So, if you're not a big fan of frostbite, and your boss is amenable, it's time to think about heading south to celebrate the end of the year in more temperate climes.

In recent years the Chinese have gone a little Christmas-crazy. While they may not be aware that they're technically rejoicing in the birthday of Jesus Christ (an ignorance shared by many westerners), China is a nation with a keen ability to assimilate the best aspects of other cultures and adopt them to their own tastes. At the very least, any excuse to let off a few firecrackers is not to be sniffed at. The relatively recent Christmas holiday frenzy has not restricted itself to big cities either; Santas are popping up like mushrooms in shopping malls and town centres all over the country, with Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer usually upgraded to a gaggle of attractive young Chinese females handing out goodies from a bulging sack.

Notwithstanding the good-natured Chinese willingness to embrace Christmas as their own, for westerners in China at least (especially the seasonally homesick), it's always nice to be in the company of at least a few people who understand what all the fuss is really about. As premier destinations on the Chinese tourist circuit, Yunnan¡¯s Lijiang and Guangxi¡¯s Yangshuo are two great places for Beijing residents to visit over Christmas, to enjoy the company of like-minded Yuletide revellers, flee the harsher weather of the north, and see the numerous sights minus the usual crowds of the Chinese holiday period.

Lijiang's southerly latitude makes for warm winters, despite the city's high elevation (2,400 metres). December to February is a dry season, and nearly every day sees strong, warm sunshine. Daily temperatures may scale the dizzy heights of 15 degrees Celsius, and although the peaks of nearby mountains have a coating of snow, the city itself rarely sees more than a couple of big falls a year. Travellers unaccustomed to altitude should plan a relaxing day after arrival to become acclimatized before heading off to higher elevations or engaging in more strenuous exercise.

Despite its increasing popularity, first-time visitors to Lijiang will welcome it as a break from the unfortunate over-commercialization of many of China's other tourist hotspots. Since a serious earthquake in 1996, which flattened much of the city, millions of renminbi have been invested in rebuilding and restoring the area using traditional local architecture. Lijiang Old Town, which is where most visitors rightly choose to install themselves, and which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999, is an alpine, slightly kitschy maze of narrow cobbled streets, timber-frame buildings, stone bridges and burbling waterways. The use of neon has mercifully been limited, and there isn't a Starbucks in sight (touch wood).

The people of the Naxi ethnic minority make Lijiang colourful and culturally appealing. They are descended from ethnically Tibetan Qiang tribes and lived, until recently, in matrilineal families. Naxi matriarchs still hold sway over the men with flexible living and working arrangements that are the very antithesis of machismo. Women are clearly in charge in Naxi society.

In the Old Town, Naxi women are conspicuous for their hard labour, loading and unloading goods, and minding the diverse range of shops and restaurants offering everything from dried yak meat and barbecued chicken legs to souvenir T-shirts and hiking gear. There's an old Lijiang saying that having a Naxi wife is better than owning ten horses. Western men of a slothful persuasion (even those not involved in the equine business) may be sorely tempted by the life of leisure that Naxi men appear to enjoy.

Naxi women wear blue blouses and trousers overlaid by a blue or black apron. The T-shaped traditional goatskin cape worn over the shoulders not only prevents basket chafing, but also symbolizes the heavens. Sun and moon are represented by the light and dark halves of the cape, with seven embroidered circles signifying the stars. Together, these solar bodies denote the brave and hard working nature of Naxi woman, who only gets one day off a year, on New Year's Eve.

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