Nightlife and Entertainment in Diqing

The nightlife and entertainment in Diqing are always colorful. When night falls, many people get together and perform traditional folk dance like Guozhuang dance and Xianzi dance on the square. They hold hands, form a circle and follow the main dancers. The lively atmosphere may attract you to join their party. You can also visit a Tibetan family. In their houses, you can enjoy folk dance performances and taste roast mutton and yak beef. Besides, if you stay in Dukezong ancient town for overnight, you should take a walk in the evening.

Bars and Cafes in Diqing

When it comes to nightlife, bars and coffee shops are good places to relax at night. While in Shangri-la, nightlife is mainly in Dukezong ancient town and surrounding areas. Here below are some recommended bars and cafes in Diqing. 

Recommended Cafes

  • Flying Tiger Cafe(飞虎咖啡)
    Add: Pijiangpo, No.91, Jinlong Street, Jiantang Town, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市建塘镇金龙街91号皮匠破
    Tel: 15288371215
  • Compass
    Address: No.50, Middle Section of Ancient Town Commercial Street, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市古城商业街中段50号
    Tel: 13988717204/0887-8223638
  • Somewhere Else Cafe(他乡咖啡厅)
    Address: No.8, Dianlaka, Dukezong Ancient Town, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市独克宗古城甸腊卡8号
    Tel: 18213234679
  • Three Brother’s Cafe
    Address: Yi Ruo Mu Lang, Dukezong Ancient Town, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市独克宗古城依偌木廊
    Tel: 15894369466
  • Bodhi Cafe(菩提心院咖啡)
    Address: No.14, Yi Ruo Mu Lang, Dukezong Ancient Town, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市独克宗古城依偌木廊14号
    Tel: 0887-8226566
  • Namgyal New York Cafe
    Address: No.71, Beimen Street, Dukezong Ancient Town, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市独克宗古城北门街71号
    Tel: 18787685608
  • Kawa Small Town Cafe(卡瓦小镇咖啡馆)
    Address: No.59, Hexiang Middle Road, Deqin County, Diqing迪庆州德钦县河香中路59号
    Tel: 13988788943/13388870251

Recommended Bars

There are many bars in Diqing, although the development level is not as good as Lijiang, but they are still very romantic. Bars are mostly concentrated in the Guishan park, Moonlight square area and Pijiangpo(皮匠坡) in Shangri-la.

  • Crow Bar(乌鸦酒吧)
    Add: No.11, Chi Gu Lang, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市池古廊11号
    Tel: 18288848818
  • Guoshanyao Bar(过山瑶酒吧)
    Add: No.18, Donglang Road, Jinlong Street, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆香格里拉市金龙街东廊路18号
    Tel: 18308879375
  • Meili Time(时光梅里)
    Address: Feilaisi, Deqin County, Diqing迪庆州德钦县飞来寺
    Tel: 15284573647/0887-8414788/13551077287
  • Back to the Time(原点)
    Add: No.3, Longtan North Road, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市龙潭北路3号
    Tel: 13988771916
  • Jin Xian Zi Bar(金弦子酒吧)
    Address: No.40, Beimen Street, Shangri-la, Diqing迪庆州香格里拉市北门街40号
    Tel: 13988755830

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Performance in Diqing

Since there are a large number of Tibetan people in Diqing, every time when festivals and activities, you can appreciate some Tibetan folk dances like Guzhuang dance, Xianzi dance and Reba dance, performed by local people. In addition, there are also large-scale ethnic song and dance performance like Meet Shangri-la. Once famous Dreamy Shangri-la was replaced by today’s Meet Shangri-la. You can feel the charm of Tibetan culture through watching the performance. 

Meet Shangri-la(遇见.香格里拉)

“Meet Shangri-la” won the guinness world record as the world’s highest indoor musical drama, which is a must experience for Diqing tour. Meeting Shangri-la, a large-scale Tibetan song and dance show, is another stage masterpiece created and directed by Yang Liping, a famous dance artist, after the Dynamic Yunnan. The whole performance leads us to pass through the secret Tibetan territory with a grand narrative style and starts a heart-shaking pilgrimage tour. It is divided into five parts.

  • Drum: Tibetan “drum” musical instruments like tower drum, Dharma drum and Reba drum are integrated to present the vocal music symphony of numerous drums sounding loudly.
  • Tibetan Costume: Show grand and auspicious outfits festival scene of the Tibetan people.
  • Caravan: Bring back the old prosperity of the tea-horse ancient road. Tap dance and six strings music will be integrated into the lively scene of caravan carnival, and a graceful and moving love story will also take place on the tea-horse ancient road.
  • Highland Barley: Nearly 4 tons of highland barley are used on the stage to reproduce the happy scene of Tibetans’ harvest season.
  • Meet Meili Snow Mountain: Shows the pilgrimage road of Tibetan people. Believers worship devotedly, the pilgrimage road is their lifelong practice and a cultural journey to cleanse our souls.

The whole performance uses more than 10 giant prayer wheels, tens of thousands of yak butter lamps, flying colorful prayer flags and other stage props, in combination with high-tech stage visual effect and authentic Tibetan music, to show the world the beauty of Shangri-la, and its endless humanistic charm.

Join a Festival Party

Discovering traditional ethnic festivals and activities is an important part of Yunnan travel. As the main minority inhabited in Diqing, Tibetan and Lisu people created brilliant culture and customs, including the important festivals like Gedong festival, Dengba festival, Kuoshi festival and Horse Racing Festival, etc. 

Gedong Festival

The Gedong festival is a kind of religious activity specially organized by Tibetan Buddhism temples. The time of festival varies from monastery to monastery. Gedong festival of Gardan Songzanlin Monastery falls on December 26-29 in Tibetan calendar, lasting 3 days. During the period, there will be chanting, mask dancing and other activities. There are many kinds of masks, such as horse, deer, monkey, yak, dog, crow, pig, tiger and so on. Suona, drum and other instruments are played when dancing, and the whole festival atmosphere is very mysterious.

Dengba Festival

Dengba festival is the traditional Tibetan festival in Niru villageof Luoji township, Shangri-la, and is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month. On this day, men, women and children put on their festival costumes and go to fairy cave to offer sacrifices to mountain gods, and also hold horse racing, target practice, bullfighting, Guozhuang dance and other entertainment activities.

Kuoshi Festival

“Kuo Shi” is the transliteration of Lisu language, meaning the beginning of the year. Kuoshi festival is a festival of Lisu people. Kuoshi festival is the most important traditional festival of Lisu minority, which is equivalent to the New Year of Han. Previously, the time of the festival was decided by the observation of phenology, so the festival time varies from village to village, generally during the period from the 5th day of the 12th lunar month to the 10th day of the 1st lunar month in the next year. Nowadays, Kuoshi festival is mainly celebrated in late December.

Horse Racing Festival 

The horse racing festival is usually celebrated in June, between the harvesting and planting season when the people are not so busy. It is the liveliest traditional Tibetan festival in Shangri-La. In this period of year, the flowers in Shangri-La are all in bloom. The pastures are lush and the animals are strong and healthy. Tibetan people from thousands of villages come to the mountain to put up tents and prepare for picnics. They will hold a huge horse race as well. Ethnic song and dance performances and traditional fairs are also held at this time. All these activities add the lively atmosphere for the festival.

Visiting a Tibetan Family

Tibetan people in Shangri-la have their own unique lifestyle, religious belief and culture characteristic. Came to Shangri-la, you can visit a Tibetan family, where you can chat and drink with the local tibetans. tasting the buttered tea, drinking highland barley wine and watching a Tibetan song and dance performance will be a pretty good experience as well.

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