Located 4km (2 1/2 miles) southwest of Tengchong, this charming, well-preserved ancient town (¥20/$2.50 8am-6pm, free otherwise) whose name means "peace and harmony" is a must-visit. First established when the militia sent by the Ming dynasty Hongwu emperor to Yunnan in the early 1400s decided to stay on, Heshun today has over 1,300 households and over 6,000 people, with another 12,000 former residents living abroad (70% of whom are in neighboring Burma, while others are in Japan, Thailand, India, Canada, and the United States). One of Heshun's highlights is itslibrary, which boasts a collection of 70,000 books (but only 56K Internet access). Built in 1928, this quaint building, complete with creaky wooden floorboards and glass windows, is fronted by a Chinese-style double-eave gate with an inner stone gate with Western-style arches and columns. Next door is the formerConfucian Temple (Wen Miao),which is now part of the library. Many of Heshun's pathways are studded with volcanic cobblestones, with a smoother paved stone path down the center for the convenience of elderly and female villagers. The village's many traditional courtyard-style residences are also well maintained. Architectural highlights include theLiu Family Memorial Hall (Liushi Zongci)and theformer residence of Ai Siqi(Ai Siqi Guju;admission ¥10/$1.25), a Marxist philosopher whose writings are said to have influenced Mao Zedong.
Visitors wandering around may notice that each section(xiang)of the village, once home to residents with the same last name, has a curved terrace in front of its gate. This "moon terrace"(yuetai),which forces the river surrounding Heshun to curve around it, is meant to prevent wealth from flowing out of the village. In the past, each section used to have a main gate(lusum men)as well, the keys to which were kept by the eldest resident in that section. The idea was to prevent theft, but it also served to keep young married women at home when their husbands went abroad for business. Tourism has started to have an impact on the area as can be seen from the boating lake complete with water cannon boats and floating mines as targets. On the other side of the water is a far more interesting collection of water wheels and water hammers.