Dali City is the county-level seat of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, located in northwestern Yunnan, China. The area was formerly known as Jumie, and the old town was once the medieval capital of both the Bai kingdom Nanzhao and the Kingdom of Dali. The present old town was organized in the late 14th century and became significantly Muslim under the Yuan and Ming. The old town was severely damaged during a massive earthquake in 1925, but rail and air transport have permitted the area to become accessible to tourists in the 20th century.
Dali City is situated 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 and is also the capital of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture. The local economy centers around tourism and services catering to travelers, but historically, Dali was able to control some of the trade between India and China, famed for the woodworkers of Xizhou and for its high-quality marble. There is also local tea.
Sights in Dali include the 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. Local transport includes buses, taxis, bicycles, and boats on Erhai Lake, and Dali Airport services Kunming, Xishuangbanna, Chongqing, Chengdu, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Guiyuan.
Dali City 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 features some rainfall, and daytime temperatures rise to 24 °C. A great majority of the year’s rainfall occurs from June to October.
Posted by Manfred Sommer (348 Mio. Views) on 2014-06-29 18:01:32