Classic Temples in Kunming

                                  by Jim Goodman

Yuantong Temple, in the heart of Old Kunming

       Compared to some of their neighbors, like the Tibetans, Thais and Burmese, the Han Chinese as a whole have not been especially noted for their religious piety and practice.  The country has always had temples and monasteries, but these were mainly for private devotional exercises or retreats.  Individuals might spend many years or even a lifetime in a monastery, but not, like in Thailand or Myanmar, because the culture required at least a temporary monastic residence for males.  Chinese monks did not go out in public in the mornings with their begging bowls, either, and lay devotees did not include among their pious acts the grueling Tibetan custom of successive full body prostrations.  And there was no Chinese city where religious architecture dominated most of the urban area, as at Angkor, Bagan or even Chiang Mai.

the West Pagoda, from the Nanzhao era

       Kunming was no exception.  The city certainly had houses of worship since its founding, but they were not impressive enough to have left any trace, physically or historically.  The earliest surviving religious monuments went up during the Nanzhao Era, when it was the second most important city in the empire.  These are the East Pagoda and the West Pagoda, about 200 meters apart from each other in the southern part of the city.  They were originally part of the Chengle and Huiguang Temples, which disappeared log ago.

the East Pagoda

       Built in the close-eaves style in the mid-9^th century, ten and thirteen stories high, they resemble the Lone Pagoda in Dali or the central tower of the Three Pagodas.  With minor renovations, the taller West Pagoda has stood ever since.  The East Pagoda fell in earthquakes in the Yuan and Qing Dynasties and its current incarnation dates to the late 19^th century.

       The most recent renovation, around the beginning of this century, involved paving the road to the West Pagoda and lining both sides of this street, closed to vehicular traffic, with shops, teahouses and restaurants built in classical Chinese style.  At the same time the city reconstructed the former South Gate, next to the West Pagoda, which had been demolished in the early 50s.

the main worship hall in Yuantong Temple

       Besides Chengle and Huiguang Temples, the Buddhist Yuantong Temple was also built in Nanzhao times, actually a century earlier.  Nothing of the original building has survived, but after the Mongols conquered Yunnan in mid-13^th century, the province’s first governor, Ajali Shams al-Din Omar, a Muslim, had it rebuilt.  He also sponsored the construction in the city of two mosques and a Confucian temple, which doubled as a school and a center for the promotion of Confucian ideas and customs. 

       In the late 14^th century the Ming Dynasty replaced the Yuan Dynasty and by 1382 had expelled the Mongols from their last stronghold Yunnan.  Ming officials surrounded the city with a fortified wall.  The Ming governor’s palace was first set up on an island in Green Lake, not far from Yuantong Temple, at the foot of Yuantong Hill in the center of the old city.  

stairway to the pond, Yuantong Temple

mythical beast in Yuantong Temple

       It was the largest monastery within the city walls.  Expansion and renovation in later centuries have given it its present look, filling the compound with buildings in the Ming and Qing style.   Its four gardens contain specimens of all the main flowering trees in the province, each blossoming at a different time.  Thus, no matter what month it is, flowers of some kind are blooming in Yuantong Temple

shrine in the Tanhua Temple compound

       Today it is still a quiet, capacious and beautiful sanctuary in the heart of an otherwise noisy, bustling modern city.  Placed around a pond, the orange-red sloping roofs of its buildings reflect in the waters, as do the white stone bridges connecting them.  Carvings of mythical animals decorate the railings of the bridges and potted plants fill the steps to the edge of the pond.

