Dali is situated in a corner of northwestern Yunnan Province at the crossroads of Burma and Tibet. The ancient Chinese walled town is characterized by cobbled streets and old wooden houses pinched in a narrow band between Lake Erhai and the snow-capped Cangshan Mountains whose highest peak is over 13,500 feet. The region is considered one of the most beautiful places in China.
During the Tang and Song Dynasties Dali was the capital of the Nanzhao and Dali kingdoms, an important stopover on the Tea Horse Trail (Chinas South West Silk Route) and in turn the political and cultural hub of Yunnan. Supported by the Tang royal court in 738 A.D. the chieftain Piloge of Nanzhao unified 6 Zhaos and established the Nanzhao kingdom. It covered a large portion of Yunnan and Northern Burma, and lasted for almost 200 years. In 937 A.D. Duan Siping, the military satrap of Tonghai joined forces with 37 tribes from East Yunnan to conquer Dali and subsequently established the Dali Kingdom. It took a Mongol invasion of 1253 for Dali to finally be renamed Dailu and be reduced to a provincial town. Today’s ancient city of Dali dates back to the Ming period (1368 – 1644).
In 1956 the town was established as the economic and cultural centre of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture. Sixty five percent of the 1.6 million residents of Dali prefecture belong to the Bai ethnic group, who were attracted to the region by its temperate climate and fertile lands almost 4000 years ago. The Bai have developed their own customs and creation myth associated with Lake Erhai, however Buddhism remains a prevailing force for most ethnic groups in the region. A hybrid form of Buddhism has evolved from a marriage between local animist beliefs and alternative Buddhist perspectives blown in on the trading routes from India, Central China and Tibet. In fact nine out of twenty-two emperors of the Dali state became monks in the Chongsheng temple.
