Shaxi is a small town with a long history, which can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period more than 2400 years ago. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, Nanzhao and Dali Kingdom rose in the southwest, which became a buffer zone between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo at that time, a link between the strong, and one of the main ways to communicate their economic and cultural exchanges. As an ancient town on the ancient road at that time, Shaxi played a positive role. Maybe God has a soft spot for Shaxi. After the Tang Dynasty, a salt well was discovered in Misha, located in the west of Shaxi, which was called Pangmi open caisson in ancient times. Shaxi is the tea-horse ancient road market closest to Yanjing, and the trade of the ancient town has also added a new content-salt. The exploitation of salt wells is like icing on the cake, which is helpful to the development of Shaxi. As the nearest tea-horse ancient road market to Yanjing, the ancient town has become the salt capital of the tea-horse ancient road and the distribution center of salt supply in Tibet and northwest Yunnan. As one of the necessities of people's life, salt has gradually become another important commodity in Shaxi after the tea-horse trade.
Sideng Sifang Street is the soul and core of Shaxi and the place where Shaxi trades. It is located in the first mountain of Xiefeng in the center of Shaxibazi, close to the mountain and beside the water. Excellent geographical location, is a treasure trove of geomantic omen. It is a thousand-year-old city with complete functions, temples, ancient stages, shops, horse shops, open red sandstone slate streets, century-old trees, Gu Xiang and Zhaizimen. There are three doors in the fourth-class ancient street-Dongzhaimen, Nanzhaimen and Beizhaimen, and the west side is near Wuzhaimen of Aofeng Mountain. Dongzhaimen leads to Dali, Nanzhaimen connects Yanjing in western Yunnan to the south and west of the ancient town, and Beizhaimen leads to Tibet. After Zhaimen, a narrow and deep ancient roadway came leisurely, and the dilapidated ancient pavements on both sides stood quietly on both sides of the roadway. At the end of the narrow lane is Sifang Street, a fourth-class trade center. Sifang street looks like a curved ruler. The main street is about 300 meters long from north to south and 100 meters wide from east to west, in which the north street is about 100 meters long from east to west and 50 meters wide from north to south. The whole street is paved with red sandstone slabs, and there are two ancient locust trees in the middle of the street. There is an east-west ancient stage in the east of Sifang Street and an east-west Xingjiao Temple in the west. The two echo each other from a distance, dividing Sifang Street into two parts, with shops and horse shops all over the street, and three Gu Xiang extending to all directions of the ancient town.
There used to be a market every three days in Fourth Street, which was very lively. Caravans from all over the world came to the ancient street and stayed in the afternoon in front of the street. The performances of ancient music, white overlord whip dance and folk songs on the stage began in the afternoon in front of the street. The ancient stage is the most distinctive building in Sideng Square Street. It is located in the center of the building complex east of Sifang Street, and forms a central axis with Xingjiao Temple, Simen Gate and other buildings in the west, which divides the ancient Sifang Street into two halves, thus providing a physical symbol for delineating various business scopes. There is a broken stone lion with a round hole in Xingjiao Temple west of Sifang Street. According to the old man in the ancient town, there used to be a big red wooden pole in the small hole with a huge weatherproof oil lamp on it, which was guarded by the villagers in Sideng in turn, one household a day. When the sun goes down, the residents on duty will refuel and light up, then turn off the lights the next morning and hand them over to the next household for duty. In other words, in the past, when the ancient tea-horse road was quite lively, the fourth-class square street was brightly lit at night, no matter whether it was windy or rainy. The fourth-class ancient town was not only lively during the day, but also lively at night.
Stroll through the red sandstone slabs in the ancient street, board the ancient stage, take a look at the pavements and horse shops in Sifang Street, take a walk at the Yujin Bridge on the Heiyu River, experience the temples where various schools of Buddhism are integrated in Xingjiao Temple, listen to the ancient music in Shaxi Cave, experience the charm of ancient music, take a look at the traditional overlord whip of the Bai people, dance a traditional little dance of the Bai people, and listen to Shaxi girls sing a Bai tune and taste.