       The older buildings feature embellishments of carvings, paintings and calligraphy.  The Buddhist imagery inside is derived from both the Mahayana and Tibetan traditions.  And the newest building in the compound, erected late last century, is a Theravada-style shrine housing a golden Buddha image donated by devotees from Thailand.

pavilion in Tanhua Temple

       During the Ming Dynasty the suburbs beyond the city walls did not extend anywhere near as far as now.  Forests lay beyond and in quiet, secluded spots on the slopes of the hills religious-minded patrons sponsored the building of temples.  Most were too far for an ordinary excursion, though they are easy to reach by car or bus now.  One such temple, Tanhuasi, built in 1634, lies near the end of Renminlu, just four km from the city center.  Named for the ephyllium tree (a species of magnolia) in the courtyard, it was probably the ex-urban temple most frequented by Old Kunming residents.  As they do today, people came to offer prayers, observe religious holidays, or just for the pleasures of the outing, the smell of the flowers and the appreciation of the rockeries, the ponds and the entire temple setting.

interior of a Tanhua Temple shrine

       Even today, with buildings, roads and overpasses occupying what was once a wooded area, Tanhua Temple retains its charm.  Just far enough from the main roads to be beyond its noise and stench, the compound consists of three main sections that rise gently up a slope.  The first contains several courtyards grouped around the main temple, on the walls of which are mounted individual images of the 500 Buddhist arhats (saints), inscribed on stone slabs.  Courtyards feature rockeries, ponds, pavilions, sitting halls, potted flower plants, blossoming trees and Chinese couplets inscribed on marble slabs.

view of Kunming from a Tanhua Temple pond

       The next section up is laid out more like a classical park, with its pavilions, shade trees, tables, sitting halls and morning tai qi exercisers.  Ascending the knoll behind brings the visitor to a graceful seven-story pagoda, up which one can climb for a grand view of Kunming.  The city is also visible from the pond in front of the pagoda.  The entire compound is an oasis of serenity in modern Kunming.

       Further away, seven km northeast of the city center, lies the Daoist Golden Temple.  It comprises several buildings on the gentle slope of Mingfengshan—the Hill of Singing Phoenixes, near the grounds of the International Horticultural Exhibition.  It must have been an all-day excursion in Old Kunming days, but modern transportation has reduced the journey to a short bicycle. bus or automobile ride.  Like Tanhua Temple and forest temples in the hills beyond Kunming, its many trees and flowers give it the atmosphere of being ensconced by Nature.

pagoda at the top of the Tanhua Temple compound

pavilion in the Golden Temple compound

.     In between the buildings, walkways lead past the old pines and cypresses to gardens of camellias or azaleas and to the Bell Tower, from the top of which one can view the distant hills behind the skyscrapers of Kunming.  The three entry gates at successive points on the hill are notable for the decorative carved and painted brackets supporting their roofs.

roof sculptures, the Golden Temple

      The Golden Temple is actually a building embellished with high-quality Yunnan bronze, polished to resemble gold, used on the pillars, window screens, brackets and sculptures.  Constructed by order of the Ming Dynasty Daoist Governor Chen Yongbing in 1602, the original was removed to Jizushan in western Yunnan in 1637 (and destroyed during the Cultural Revolution).  The present temple, like the original dedicated to the Daoist saint Zhen Wu, was built under the stewardship of Wu Sangui in 1671, when he ruled Yunnan for the Qing Dynasty.  He is supposed to have left his own, 12 kg sword here.  It is housed inside the temple along with a bigger, 20 kg double-edged sword, supposedly used by Zhen Wu to defend the temple.

worshipers at the Golden Temple

       For the dedicated pilgrims of the past, as well as curious contemporary travelers, other temples in the nearby hills featured compounds also notable for their seclusion, closeness to nature, ancient trees, architectural embellishments and sculptural achievements.  The most worthwhile site was the Western Hills, 2500 meters high at the summit, towering above the northwest shore of Dian Lake, 16 km from the city.  Most visitors nowadays are tourists, foreign and domestic, who arrive in vehicles and head straight to the top in them, or take the recently installed cable car.  Proper pilgrims were supposed to walk up the mountain, which only takes a couple of hours, stopping at the temples en route.

