Folk dance Tiaocai (跳菜) presented in Yunnan’s Nanjian
Tiaocai (跳菜), a kind of Yi people’s folk dances, was presented by some folk artisans at the Wuliang mountain Eco-Tea Garden in Nanjian County of Dali, Yunnan Province. The dance has a long history which can be dated back to the matrilineal society in China. Dancers time their steps to the music and at the same time, serve various local dishes to guests. Tiaocai dance is regarded as a courtesy by Yi people and is listed as a national intangible cultural heritages.
Origin of the Yi Torch Festival
There are records about the origin of the Torch Festival in the “Kunming County Annals” written in the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty: “There was a Yi woman Anan in the Han Dynasty. Her husband was killed by evildoers, and she swore that she would not submit to the killers. So she jumped into fire and died at that day (the 24th in the sixth lunar month). People felt very sad and held the festival for her.
A description of another origin story from a different source goes: “King Piluoge of the Yunnanzhao (a local regime in ancient China) planned to meet of the rulers other five cities in the Songming Building. He wanted to trap and burn them to death so that he could swallow up their territory. The wife of King Dengdan—a woman named Cishan—tried to persuade her husband not to go, but he refused. Then she put an iron bracelet around the arm of her husband. He went as scheduled and was burned death. Cishan identified and brought back her husband’s body according to the iron bracelet. Piluoge heard of her virtue and wanted to draw her over to his side, but Cishan closed the city gate and committed suicide. So people of Dian (an ancient name for Yunnan) burned torches to grieve over her.”
In a folk legend, it is said that the Torch Festival stems from a time when God sent pests to destroy crops in the human world and Yi people drove them away with fire. Some people also say that the festival commemorate a fight in which ancestors defeated the Prince of the Devils by attacking them with fire. Most of the records and legends are forced interpretation. Chinese historians say the Torch Festival for praying for good harvests and came into being as a result of the poor harvests by the ancient Yi society. Over the years the religious elements of the festival have diminished and the entertainment value has increased.
Yi Torch Festival
The Yi Torch festival. features courtship rituals, music, dancing around huge bonfires and bloodless bullfights. In the daytime, a ceremony is held to offer prayers to the gods or spirits associated with their lives. Prayers to earth God are made with chicken blood. After sunset, people light torches to send the gods backs. One Yi told Smithsonian magazine, “The celebration is all bustle and excitement. We slaughter goats and chickens, drink liquor, sing songs and dance, We also invite our best friends to a big feast.”
The Torch Festival is celebrated on the 24th day of 6th lunar month in July or August in southwest China by the Bai, Naxi and Yi people. Participants light torches in front of their houses and set 35-foot-high torches—made from pine and cypress timbers stuffed with smaller branches—in their village squares. The Bulang, Wa, Lisu, Lahu, Hani and Jinuo minorities hold similar festivals but on different dates.
“The Torch Festival” has traditionally been celebrated by many Chinese ethnic groups around 24th day of the sixth lunar month. During the festival, Yis in all villages carry torches and walk around their houses and fields, and plant pine torches on field ridges in the hope of driving away insect pests. After making their rounds, the Yi villagers gather around bonfires, playing moon guitars (a four-stringed plucked instrument with a moon-shaped sound box) and mouth organs, dancing and drinking wine through the night to pray for a good harvest. The Yis in some places stage horse races, bull fighting, playing on the swing, archery and wrestling.
The Yi Torch Festival is held at different times among different Yi groups. It is generally held on about 24th of the sixth lunar month in Sichuan and Yunnan, and about the 6th of the sixth lunar month in the Guizhou Yi region. The length of the celebration varies from three to seven days. When it comes, some people butcher chicken and pig, and some butcher cattle and sheep as sacrifices offered to the ruler of heaven, the mother of earth and ancestors. The Yi also pray for the safety of humans and domestic animals and for an abundant harvest of all food crops. At nightfall, torches are lit and villages compete to have the best torch. Recreational, sports and entertaining activities include antiphonal singing (alternate singing by two choirs or singers), dancing, bullfight, horse race, wrestling, archery, and tug-of-wars. Business and trade activities are carried out.
