Xizhou, Shaxi and Shibao shan in Dali area

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On the first day, we drove around 4 hours to Dali from Lijiang.As we arrived Dali,it was almost dusk. We had dinner and found a hotel for one night. Dali is 188 kms far away from Lijiang. It is a city in Yunnan province in the south of China, located on a fertile plateau between the Cangshan Mountains in the west and Erhai Lake in the east. It has traditionally been inhabited by the Bai and the Yi ethnic minority. Dali is also famous for the various types of marble it produces, which are mainly used in construction, for decoration and for decorative objects. In fact, Dali is so famous for the stone that the name of the marble is literally “Dali stone” in Chinese. From 8th to the 13th century, the Nanzhao kingdom and later the Dali kingdom established in the area and lasted for nearly 600 years, roughly corresponding the period of the Tang and Song dynasties. The establishment and consolidation of the Nanzhao and Dali kingdom put an end to the separatist regimes in the border areas in Yunnan Province in ancient. Rulers of both Nanzhao and Dali kingdom tried to combine the Chinese civilization in the Central Plains with the culture of the minority groups. the culture of neighboring states wew asimilated over the time and formed a regional culture with a unique charm. Nanzhao was the political, economical and cultural center for 500 years during the Tang and Song Dynasties. Nowadays, there are many relics and places of historical interest in the area around Dali.
After dinner, I walked to the Old Town alone. Dali is now a major tourist destination, along with Lijiang and Shangri-la. Because the Chinese enjoy their National Holiday now for one week. it’s crowded everywhere.The Old Town is famous for historic sites and the “Foreigners Street” that features western-style food, music, and English-speaking business owners, making it popular among both western and Chinese tourists. There are also multiple “coffee shops”, such as those in a wonderful places, where a lot of foreigners enjoy smoking and drinking in the hills surrounding the town. Because of this has caused some tourists to have an extend there stay in this beautiful Old Town. Lots of peddlers and retailers sell souvenirs both side of the street，like postcards, bracelets, handicrafts and so-on. Next to the shops full of small stands selling all kinds of things. A whole square full of these, mostly offering marble ware, is just inside the south gate. Souvenir shops and cheap, tie-dyed clothing outlets make up a large percentage of these all the way to Huguolu, in the centre of Dali. After this walk, I went back to hotel and had a good night.

The second day, we drove to shaxi at 10 am, and we stopped to visit xizhou on the way. Xizhou is a historic city, is a typical commercial place for Bai minority. the saying goes that if you want to know Dali and Bai ethnic, you have to know Xizhou first. As we enter the Xizhou, we saw two big trees. The Bai people think that the big green trees are located a good spot. It’s called Banyan Tree. So it is symbol of the village located a good location, so called it “feng shui”tree. It is an important town for Bai people. There are some of most complete, best-preserved examples for local-style dwelling houses.There are two different structures of the building which are very typical for Bai architecture. the first is a courtyard enclosed by there houses and one wall. The second is a courtyard on each corner (one corner is used as the main entrance).In terms of building structure, it’s similar with to the Naxi’s style. But regarding the appearance, they have their own decoration style. They combine handmade sculptures and paintings and building together, which fully embodies the Bai minority’s architecture talent and artistic creativity. Even though it was daytime now, but we also felt a piece of quiet from this village.



After we visited Xizhou, we drove directly to Shaxi . We got a good viewing from the car. Dali is packed with a beautiful, ever-changing display of wetlands, huge checkerboards of yellow-flowered crops, lakes, mountains, rivers, and farms. The scenery is literally molded around village setting so much, that we can not deny the harmony of their existing. We can not help stopping to take photos.

Three hours later, we arrived in Shaxi. Shaxi once played an important role as market place on the Tea-Horse Road, an important branch of the Silk Road. We put our luggage to the hotel. Then went outside for lunch. Shaxi is also a historic town in Dali area and lies between Dali and Lijiang .The town used to be a center Buddhist cultural activity during the period of Nanzhao and the Dali kingdom period. It was very important at that time. It’s a best choice to enjoy the countryside life; we saw different scenic spot and felt the different culture when we walked this town. No matter who stayed in such a peaceful old town like this, you always feel time passed quickly. After dinner, we walked out of town. There is a river flowing all the year long and through the town. It is called Heishui River. This is a branch of the Langcang River(Mekong River). when you walk along the street (it called Sideng street), there is a big square where local people dance and sing when they celebrate festivals. There is a famous temple – called xinjiao Temple in here. It contains Buddhist mural from Ming dynasty.

Xingjiao temple was a masterpiece of southwest China's minority architectural art.Xingjiao Temple can be regarded as the center of Shaxi Old Town and its buildings have long history. Here, the traditional “Tea-Horse Ancient Road” was kept intactly. The Xingjiao Temple have been renovated many times. there are a lot of murals about buddhist person, Buddhism Religion. They is painted by the painting master Bao Zhang who lived in Shaxi during the fifteen years of Yongle period(AD1417). Today, there are only a little more than 20 pieces of these murals left. The Tantric Buddhism was introduced to the Dali Bai minority autonomous region during the period of the Nanzhao kingdom.It was combined with the indigenous culture, and then formed its own characteristics, the temple is called “A Zha Li” Temple. Because “A Zha Li” is the transliteration of the Sanskrit name Acarya. The main building of Xingjiao temple actually still contains some components of material from the Ming dynasty,which were so well preserved, that they lasted until today.



There is a stage opposite the Xingjiao Temple. The ancient stage has presents the most distinctive architecture in Sideng Street.The ancient stage's main body structure is the Kuixing pavilion, the stage is on the second floor of the building, the third floor used by the local Bai people to worship. For every festival, the people of the whole town gathere in the square, singing and dancing on the stage,and go to xingjiao temple for worship. It’s said that there is a rule in Shaxi area, saying that if youhave never played on the stage, you can not be called a Shaxi person. Thus we can see how important the stage is in people’s mind. And why they are proud of standing to the stage to play.

It was getting dark, because there is no a lot of street ligts, so we went back to rest early.

Shaxi is becoming a popular tourist destination for outdoor. There is a huge choice of hiking trails in this area. When you are trekking in this area, you will get a nice view and learn a lot knowledge from them.

The next day, we went to Shibao Mountain which it is close by Shaxi. The altitude is 3038 meters. There are lots of hiking trails on Shibao Mountail and we took one of these trekking paths. Shibao Mountain is home to well preserved grottos that are morn than 1.300 years old. There are lots of temples in Shibao Shan. We have not enough time to visit all of them, so we just visited two of representative place, Baoxiang Temple and Shizhong Shan. Baoxiang Temple was built in Yuan Danasty and formerly known as “Zhuyan Temple”. It is famous for its risky position in the middle of cliff. The original name is similar with the “Zhusheng”Temple of Chicken Foot of mountain. After it was destroyed, then it reconstruction in Qing Dynasty (1600).it also got another name is “Hanging Monastery”.Nowadays, a group of lovely monkey came here; they also became a kind of scenery. Then we went to Shibao Mountain, it is 7km far away from the entrance of Shibao Mountain. There are lots of picturesque peaks and rocks, one cliff painting, grottoes pictures carved in the stone walls. It has very high historical and artistic value. It’s the largest grottos in Yunnan Province, and is also the oldest one. They spent more than 300 years building it during Tang Dynasty. It is a huge work. Some grottos reflect the history of Nanzhao kingdom generation, and also religious culture.We walk to the top but we stopped on the way to take pictures. We passed through a place where the geology is very unique and we can see a kind of red stone. We called it “Danxia” landform, also called Karst landform. After years of weathering, the Red stone formed many crags, unique shape. This special landform is attracting many visitors. When we finished visit, we went down from top of Shizhong Mountain to Shaxi around 1 hour. How time flies. The weather is nice during we stayed in Dali.

Today was the last night in Dali; we will back to Lijiang tomorrow. Lots of things are attracting me in here; I will come here again by myself if I have enough time.

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