinese life even more authentic than either Dali or Lijiang's.

Weishan and its environs have been important since the Tang period for proximity to nearby Longqingguan pass, a key point on the ancient Tea Horse Road. Inclement weather or political turmoil would leave merchants "stranded" in a land more beautiful than any other they saw on their journeys across the Orient.

By the fourteenth century, Weishan was one of the most important centers for tea trade on the legendary road, so that the city proper was built under the auspices of the Ming Dynasty's founding Hongwu emperor. He had the city laid out like a chessboard, from the game of weiqi he loved so well. Cutting the city north-south and east-west, the lanes are an extant tribute to the same love of fengshui behind grid-like Beijing.

From a bird's eye view, however, Weishan is said to resemble an old imperial seal. Of old, four towers guarded the cardinal corners of the city. War and neglect have done for all but the western tower, the Gongchen Gate Tower. But even taller stands the Xinggong Tower at the city center, representing the handle of the seal and thus lending the metaphor credence.

But imperial grandeur and bird's eye views are the last thing on visitors' minds. Weishan first and foremost lends the quaint closeness of a fortified city built in an Edenic clime. Most of the city's lesser buildings of old remain, built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Classic curved tiled roofs and antique wooden facades still grace the original structures of Weishan's ancient lanes. The doors and window frames are kept painted a fresh red, with the many stores' placards rendered in the traditional black and gold.

That's right, the many stores. Just because it hasn't yet the fame of a Dali or Lijiang doesn't mean Weishan has no economic ambitions, or that its people aren't working on turning it into an international tourist stop. So Weishan keeps hundreds of little stores, a turnoff for all but the silent majority who want to come back from a trip with cute tchotchkes rather than rare bug bites. But the storekeepers of Weishan share one delightful trait not to be found elsewhere in China: a philosophy of ignoring the customer unless she specifically asks to be helped.

The middle of the city is the locus for ancient culture. In the shadow of the central tower, two short roads running north-south and east-west have become traditional snack streets. Village women from the nearby mountains still hawk their home-grown vegetables and wild herbs there, though. Public notices and village news are posted by the tower, making it a nexus for locals to gather and discuss the goings on in their ancient community.

But culture extends from street show into daily life here. Doors are still seldom locked, or even fully closed in Weishan, and a peek through the portals usually reveals courtyards with old orchid trees, bamboo and stone arrangements, and family shrines with burning incense. The Confucian and Guanyu temples, Wenhua Academy, and Sun Palace offer more examples of classic Chinese tradition preserved in the land south of the clouds.

Plenty of life balances out the architectural heritage. Menghua Park is a restful spot during the day, but springs to life at night with the dancing of minorities such as the Yi, who were the administrators of the city back when it was Yunnan's center for aboriginal government. Forest primeval rings the city and climbs Weibao mountain, where the hardy can hike up to Longqingguan pass and watch for the many rare migratory birds that fly through. And if the craving for pizza hits too hard, rest assured but hopefully sobered by the fact that it will be available in Weishan all too soon.