Huating Temple,Western Hills

       The first and lowest is Huating Monastery.  This Buddhist temple was first built in 1320, renovated in the Ming and Qing Dynasties and last rebuilt in 1920.  Besides the imposing guardian statues and images of the Buddha in various guises, the temple’s interior holds 500 sculptures of Buddhist arhats.  They are largely in high relief on the walls of the main worship hall and are remarkable for their realism and individuality.

       Predating Huating is the next temple up the hill--two km by road, slightly shorter by footpath through the forest.  This Chan (Zen) Buddhist temple was built in 1302 by the monk Xuan Jian and is called Taihuasi.  A 600 year-old gingko tree rises above the gate.  The complex includes pavilions beside the 1000 square-meter Blue Pond, itself embellished with rockeries, islets and walkways.  Another pavilion, the Sea Viewing Pavilion, offers a long view of Dian Lake.

Daoist shrine, Western Hills

       Even grander views are possible from the next temple up--the Songqingge Daoist Temple.  Though one can drive up the mountain road to the entrance, the true pilgrim prefers the winding stone staircase of over 1000 steps that begins at the base of the hill. The buildings belonging to this complex are stacked above each other on the steep side of the mountain.  Even higher, perching on a sheer, perpendicular cliff, is Dragon Gate, the goal of every visitor, the greatest viewpoint in the Kunming area.  The view is all the more appreciated because of the arduous task of getting there, which is by squeezing in and out of small grottoes chiseled out of the rock by Qing Dynasty monks.  The slow and dangerous work took 72 years and the final passageway was completed in 1853.  It replaced a hazardous, rickety plank road attached to the cliff face. 

arhat with especially long eyebrows

Dragon Gate, high up the Western Hills

       Northwest of Kunmimg, about 13 km from the center, the Bamboo Temple (Qiongzhusi) lies on a wooded slope of Jade Table Mountain (Yu'anshan).  This Buddhist monastery was originally founded by a monk from Kunming who studied the Chan sect in central China for 25 years around the end of the Song Dynasty.  Within the main hall one of the many inscribed tablets dates from the Yuan Dynasty and is bilingual--Mongolian and vernacular Chinese.  Standing in the courtyard are two 600 year-old cedar trees.

the Black Dragon on Wubaoshan

       The outstanding feature of this temple is its collection of 500 painted clay sculptures of Buddhist arhats.  The work of a mid-Qing Dynasty sculptor from Sichuan, Li Guangxiu, and his apprentices, the statues all differ from each other, modeled on real and unique contemporary originals.  Faces display the whole gamut of possible expressions.  Some are kindly and some are fierce.  Some are sedate or contemplative and others are active, even chatting or laughing.  No two are the same and the dress, hairstyle and props are also unique to each statue.  According to local legend, if a visitor begins counting the statues, starting from the beginning of any row, and comes to the number matching his or her age, that statue will symbolically represent the visitor's dominant inner character.

       On Wubaoshan, 11 km north of Kunming, lies the early Ming era Black Dragon Palace.  First erected in 1394 and redone in 1454, it stands beside Black Dragon Pool and was formerly the site of temples in the Han, Tang and Yuan Dynasties, all destroyed by war.  But a Tang era plum tree, a Song Dynasty cypress and a Ming camellia tree still stand in the compound, still blossoming every Lunar New Year.  A statue of the black dragon also stands in the courtyard.  A companion compound in the adjacent woods, the Dragon Fountain Palace, comprises several halls dedicated to the Jade Emperor and other Daoist deities.

Black Dragon Pool

       Daoist legend states that Black Dragon Pool is the home of a small black dragon, confined there by the Immortal Lu Dongbin after he subdued nine bigger dragons that were causing floods.  The last one he commanded to do good for humans and supposedly, once the ancient inhabitants started drawing its water to irrigate their fields, the little black dragon made sure the pool never ran dry, even in years of drought.  About 600 square meters in area and 11 meters deep, a bridge separates it from a half-meter deep pool that is five times its size.  Pavilions on the edge are for watching fish; the odd thing about them is that, though the water of the two ponds is connected, the fish that swim in one pool never pay a visit to the other.

