Dali Town () is a

township-level division The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times, due to China's large population and geographical area. The constitution of China provides for three levels of government. However in practice, there a ...

Dali City Dali City () is the county-level seat of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in northwestern Yunnan. Dali City is administered through 12 township-level districts, two of which are also commonly referred to as Dali. Xiaguan () formerly ...

, in the northwest of

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

province, China. The town contains the historic centre of the

county-level city A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

of Dali and is also commonly known as Dali Old Town (). The modern centre of Dali City, however, is 10 km south of the old town at Xiaguan. Being the county seat of Dali City, Xiaguan is often labelled as Dali on maps and is sometimes referred to as Dali New Town () to distinguish it from Dali Town. The old town has become well-known as a tourist site in part thanks to its picturesque location and historic Bai architecture.

History

Dali has long been a regional centre of commerce, being located at a crossroads of trade routes between Tibet, China, Burma, and Southeast Asia. The Bai people first settled the region 3000 years ago. Dali first emerged as the capital of the

Nanzhao Kingdom Nanzhao (, also spelled Nanchao, ) was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuries. It was centered on present-day Yunnan in China. History Origins Nanzha ...

in the 8th century. Later, the town served as the capital of the

Kingdom of Dali The Dali Kingdom, also known as the Dali State (; Bai: Dablit Guaif), was a state situated in modern Yunnan province, China from 937 until 1253. In 1253, it was conquered by the Mongols but members of its former ruling dynasty continued to a ...

until its conquest by the Yuan. The old town of Dali has been preserved in a 1.5 by 1.5 km wide townsite surrounded by its ancient walls. Due to its relatively well-preserved architecture, the town has developed as a major tourist attraction in recent decades. Major sites of interest include the Three Pagodas, Dali Museum, the ancient city gates, an artificial town built as the set for ''

Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils ''Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils'' is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It was first serialised concurrently from 3 September 1963 to 27 May 1966 in the newspapers ''Ming Pao'' in Hong Kong and ''Nanyang Siang Pau'' in Singapore. It has been ...

'', and the Cang Mountain Range to the west.

Geography

Dali Town is located in a depression at the southern end of the Yun Mountains, part of the greater Hengduan Mountains at the southeast edge of the

Tibetan Plateau The Tibetan Plateau (, also known as the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau or the Qing–Zang Plateau () or as the Himalayan Plateau in India, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South and East Asia covering most of the ...

. This depression, an extension of the

Red River Fault The Red River Fault or Song Hong Fault ( vi, Đới Đứt Gãy Sông Hồng) is a major fault in Yunnan, China and Vietnam which accommodates continental China's (Yangtze Plate) southward movement It is coupled with that of the Sagaing Fault in ...

, is filled by Erhai, a lake that is part of the

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...

basin. The old town of Dali is located on a plain between Erhai on the east and the Cang Mountains to the west.

Transportation

Dali is served by local public transit buses in

connecting with Xiaguan. The town also has some long-distance bus services that run to Kunming and

Lijiang Lijiang (), also known as Likiang, is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Yunnan Province, China. It has an area of and had a population of 1,253,878 at the 2020 census whom 288,787 lived in the built-up area (metro) made of Gucheng ...

. Highway 214 runs through the town, eventually connecting with

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of � ...

in the north and Xishuangbanna in the south. The nearest train station and airport are both in Xiaguan.

Tourism

Dali has been dramatically changed by tourism since the mid 2000s, when a number of bed-and-breakfast began to open to cater to domestic and foreign tourists. Subsequent to the discovery of pollution in Erhai lake and a visit from Chinese President and General Secretary of the Communist Party

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, ...

, inns within twenty meters of the lakeside were closed and in some cases demolished, in order to prevent sewage from leaking into the lake.

References

{{Yunnan topics Towns of Yunnan Township-level divisions of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture