西双版纳的建筑

图、文/Nathan Pelton（苏平，美国） 译/张佳艺

景洪市最大寺庙的入口处的龙Dragons flanking the entrance to the largest temple in Jinghong

曼听御花园公园的白塔The white pagoda in the Manting Yuhuayuan Park

苦学中文的人难免有意无意地听说过西双版纳。对我来说，这是我的第一本中文会话课本中的一课，课文中有李先生游览中国景点的相关对话。西双版纳因其丰富多元的文化、近乎完美的天气和众多的少数民族，被誉为国内顶级旅游胜地之一。

我的第一次西双版纳之旅是在十多年前。在那次旅行中，我大部分时间都是与傣族和哈尼族人一起度过的。我拜访了一些村庄，品尝了一些美味，也开始理解西双版纳文化融合的魅力。

游览临近的东南亚国家时，我品味着那里的食物，体味着那里的习俗、建筑和文化。但旅行结束时，我迫不及待回到中国，这个被我视作第二故乡的地方。西双版纳则兼具中国与东南亚风情，中国文化和东南亚文化、食物与建筑在这里水乳交融。

2022年，我在西双版纳花了整整一天时间参观城市周围的各个寺庙和公园，拍摄建筑带来的影响力。朝拜场所满是有象征意义的设计细节，有巧夺天工的瓷砖和壁画，有外表镀金的柱子，有雕梁画栋的天花板装饰，有精雕细刻的屋顶线条。这些细节在彼此交融时太容易被忽视了，但拍摄这些场所和这里的动植物让我对西双版纳建筑中蕴含的丰富文化有了新的认识。

For those who have endeavored to learn Chinese, they will have inevitably heard of Xishuangbanna. For me, it was in one of the lessons found in my very first conversational Chinese textbook. It appeared in the conversation with Mr. Li about places to visit in China. It is considered one of the top domestic tourist destinations for its rich culture, near-perfect weather, and countless minority groups.

My first trip to Xishuangbanna was more than a decade ago, and on that trip, I spent most of my time with the Dai and Hani minority groups.I visited villages and tasted some of the most amazing foods. On that first trip, I started to understand the draw of Xishuangbanna’s blended cultures.

While visiting neighboring Southeast Asian countries, I appreciated their food, customs, architecture, and culture - but at the end of the trip, I was eager to return to China, the place I now consider home. Xishuangbanna is the best of both worlds as it offers Chinese culture with a unique blend of Southeast Asian cultures, food, and architecture.

Last year in Xishuangbanna, I spent one day just visiting different temples and parks around the city, photographing the architectural influences. Places of worship are packed full of symbolic details - detailed tile work, murals, gold-encrusted pillars, ceiling ornamentation, and carefully crafted roof lines. These details are too easily overlooked as they start to mix, but taking time to photograph these sites and the flora and fauna of the area gave me a new appreciation for the richness of cultural influences found in Xishuangbanna’s architecture.

一座桥的屋顶The roof of a bridge

具有明显东南亚风格的佛像建筑The architecture of Buddha is distinctly Southeast Asian

西双版纳总佛寺的一个古老的入口An ancient entrance into Xishuangbanna’s General Buddhist Temple

隐藏在曼听御花园热带森林中的众多寺庙之一One of the multiple temples hiding in the Manting Yuhuayuan Park’s tropical forest

寺庙内部悬挂着的彩带Ribbons hanging from a temple interior

精美的寺庙塑像Exquisite temple statues

受游客欢迎的热门景点——白塔The popular spot for tourists—The white pagoda