       Kunming keeps sprawling closer to these forest temples and one day in the future urban neighborhoods will surround them.  But, like Tanhuasi and the Golden Temple, the city will not swallow them.  They will remain places of refuge from urban congestion, where people can relax, commune with nature and even, as their builders originally intended, worship their gods.

stone bridge in Yuantong Temple

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The Other Side of the Azure Mountains—Shaxi to Xiaguan

                                   by Jim Goodman

outskirts of Shaxi, on the Heihui RIver 

       Before highways began linking up various parts of Yunnan in the 20^th century, and trucks started delivering goods everywhere, caravans were the means to carry out long-distance trade.  While they plied over trails on traditional routes connecting all parts of the province, one of the most important was the famous Tea and Horses Road, running from Xishuangbanna in the south, through western and northwestern Yunnan and into Tibet.  Its name derived from its principal trade items—Pu’er tea from southern Yunnan and horses from Tibet.

       Many towns along the route became popular stopovers for the caravans, providing lodging and places to tether their animals.  Among these was Shaxi, in Jianchuan County, northern Dali Prefecture.  The usual way to get there was proceeding north of Xiaguan, at the south end of Erhai Lake, with the Azure Mountains (Cangshan in Chinese) on the west side, then passing out of the valley, through Eryuan County and to Sword Lake, just south of Jianchuan city. 

Yi woman crossing the old stone bridge

typical Shaxi old town lane

the old theater on the market square

      At the junction here a road turns ssw along the Heihui River, which empties into Sword Lake, and soon enters a broad plain dominated by the town of Shaxi.  Never very big, it was nevertheless fairly prosperous until the virtual end of the caravan trade after 1949.  Yet in its slow modernization over the next several decades, Shaxi still retained its old quarter of cobbled lanes and traditional Bai houses, former lodges for the caravan operators and dilapidated, but not destroyed, temples and other public buildings.  It was the last of the caravan stopovers that still looked like one.

       Shaxi is basically a farmers’ town, but from the beginning of the 21^st century it took on a new identity as a popular tourist attraction.  The provincial government launched restoration programs, renovating the old temples and the theater on the market square and promoting its historic connection to the Tea and Horses Road.  The town has a new section of boring concrete buildings, but it is a minor part of Shaxi and such architecture doesn’t appear in the traditional quarters.  New houses have gone up, but in classic traditional Bai style.

Shaxi Friday market

Bai women run stalls on market day

      The town sits on the west bank of the river and a little above the water.  Two bridges cross the Heihui.  One is for pedestrians, centuries old, a classic arched stone bridge with sculpted lion heads at each end and on the side over the highest point of the arch.  The other, for vehicles, is an ordinary level bridge in the 1950s style, with elliptical arches and plain columns at each end.  It looks out of synch with all the old-fashioned buildings within sight in every direction.  But at least it is outside the town proper, where the traditional look has not only survived, but has been enhanced.

Bai woman in Shaxi

Yi woman in Shaxi

       The population is mixed Han, Hui and Bai.  Most of the houses are mud brick with tiled roofs.  Others, like the former boarding houses, are manly wooden.  Some of the richer Bai live in houses with carved gates, more use of stone, and painted decorations under the apex of the roofs like those in Dali or Jianchuan.  Shade trees line the main streets in the old town and trimmed shrubs sit in pots in front of the houses.  Passageways through the lanes pass under the arches of neighborhood gates or of houses that straddle both sides of the lane.

ancient sculptures in a Shibaoshan grotto

       A quiet, almost sedate atmosphere prevails in the old town, where vehicular traffic is basically absent, except for bicycles and the occasional tractor-trailer.  That all changes on Friday, Shaxi’s market day.  Residents of the town, joined by villagers from the vicinity, set up stalls in the old market square and along practically all the lanes in the old town.  The local dentist has an outdoor stall that day, too. 

