Dali, capital of the Bai

Dali is one of the most ancient cities of Yunnan. Placed to the shore of the lake Erhai one believes that it was inhabited by the Bai for 3.000 years. His splendor came to him when it was a capital of the called Kingdom Nanzhao, established there during the dynasty Tang and later of the Kingdom of Dali, his successor, who governed the region during the dynasty Song. From these remote times Dali it was the principal city of Yunnan, until in epoch relatively recent Kunming snatched the leading role. Dali has managed to preserve in his streets and houses an original flavor and a somewhat stately quietude made happy by the coloring of his settlers and his traditional festivities.

Dali has been, from the opening of China, one of the first tourist destinations for the individual travelers, who "discovered" an ancient city preserved almost completely, inhabited by the kind people in the middle of a paradisiac scenery and where the whole world seemed to give them the welcome. The local inhabitants have been able to make use of the pull of the reputation and in spite of the presence of numerous Chinese and foreign groups, Dali supports still this ambience little local atemporal in which, over the course of time, the travelers have stopped to recover forces in the middle of his hard trip.

The presence of the Bai is ubiquitous in this one his city. Not only the guides of tourism that you will see throughout decked with his traditional garments, most of the people who finds one for the street are Bai and if someone goes for a walk for the nearby villages, it will submerge completely in the world Bai. The Bai are one of the most ancient minorities of China, is thought that he is the progeny of the original inhabitants of this region of Yunnan. His long history is full of episodes that show a sweet and pacific character overturned to his beliefs and traditions and to the laborious cultivation of his fertile grounds. Still there survive numerous volumes of the ancient history of the Bai. As for his religion, in spite of having embraced the Buddhism during the dynasty Tang and having created some of the most important works of this religion in the south of China, they keep still very alive the traditions that arose in his traditional religion. The cult the ancestors and the forces of the nature reflects nowadays in numerous aspects of his existence.

The ancient City of Dali is a framework of slightly journeyed alleys, where treasures of the traditional architecture are still bai. Many of them with this almost sacred sensation of the ancient objects replete with meaning, which will turn out to be much more interesting than the ubiquitous modern constructions, where a style repeats meaninglessly bai that seem not to understand already. In fact this ancient city has been declared a Patrimony of the Humanity by the UNESCO.

Three Pagodas and the Temple Chongshengsi are the most charismatic Dali monument. Constructed in the IXth century, in the climax of the Kingdom Nanzhao, they have turned into the symbol of the city. The Temple is a typical Yunnan construction and although it has been destroyed several times, the reconstructions have supported his originality. Three Pagodas are not equal. The biggest has fifteen apartments and others two, only nine.

It is necessary to lose the beautiful typical constructions of stone of the Bai just neither to the south of the entry of the temple, nor the rural ambience of the villages that are in the surroundings dela city. In spite of very visited nearly one monument is so, the people rarely go further away. In this first village there is small temple to the Mother of King Dragón, whose figures narrate in detail as she remained a pregnant woman on having eaten a magic peach and like the child who gave birth dragon finished with turning into the king. There is usually some priest of this primitive religion and the faithful are never missing praying and presenting his gifts.

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