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Since the Qing period, the town, itself a major producer of handicraft
articles, has been the distribution center for goods produced in
northwest Yunnan, hence the word "gong ben" in the Naxi language
which means "a place with many warehouses." Tibetans send their
woolen textiles and medicinal herbs here for shipment to other parts of
China, and tea and articles for daily use from Xishuang Banna, Fengqing
and Xiaguan of Yunnan are sold to Tibetan areas via the town.
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During
the Second World War, the Flying Tigers - a group of American pilots
voluntarily helping China in fighting the Japanese Aggression - built the
Basha Airport in the Lijiang area to implement what is known to
historians as the "Hump Operation." And along with the airport came
banks and companies, and consequently, the area became prosperous.
By taking advantage of its
geographic location, the town has
served as a center of economic and
cultural exchanges between people
of the Tibetan, Han, Bai and Naxi
ethnic groups and, moreover, as a
shining example of their solidarity.
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