       Products on sale vary considerably.   One section will feature carved doors and windows, chairs and stools, another all kinds of carrying baskets, yet another tools and horse trappings.  One lane will fill with grains, spices, vegetables and fruits and the next one will offer shoes and clothing.  There will be noodle stalls for those who want lunch and steamed buns and other snacks available at small stands.

stone vagina, Shibaoshan

camel head rock, Shibaoshan

       Market day draws the valley’s Han and Bai, but also many Yi from the mountains, as well as a few Lisu, Naxi and perhaps itinerant Tibetans selling medicinal herbs.  The Yi are the same Nuosu branch that dominates Ninglang County.  Yi women are the most colorful people in the market, with long, bright, tri-colored skirts, decorative jackets and wearing either a large black rectangular hat or a flat, embroidered cloth held in place by hair braids.  And if it’s cool weather, the outfit includes a dark felted woolen cape.

Shaxi countryside

       In late afternoon, when villagers start returning home, leading ponies packed with their goods, the scene evokes the time of the Tea and Horses Road.  The caravan trade expanded from the 10^th century during the Song Dynasty, for the latter needed the horses to deal with enemies on its northern frontiers.   Shaxi may have been a caravan stopover by then, though no relics exist from that long ago.

       Nearby Shibaoshan, however, is the site of religious monuments from the Nanzhao Kingdom, with stone carvings from around 800.  Shibaoshan is a tall, steep hill in a wooded rural area, remarkable for the pagodas built into its cliffs and the grottos with stone sculptures.  These date from the Nanzhao and Dali periods before the 13^th century.  They include a seated Buddha flanked by his two favorite disciples, a standing Guan Yin, various multi-armed guardian deities and small Buddha images.

       The most unusual is a stone vagina.  Local women come here, especially when they get pregnant, to pray and to rub the stone.  They believe this act will ease the pangs of childbirth.  Shibaoshan is also host to the three-day Bai Singing Festival at the end of the 7^th lunar month.

Bai woman in Changyi

Yi woman in Changyi

       In the caravan heyday Shaxi was a stopover for groups on the way to and from Tibet.  Merchants might also pick up salt here from nearby mines.  Going south, they needn’t detour to Eryuan and Dali to reach Xiaguan, but could simply continue down the valley of the Heihui River over what used to be called the Bonan Road.  The road is never very high above the river, nor does it cross any hills.  Villages are visible in the flanking hills and all along the riverbanks.

the old mosque in Yangbi

       The road passes through western Eryuan County and the last village before entering Yangbi County is Changyi, which holds its market day Saturday.  Bai and Yi, as in Shaxi, are the main participants.  Except for furniture, most items on sale are the same as in Shaxi, with the exception of walnuts, a specialty of Yangbi County.

      Yangbi is a Yi Autonomous County, with at least four Yi sub-groups living in the hills, which make up most of its territory.  Until a generation ago the Yi lived at a level of basic subsistence.  Then the government introduced the planting of walnut trees.  Yangbi is not the only place in Yunnan cultivating walnuts.  Dayao and Gongshan Counties also have them, for example.  But the soil in Yangbi seemed to be particularly good for walnuts, producing a thin-shelled, tasty, slightly sweet nut, and soon Yangbi became dubbed the “hometown of walnuts.”

Yunlong Bridge, Yangbi

       Nowadays walnut plantations cover 71,000 hectares in the county.  The annual output has reached 50,000 tons, valued at one billion yuan.  Government statistics claim that as a result 70% of the county’s population has been lifted out of poverty.  Harvesting begins in September and to coincide with it the county government stages a month-long Walnut Festival in Yangbi city.  Events include rites to the Walnut God, food-tasting events (and not just walnuts), cooking competition, markets and rounds of singing and dancing performances.