Because Yi people believe that torches get rid of evil and ghosts, they light up every corner of their house after the torch is lit. In some villages, torch teams go from house to house, and then gather at the edge of a village, or on slope or in fields to play torch games and hold a fire party, where young men and women decked out in their finest festival dress sing and dance and party all night long. An ancient poem describing proceeding centuries ago goes: “The mountain seems wrapped by rosy cloud; Uneven torches move back and forth with people which are like ten thousand of lotus flowers blossoming in mirage, and stars all over the sky fall down to the human world.”
The festival honors a woman who leaped into a fire rather make love with a king. Before the village torch is lit people gather around it and drink rice wine. The village elders use a ladder to climb to the top of the torch as they distribute fruit and food to the villagers while they boisterously sing the “Torch Festival Song.” The torch is then solemnly lit. The villagers light their torches off the village torch and sing and dance and eventually make their ways to their homes and light the torches there.
If you want to spend your leisure time in Yongping County,don’t worry, you can find the the bars and clubs easily in Yunlong County. Maybe you are not interesting in bar and clubs and do not want to watch performance,you can also go to tea house.That is a good choice.
Name：Shanshui KTV(山水KTV)
Address：Yongle Road,Yongping County,Dali
Name：Yimingxuan Wine Bar(逸茗轩酒吧)
Address：Yongle Road,Yongping County,Dali
Name：Zhongze Hemeishenghuo Shopping Hall(中泽·和美生活广场)
Address：No.69,Bonan Road,Yongping County,Dali
Name：Jinse Nianhua Bar(金色年华吧)
Address：No.44,Bonan Road,Yongping County,Dali
Name：Shanshui Yunjian Bar(山水云间休闲吧)
Address：Yongle Road,Yongping County,Dali
History of Yongping County in Dali
Southern Silk Road
The Southern Silk Road is a ancient network of footpaths crossing Yunnan from East to West that provided trade links between China and the West. The part that passes the Bonan mountains is known as the Bonan trail (博南古道, Bo Nan Gu Dao).Also of a later date and less used then the Northern Silk Road it still provided a link between the cultures of China and Burma and the Indian subcontinent. Marco Polo took this route through Yunnan on his way back from visiting the Burmese king in Bagan.
Start and finish of the trail
Like any road or trail going east west in Yunnan crosses serious rivers and high mountain chains.The trails lead across these mountain ranges to the places where the big rivers could be crossed.The Bonan trail started in Yangbi at the Yunlong Bridge and ends in the Walled town of Tengchong across the Gaoligongshan mountains and crosses the Lancangjiang (Mekong) river at the Jihong Bridge (Build in 1681 as a metal chain bridge, before there was a rattan bridge at the same location) and the Nujiang (Salween) river at the double Shuanghong Bridge (Build in 1759) or later the Huiren Bridge (Build in 1839). On its way the trails cross several smaller rivers and streams.
Original trail
Historic documents tell the story of temples in combination with the Silk Road trail. These temples were regarded to be safe stopovers and travellers often stayed there overnight. One of the mentioned places is the Jiang Ding Si temple.
Most of these trails were just dirt roads but some stretches got paved such as the trail in front of the Jiang Ding temple. The thousands of pack horses and mules have worn out the trail with their iron clad hoofs and their marks still can be seen in the paving stones of the trail.
Recently it got quite busy again along the trail near the Jiang Ding Si temple. New access roads and a whole new suspension bridge were build to aid the work on a huge railway bridge for the new Dali/Baoshan high-speed railway.
An old saying goes “Dali, habitat to paradise, the best mountains and rivers to travel, and the two can not taste, but in Dali.” Dali is one of the most appropriate places for living and the paradise for the harmony of multiculturalism and nature.
