A retired professor of architecture at the Kunming University of Science and Technology, Zhu Liangwen is one of the people we have to thank for the preservation of villages such as Azheke and Lijiang in the Yunnan province of China. The Chinese government has even listed over 4,000 settlements as National Traditional Villages since the year 2012, but Professor Zhu has dedicated himself to the preservation of the tradition Hani/Ho ethnic mushroom-shaped houses. Planning to show the local residents how they could modernise and innovate without demolishing and changing the shape of their traditional houses, Zhu got a piece of land from the county head and invested his own money into it to set an example, which the locals followed suit.

The Hani people, native to the southwest Yunnan province, around the Honghe River, build magnificent rice terraces for farming which stretch miles around the valley, shrouded in fog and mist. There, you can find how the locals are engaged in their traditional work and kids running around, in a mix of modern and traditional life. A short 5km hike from Duoyishu, there are many tours that are arranged from Kunming to go to the Azheke village.