       As the road crosses into Yangbi County the towering peaks of the Azure Mountains rise to the east.  In the caravan era Yangbi city, originally called Shangjie, was an important junction on the Bonan Road.  Instead of going on to Xiaguan or north to Shaxi, caravans could turn west here to Yongping and Baoshan.  The city has a modern section of nondescript concrete and steel buildings around the city stadium, the main venue for festivals.  But it also has an extensive old quarter, largely Hui-inhabited, full of traditional tile-roofed wooden houses.  A fine old Chinese-style mosque sits on a mound above the old neighborhood.

Yangbi old town

Stone Gate Pass behind Jinniu

       Homes are not as elegant as some of the Shaxi dwellings and the cobbled lanes have not been renovated in recent years.  But a walk through it is evocative of an earlier era.  Continuing past the mosque, the lane terminates at the old Yunlong Bridge, the main river crossing for caravans going west.  A suspension bridge with wooden planks laid across iron cables, dating from the early Qing Dynasty, it doesn’t have caravan traffic anymore, but is still in use by villagers living across the river.  On the other side, earlier this century Yangbi Han Buddhists erected a small Buddhist shrine and a pagoda above it.

Xi'er River in Xiaguan

       From Yangbi city the road swings southeast along the river, in this county renamed the Yangbi River, until its confluence at Pingpo with the Xi’er River that flows east to Xiaguan and into Erhai Lake.  The road swerves much closer to the Azure Mountains on this stretch and at Jinniu is a steep cleft in the hills called Stone Gate Pass, now being built up as a scenic attraction with the construction of a walkway along the base of one of the cliffs.  At Pingpo the road turns east along the Xi’er River, passes the southern end of the Cangshan range and glides into Xiaguan.

       Now the capital of Dali Prefecture and the biggest city in western Yunnan, Xiaguan began as an 8^th century fortified settlement, founded by King Piluoge of the new state of Nanzhao, to guard the southern entrance to the Dali plain.  Taihe, further north, established in 737, served as the Nanzhao capital until it was moved to Dali in 779.  Xiaguan lies at the southwest corner of Erhai Lake, backed by high mountains with its suburbs sprawling into the foothills.

Nanzhao warriors on a fresco at the General's Temple

       Over time it outgrew Dali and was a major stop for caravans heading north on the Tea and Horses Road to Tibet, as well as the Southwest Silk Route to Dehong Prefecture and on to Burma and India.  By the turn of the 20^th century it was also a major tea-processing center.  Its commercial importance increased with the construction of the Burma Road during the Sino-Japanese War to enable the transport of supplies of all kinds from British-held Burma to Yunnan.

       After the war and the foundation of the People’s Republic, Xiaguan’s growth and development expanded.  New industries appeared such as power generation, food processing, papermaking, cigarettes, cement and marble processing and polishing.  The factories are scattered, though, and not concentrated in one polluted area.  The Xi’er River runs through the city center and residents sometimes come to fish with poles from the walkways on the banks or with nets cast from rafts or boats they take out on the water.  A few parks lie along the river and a very large and well-developed one occupies a long offshore island on the lake.

the General's Temple, Xiaguan

       Xiaguan does not feature the old buildings, monuments and relics that characterize Dali or Weishan.  It does, however, have a pair of sites associated with Nanzhao’s history.  On a hill in the western suburbs stands the General’s Temple, dedicated to General Li Mi, who is not a local hero but instead was a Tang Dynasty commander of a huge Chinese invasion force in the mid-8^th century.  This was the third attempt by Tang China to subdue Nanzhao and, like the previous two, it ended in total disaster.  Li Mi lost his entire army and in the end drowned himself.

       The victors gave the dead a proper funeral and interred the corpses, or maybe the ashes, inside a tomb in Tianbao Park, in what is now the western quarter of the city.  It’s just a stone mound with some exterior inscriptions and probably never contained as many remains as the records claimed.  But it’s Xiaguan’s only true Nanzhao relic.