And in Er’yuan ,you will experience not only mountains and rivers,But also hot spring.Dali Geothermal Paradise in Jiuqitai Hot Spring,Eryuan County.Aside from the amusing name, the “Geothermic Kingdom” is the largest hot springs in Asia, and may be the most beautiful. Set in a valley surrounded by mountains, and so big you could get lost inside. There are pools of all temperatures and sizes, pools shaped like giant hands, pools with caves, pools filled with skin purifying milk, and one that claims to cleanse your heart and soul. It’s just over an hour from Dali city, open 24hrs.
Name：Eryuan geothermal spring
Tel：(0872)5128888
Address：Around Cibi Lake,Eryuan County
Name：Eryuan Library
Address：No.31,Wenkang Road,Eryuan County
Name：Eryuan Wenquan Spa(温泉会馆)
Tel：(0872)5129999
Address：No.30,Wenkang Road,Eryuan County
Name：8090 Drink Bar
Tel：+8615125030077
Address：Around Spring District,Wenkang Road,Eryuan County
Name：Jinshuige Teahouse
Address：No.90,Xingyuan Road,Wenkang Road,Eryuan County
Name：Culture Hall
Address：No.32,Wenkang Road,Eryuan County
Dali Geothermal State is located 2 kilometers northeast of Er’yuan county seat and adjacent to Cibi Lake. It’s about 50 kilometers from Dali Old Town.
Er’yuan is known as hometown of hot springs in Dali. It’s said that Jianwen Emperor of the Ming Dynasty once enjoyed hot spring bath here. Most of the hot springs in Er’yuan County exhibits water temperature from 70 to 90 degrees Celsius, and contain potassium, calcium, magnesium, ferrum and other minerals. Bathing and “steamed” in such springs is believed to help cure some diseases, for which Er’yuan geothermal state is regarded as “a natural therapy hospital”. Covering nearly 1,000 Mu (Chinese acre), it has been the largest open-air hot spring bath spot in Asia.
A long history has endowed Eryuan County with a profound cultural heritage. There are 27 very important protected cultural heritage sites within the county, three of which are at a provincial level. Inhabitants of this land in ancient times left behind numerous legends or relics. In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, Langqiongzhao (a Yunnan tribe at the time) built the Phoenix Platform, and dug the Baishajing (literally meaning “White Sand Well”). Emperor Jianwen (the second emperor in the Ming Dynasty) slept in a cave called Mianlongdong (named thus after he slept there, for the name means “the cave where an emperor slept”), and farmed in Shilongsi. The list goes on. All those various ethnic groups in Eryuan County have created a magnificent endemic culture through their diligence and wisdom. They are also very good at dancing and singing. Because of the above-mentioned facts, Eryuan County is praised as “the land of myths”, “the land where the heavenly maids scatter down songs” and “the land of Bai ethnicity’s suona”.
Innumerable tourists visit Eryuan County in throngs to see its beautiful lakesides and mountains, its numerous humanistic landscapes, and its rich ethnic culture and customs.
If you want to spend your leisure time in Heqing County,don’t worry, you can find the the bars and clubs easily in Heqing County. Maybe you are not interesting in bar and clubs and do not want to watch performance,you can also go to tea house.That is a good choice.
Name：Jinmanlou KTV(金满楼KTV)
Address：Zhengnan Street,Heqing County,Dali
Name：Judian Wine Bar(聚点酒吧)
Address：Jinputi Street,Heqing County,Dali
Name：Yikang Massage(益康推拿)
Address：Jinputi Street,Heqing County,Dali
Name：Landiao Bar(蓝调酒吧)
Address：B-9-12，Jinputi Street,Heqing County,Dali
Name：Yixian Tea Bar(吧)
Address：Jinputi Street,Heqing County,Dali
Xinhua, A Village Of Silversmiths
Xinhua, also known as Shizhaizi, is a Bai ethnic village in the northwest of Heqing County of Dali Prefecture. It’s only 40 kilometers or 30 minutes’ drive from Lijiang.
