Dali City is a county-level seat located in the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in northwestern Yunnan. The city is not a single city but a county-sized area for administrative purposes. The old town is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Yunnan, known for its natural scenery, historical and cultural heritage, and vibrant nightlife. The Dali area was formerly known as Jumie and was the medieval capital of both the Bai kingdom Nanzhao and the Kingdom of Dali. That city was destroyed and its records burnt during its conquest by China’s Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. The present old town was organized in the late 14th century under the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Rail and air transport have permitted the area (particularly Dali Old Town) to become accessible to tourists in the 20th century, making it one of China’s official tourist cities, along with nearby Lijiang.
The geography of Dali is northwest of the provincial capital, Kunming, about 40 minutes by air or 7 hours by train. It is located on a fertile plateau between the Cangshan Range to the west and Erhai lake to the east. It has traditionally been settled by the Bai and Yi minorities. It is also the capital of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture.
Dali is one of Yunnan’s most popular tourist destinations. Sights include Dali museum, Chong Sheng Temple, Guanyin Palace of Copper Rain, Jianji Great Bell of Nanzhao, Three Pagodas, Butterfly Spring, Demi-Gods, and Semi-Devils film city, Xizhou, Shaxi, and Shuang lang. Much of the local economy now centers around tourism and services catering to travelers.
There are various transportation options in Dali such as local transport that includes buses, taxis, bicycles, and boats on Erhai Lake. Dali Airport is a domestic airport about 13km east of Xiaguan on Weishan or Airport Rd., and it services Kunming, Xishuangbanna, Chongqing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Guiyuan.
Dali (i.e., Xiaguan) is connected to Kunming and points east by the Hangrui Expressway. The Dali Expressway is a spur connecting it with Lijiang. The road to the old town is China National Highway 214. Long-distance buses run from the old town’s west gate to Kunming, Lijiang, and Shangri-La. Dali (i.e., Xiaguan) has rail connections with daily service to Kunming via Guangtong-Dali Railway and Lijiang via the Dali-Lijiang Railway.
Dali has a mild subtropical highland climate with short, mild, dry winters and warm, rainy summers. Frost may occur in winter, but the days still generally warm up to 15 °C or more. During summer, a majority of the days feature some rainfall, and daytime temperatures rise to 24 °C. A great majority of the year’s rainfall occurs from June to October. December 2013 was particularly marked for its high snowfall.
Posted by Manfred Sommer (348 Mio. Views) on 2014-06-29 18:01:53