| Dali,
a historically and culturally famous city of China, is renowned
for her historical interest. During the Tang and Song Dynasties,
it was the capital of Nanzhao and Dali Kingdoms, the political,
economic and cultural centre of Yunnan, an important gateway of
cultural exchange and trading with southeastern Asian countries,
and an important pass of the ancient "Silk Route of the
South". It has long enjoyed the reputation of "a land of
letters".
Dali is
situated in the southwest of Yunnan and at the intersection of the
Yunnan-Burma Highway and Yunnan-Tibetan Highway. It is 400 km.
away from Kunming and one day's bus ride will bring you to Dali
via Chuxiong Prefecture. Dali municipality covers an area of 1,457
square km. and is inhabited by 400 thousand people, composed of
the Bai, Han, Hui, Yi, Lisu and other nationalities, among whom
the Bai nationality makes up 64% of the total.
Dali City
stands against Cangshan Mountain in the west and adjoins Erhai
Lake in the east, and is embraced by undulating hills around. The
elevation of the city proper is 1,974 metres. Dali is a highland
city in low latitudes and its climate is of subtropical highland
monsoon type. The weather is temperate, the annual mean
temperature being 15 C and rainfall 1,078 mm. The monsoon season
falls on June through October, and there is no marked seasonal
changes in a year. Abundant sunshine makes the weather warm, but
the wind is very strong, so Xiaguan of Dali is known as "A
City of Wind."
As "a
land of letters", Dali was the cradle of the Bai culture. In
the long history of the past, the ancestors of the Bais and the
Yis had created the brilliant Erhai Culture and left numerous
illuminating historical and cultural relics. Within the boundaries
of Dali, there are many ancient pagodas, steles, places of
historical interest and frescoes. The ancient Dali City is still
standing there elegantly and toweringly. The most outstanding
places of interest in Dali are: the ancient city proper of Dali,
the Three Pagodas on the ruins of Chongshengsi Monastery, Nanzhao
Stele, the Tablet Commemorating Kublai khan's Conquest of Yunnan,
the remains of Taihe City, the Tomb of Du Wenxiu, the scroll of
pictorial history of Nanzhao (Tang Dynasty), Pictures on Buddhist
themes Painted by Zhang Shengwan of Dali (Song Dynasty), and the
Frescoes in Xingjiaosi Temple of Shaxi (Ming Dynasty). All these
are the witnesses of the brilliant history of this ancient city.
Cangshan
Mountain and Erhai Lake are the best scenic spots in Dali, which
are reputed as the "Snow-covered Cangshan Mountains and
Jade-Green Erhai Lake". Cangshan Mountain stands erect like a
huge screen. Its snowcapped pinnacles and the streams in between
under fleecy clouds make a beautiful picture. The placid and
crystal clear Erhai Lake comprises the following famous scenic
spots: the Three Islets, the Four Sand Bars, the Five Miniature
Lakes and the Nine Curvatures. The magnificent Three Pagodas, the
Lofty Cangshan Mountain and the Colourful Butterfly Spring add
lustre to what is already beautiful. The Wind, Flowers, Snows and
the Moon make a perfect natural picture that renders this ancient
city even more attractive. So, people adorn it as "A Corner
of Mother Nature" and "Switzerland in the East."
The folk
ways of the minority nationality are richly colourful. The
architectural layout of "Sanfang Yizhaobi" (a courtyard
with rooms on three sides and a screen wall on the remaining side)
and "Sihe Wutiangjing" (one big courtyard with four
smaller ones at the corners of the main one) of the Bai
nationality is elegant yet unsophisticated. "Every household
has a water well and every family owns a number of potted
flowers" are the tradition and common practice of the Bais.
The attire of the Bai girls is brilliant and graceful, simple yet
harmonious. The national minorities in the Dali area have many
traditional festivals and gatherings, namely: the Benzhu Festival
(worshipping the guardian saint or the local god of a Bai
community), the Flower Festival, the March Fair, Raosanling
Festival, Torchlight Festival and Lake Tour Festival. Among them,
the March Fair is the most magnificent of all.
Dali today
is full of vitality and prosperity in both the urban and rural
areas. With the development in machinery, electricity, textile,
chemicals, papermaking, tea processing, marble products and so on,
it has now become an industrial base in the west of Yunnan
Province. The mainstay in the economy of the city is the
production of cigarettes, tea, marble articles, clothing, cement
and electric power. The Dali marble, Tuocha (white tea),
furniture, tie-dyed cloth, straw woven hats, and plywood are well
known both at home and abroad. In agriculture, Dali mainly
produces rice, wheat, broadbeans and maize. The species of rice
"Dianyue No. 1" turns out 1,014 kilograms per mu (1/15
of a hectare) creating the highest record in China. And one crop
of broad beans ranked the first in our country, yielding 514
kilograms per mu. In recent years, medicinal and perfuming crops
are popularized. In sum, both in the city and around the
countryside, Dali has become wealthy and prosperous, indeed a land
of "fish and rice" in the west of Yunnan.
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