In the dialect of local Bais, Xinhua is called “Nahezi”, “Buhezi”, and “Zhoyiguozi”. For centuries, Xinhua has been noted for its silverwares preferred by Tibetans and other minority groups. Villagers there inherited the family trade since the Nanzhao Period (738-937) in the Tang Dynasty. Each family is a factory or workshop for handicrafts made from silver, copper, and even gold. Marked as “Shizhaizi Silverwares”, silverwares from Xinhua Village are especially popular in ethnic areas of Yunnan, Sichuan, Qinghai, Tibet, Xinjiang, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou and Hunan etc; some are even exported to India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Thailand, Nepal, Japan and the United States.
Located at the foot of the Phoenix Mountain, Xinhua Village boasts many natural springs whose water gushes out from gardens of local families. A wide area of wetlands has been conserved around the Black Dragon Pool (Hei Long Tan) that is also locally called “Shizhaizi Dragon Pool”. Pastoral sceneries of farmlands, stony hills and streams can be upheld all the year around. Taking into consideration of its traditional workmanship and abundant subterranean water resources, the China Ministry of Culture Department and China Rural Development Committee bestowed Xinhua Village “the Hometown of Folk Arts” and “the Hometown of Folk Culture”. In 2010, Xinhua Village was approved as a state 4A-level scenic spot.
In the south village (Nanyi Village) of Shizhaizi, you can visit Yuhuangge (Jade Emperor Temple) on the Phoenix Mountain and the Patron God Shrine near Xingzi Dragon Pool; while in the north village (Beiyi Village), you can explore to Heguang Temple and a seven-storeyed pagoda.
1.Sancun Shiguang Café（三寸时光咖啡厅）
Price: Average Prices: USD 3 to 7
Address:No.164,Yuehua Street,Nanzhao Weishan Old Town.
2. Time on Cloud Café（云上的日子）
Price: Average Prices: USD 3 to 8
Address: No.123,Yuehua Street,Nanzhao Weishan Old Town.
Weishan Nanzhao Kingdom History
Dali is more famous because it was long the capital of the Nanzhao Kingdom, Tang Dynasty China’s rival in the southwest, and its successor the Kingdom of Dali, which remained independent until overwhelmed by Kubilai Khan’s Mongols in 1253. It is also near scenic Erhai Lake and mountains of 4000+ meters, which made it a prime destination from the very dawn of modern tourism. Weishan is less well endowed physically and topographically, but did not undergo the commercial transformation of Dali, where now virtually every building caters to the tourist industry. Weishan is still a slice of Old China, unique in western Yunnan.
Moreover, it has its historical importance as well, for the Nanzhao Kingdom had its start right here, in the 7th century, when the town was known as Mengshe, the capital of one of the six native chiefdoms, or zhao, roughly in the area that is now Dali Prefecture. Being in the most southern location of the six, the area around Mengshe was the Southern zhao—Nanzhao. In 649 its ruler Xinuluo conquered a neighboring tribe in Midu and shortly after, when Tang Court officials were looking for an ally to secure their southwest frontier they chose Xinuluo’s state.
Four generations later Mengshe’s ruler Piluoge conquered the other five zhao. In 738 the Tang conferred a royal title on him and recognized Nanzhao as a vassal state. Piluoge’s own opinion, and that of his successors, was that Nanzhao was independent on a par with Tang China. Until it fell in the early 10th century, shortly after the Tang regime’s own demise, Nanzhao fought both Tibet and China for control of the region, periodically launching invasions into Sichuan, defeating any invasion into its own realm. But now that Piluoge’s success had made Nanzhao a bigger state, the capital shifted closer to Erhai Lake; first at Taihe, then Dali.
