Dali Ancient City

The Ancient City of Dali is also called Yucheng City for the sake of convenience. It is located at the foot of beautiful Cangshan Mountain. The Ancient City of Dali faces Erhai Lake to the east and Cangshan Mountain to the west. The gate tower of the City is grand and the sights here are beautiful. Dali City has a great scale. It has a perimeter of 6 kilometers. Its former circumvallation is 7.5 meters high and 6 meters thick. There were four city gates in the east, west, south and north. Above the gates were the gate towers. The main street of the City goes straight from the south to north. On both sides of the street are buildings made from green tiles. Houses, stores and workshops connect with each other, and have a style of primitive simplicity. It is worth mentioning that typical houses for Bai people have three rooms and a shining wall. That is to say, every family has a major room and two wing-rooms. Right opposite the major room stands a wall. Every time when the sun is setting, the sunlight shines onto the wall and then reflects into the yard, so the whole yard is bright. So the wall is called "shining wall". This is seen even more often in Xiaguan, the City of Wind. In order to avoid the gales from the west, the major rooms of most families sit in the west and face the east. Another characteristic of the houses there is that in all the four directions of a yard are rooms. In the four joints there are four small dooryards. Together with the bigger dooryard in the center of the yard, there are five dooryards altogether. Decoration is another feature of houses of Bai people. They pay much attention to the gate and the tower. Flying eaves, up-holding corners, arches and colorful pictures are all characteristics of their houses. Most of their windows, doors and shining walls are decorated with woodcarving of Jianchuan, marble, colored drawings or patterns, and washes. The technique is delicate, and the style is elegant. These features make the houses of Bai people one of the most interesting the houses in southwest China. Local people in Dali love flowers. There is a saying going like this: "there is a well in every three families, and several pots of flowers in every family." Most families have a flower bed in the yard where grow they all kinds of flowers. February 14 in the lunar calendar is the Flower Festival. Family put all their potted plants in front of the house to make a "flower hill". This attracts many visitors. Local people name their girls after the names of flowers. "Golden Flower" is a good name for local Bai girls, and Dali is also called the "Hometown to Golden Flowers". The Ancient City of Dali is simple, unsophisticated and quiet. The streams running in the city give people a fresh feeling. The gardens and teahouses hidden in the depth of streets and lanes are the best choice for visitors to have a rest. The newly built Foreigners' Street is a place for the foreign visitors to gather together. The featured snacks of Bai people and famous Three Cups of Tea is sure to bring you a different feeling. On both sides of streets there are many shops and booths selling things made from marble. Marble is also called Dali Stone in Chinese because it is produced in Dali. There is marble on all the nineteen peaks of Cangshan Mountain. The marble has exquisite texture and unique veins. It is colorful and glitters translucently. The development and utilization of marble began in the Kingdom of Nanzhao in the Tang Dynasty. They include the basso-relievo and hurdles of the foundation of the Monument for the People's Heroes in Beijing, the seated Statue of Chairman Mao in the Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao, and the Statue of Nie Er in the Nie Er Tomb on the Western Mountain of Kunming.

Cangshan Mountain

Cangshan Mountain, also called Dian Cang Mountain or Holy Golden Eagle Mountain, is located to the northwest of the city proper of Dali. It is the major peak of the southern end of Yunlin Mountain. Cangshan Mountain is standing by Erhai Lake in the east, and watching Black Hui River in the west. There are 19 grand peaks on Cangshan Mountain, most of which have an altitude of more than 3,500 meters. The peaks stretch like a barrier from the south to the north. The major peak, Malong Peak, has an altitude of 4,122 meters. It is covered with snow all the year round; so there is a saying going like this: the snow will not melt even in mid-summer. The most wonderful thing is that there is a brook between every two peaks. The brooks run down from the peaks and then east into Erhai Lake. The 19 peaks and 18 brooks make a unique and colourful view of Cangshan Mountain. Many sights with featured culture of Bai people are at the foot of Cangshan Mountain. They include the well-known Three Towers of Chongsheng Temple, Buddhist Picture Tower, Inaction Temple, Taoxi Zhonghe Temple, Nine Dragon Virgin Pool, three pools of Clear Green Temple and Enlightenment Temple. Among the famous four wonders of Dali, (the Wind, the Flower, the Snow and the Moon) the Snow refers to the snow sight on Cangshan Mountain.