Mengshe lost its political importance and had no impact on the history of the next several centuries. Nanzhao expanded, contracted and imploded. Its successor Dali lived in peace with Song Dynasty China until the Mongol conquest. With the rise of the Ming Dynasty in the 14th century, the Mongols evacuated and the Ming Court began sending immigrants from eastern China into Yunnan to give it a more Chinese identity. In the Dali area, from 1382 the Ming Court dispatched soldiers to both establish military garrisons and clear land to settle down on farms.
At that time the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of Yunnan were not Han Chinese but a mixture of many ethnic minorities. In Dali Prefecture the dominant groups are the Bai and Yi. Nanzhao’s ruling class was Yi or proto-Yi, while Dali’s kings were Bai. Today the Bai constitute the largest ethnic minority in the prefecture and dominate the plains areas, while the hills are mostly inhabited by Yi.
Because they are the largest community Dali is an Autonomous Bai Prefecture, where the top officials are Bai. But the Yi and Hui outnumber the Bai in Weishan, so the latter is an Autonomous Yi and Hui County. Some of the Hui are descendants of Kubilai Khan’s Central Asian Muslim allies, who stayed on to administer and garrison the province in the Yuan Dynasty. Others came in after the Ming Dynasty evicted the Mongols and sponsored immigration.
In the late 14th century the city underwent a major transformation, beginning with a name change from Mengshe to Weishan, apparently a contraction of Weibaoshan, a sacred mountain 18 km south of the city that would become home to many temples, mostly Taoist, over the next four centuries. The mountain is swathed in thick forests of pine and cypress, the shrines and temples sited at intervals along roads and paths that ascend to the summit.
Weishan, The Old Capital Of Nanzhao Kingdom
Weishan Old Town is located in Weishan county seat in the south of Dali Prefecture. It’s about 50 kilometers away from Xiaguan (capital city of Dali Prefecture). The name “Weishan” is derived from “Weibaoshan Mountain” in the east.
Referred to as “Xielong” and “Menghua” in ancient times, Weishan is one of the earliest places in Yunnan to be set as counties. Weishan Old Town is claimed to be “the old capital of Nanzhao Kingdom” and is in fact the cradle of Nanzhao Culture. In 737, Pi Luoge-the chieftain of Nanzhao Tribe-was supported by the Tang Court to unify other 5 tribes around Er’hai Lake Area and establish the Nanzhao Kingdom (738-937) (“Nanzhao” means “the south tribe”. It is actually Mengshe Tribe that was situated in the south of Er’hai Lake Area).
Weishan Old Town is not only a state-level historical and cultural town, but also one of the “4 famous cultural towns” (Wen Xian Ming Bang) in Yunnan Province (the other 3 ones are Kunming, Jianshui and Dali). With a history of more than 600 years, the ancient city of Weishan conserved now was firstly built in the 22nd year during Zhu Yuanzhang’ reign. The ancient city of Weishan is also known as Menghua City (méng huà chéng蒙化城), which used to be the birthplace of the ancient Nanzhao Kingdom. Around the ancient city of Weishan, there built solid walls, with four gates on each direct (including the East Gate, the West Gate, the South Gate and the North Gate). In the center of the city, there is a Xinggong Tower (xīng gǒng lóu星拱楼), meaning a tower surrounded by stars. The shape of the ancient city is like a square seal. Inside the city, all the roads are arranged according to the chessboard type, with 24 streets and 18 lanes crossing each other.
The imposing Xinggong Tower and Gongchen Tower (gǒng chén lóu拱辰楼) are the landmarks of the ancient city of Weishan. The houses in the ancient city were built according to the structure of the ancient Chinese style which was popular in the Ming and Qing dynasties. There are many ancient buildings dating back to the Ming and Qing dynasties both inside and outside the ancient city, such as the Confucius’s Temple, Wen Hua School (wén huá shū yuàn文华书院), Yu Huang Pavilion (yù huáng gé玉皇阁), and Dong Yue Palace (dōng yuè gōng东岳宫). “Yu Huang” means the pavilion of the Jade Emperor who is the Supreme Deity of Taoism. “Dong Yue” means the palace of the east mountain.The north gate tower of Weishan is Gongchen Tower (gǒng chén lóu拱辰楼), which was built during the reign of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. On the tall walls, there is an ancient building in the style of double-hipped roof with Xie roof (zhòng yán xiē dǐng重檐歇顶), covering an area of five rooms. On the south wall of the gate tower hangs a horizontal tablet inscribed with four Chinese characters “Kui Xiong Liu Zhao” (kuí xióng liù zhào魁雄六诏), while on the north wall hangs a horizontal tablet inscribed with “Wan Li Zhan Tian” (wàn lǐ zhān tiān万里瞻天). The walls and the tablets are all imposing and powerful. The ancient tower is 23.5 meters tall, with the bottom wall of 8.3 meters tall. The structure of the tower is supported by 28 pillars. Climbing along the steps from the two small gates in the east or the gate in the west to the top of the tower and look around, tourists can see four main streets stretching respectively towards the directions of the east, the west, the south and the north. The houses are neatly arranged. From the top of the tower, tourists can have a panoramic view of the whole Weishan County, with magnificent scenery.
The ethnic culture of Weishan is also seductive. You can enjoy the Dage (sining and dancing) of the Yi people and Dongjing Music. Weishan is also a producer of bandhnu (tie-dying) products that sell well both at home and abroad.
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Culture of Nanjian County in Dali
Folk dance Tiaocai (跳菜) presented in Yunnan’s Nanjian Tiaocai (跳菜), a kind of Yi people’s folk dances, was presented by some folk artisans at the Wuliang mountain Eco-Tea Garden...
Entertainment in Yongping County, Dali
If you want to spend your leisure time in Yongping County,don’t worry, you can find the the bars and clubs easily in Yunlong County. Maybe you are not interesting...
Culture of Yongping County in Dali
Southern Silk Road The Southern Silk Road is a ancient network of footpaths crossing Yunnan from East to West that provided trade links between China and the West. The...
Entertainment in Eryuan County, Dali
An old saying goes “Dali, habitat to paradise, the best mountains and rivers to travel, and the two can not taste, but in Dali.” Dali is one of the...
History of Eryuan County in Dali
Dali Geothermal State is located 2 kilometers northeast of Er’yuan county seat and adjacent to Cibi Lake. It’s about 50 kilometers from Dali Old Town. Er’yuan is known as...
Culture of Eryuan County in Dali
A long history has endowed Eryuan County with a profound cultural heritage. There are 27 very important protected cultural heritage sites within the county, three of which are at...
Entertainment in Heqing County, Dali
If you want to spend your leisure time in Heqing County,don’t worry, you can find the the bars and clubs easily in Heqing County. Maybe you are not interesting...
Culture of Heqing County in Dali
Xinhua, A Village Of Silversmiths Xinhua, also known as Shizhaizi, is a Bai ethnic village in the northwest of Heqing County of Dali Prefecture. It’s only 40 kilometers or...
Entertainment in Weishan County, Dali
1.Sancun Shiguang Café（三寸时光咖啡厅） Price: Average Prices: USD 3 to 7 Address:No.164,Yuehua Street,Nanzhao Weishan Old Town. 2. Time on Cloud Café（云上的日子） Price: Average Prices: USD 3 to 8 Address: No.123,Yuehua Street,Nanzhao Weishan Old ...
History of Weishan County in Dali
Weishan Nanzhao Kingdom History Dali is more famous because it was long the capital of the Nanzhao Kingdom, Tang Dynasty China’s rival in the southwest, and its successor the Kingdom...
Culture of Weishan County in Dali
Weishan, The Old Capital Of Nanzhao Kingdom Weishan Old Town is located in Weishan county seat in the south of Dali Prefecture. It’s about 50 kilometers away from Xiaguan...
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