       Many generations after Li Mi’s demise, his descendants established a shrine to his memory and to invoke his protection of the area.  In the Ming Dynasty a three-part temple replaced the original shrine.  Nowadays many local Bai devotees come here to make offerings, especially at the mid-autumn festival, Li Mi’s birthday.  Considering that the Bai were, along with the Yi, the victors over Li Mi’s army, it seems odd that they would be making offerings to him.  But Bai country folk are devout by nature and upbringing and may not even be aware of the historical particulars regarding the object of their worship.  To them, he’s a protective deity and that’s enough.

Yangbi old town and valley

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 Delta Tours Vietnam arranges a journey through western Yunnan that includes a stop in Shaxi.  For the itinerary see https://www.deltatoursvietnam.com/western-yunnan       

      

       

History All Around—The Monuments of Dali

                                                        by Jim Goodman

looking across the Dali Plain to Erhai Lake

       When Yunnan opened its doors to international tourism some three decades ago, the ancient city of Dali quickly became one of the most popular destinations.  Lying in the middle of a long, north-south plain at around 2000 meters altitude, flanked on the west by the peaks of the Cangshan mountain range, some of them over 4000 meters high, on the east by sprawling Erhai Lake, the city enjoyed a superb physical location.  Moreover, it was small, more like a town, full of old buildings, with little traffic and easy to explore on foot.

       It was a long haul to get there until the mid-90s and the construction of a multi-lane highway linking Kunming with Xiaguan, at the southern end of the plain, with tunnels cutting through the last mountains.  An airport and railway soon followed.  Only a two-lane road connected the cities in the beginning, clogged with big, heavy logging trucks and other ponderous vehicles, making the journey at least twelve hours. 

western wall and the Three Pagodas

       After finally arriving at this undeniably atmospheric old city, with the added attraction of the colorfully dressed Bai minority prevalent in the area, it all seemed worth the ordeal.  Bai houses and pavilions, though similar to classic Chinese styles, featured specifically Bai characteristics, like the decorations beneath the roof apes, the dominant use of stone and elaborately carved compound gates, and thus embellished the travelers’ impression that they were in a very different part of China.

       Actually, Dali was not even part of China until the 13^th century.  At their greatest extents, the Qin, Han, Tang and Song Dynasties did not incorporate the area into the Chinese empire.  In fact, from the mid-8^th century to its conquest by Kubilai Khan in 1253, the area was the heartland of two successive states:  Nanzhao until the beginning of the 10^th century and the Kingdom of Dali afterwards.

General Li Mi

Nanzhao king

       The buildings, gates and walls of Dali Old Town today date from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, but monuments prior to the Mongol conquest still stand.  The most famous are the Three Pagodas just north of the city, the Lone Pagoda near the South Gate and the Skeleton Python Pagoda just north of Xiaguan.  All of these date from the Nanzhao era, but these are not the only Nanzhao relics.

       The long campaign to unite the area’s principalities began in the 7^th century, led by Xinuluo, the ruler of what is now Weishan, 50 km south of Xiaguan.  His descendant Piluoge finally quashed all his rivals and founded Nanzhao in 737.  Seeing the strategic defense capabilities of the Dali Plain, he moved his capital here, at first to Taihe, between Xiaguan and Dali.  It remained the capital until 779, when Dali assumed the role.

Nnnzhso-era illustrated manuscript

       The high mountain just east of Xiaguan prevented attacks from the east.  Sentries posted at the top could easily spot an approaching force.   Another post on the mountain slopes north at Shangguan kept watch on the northern end of the plain.  The lake protected the plain from the east and the Cangshan peaks from the west.

       Taihe still exists, though only remnants of the original city wall are left.  Today it’s just an ordinary village of stone houses, but at the top is the historic Dehua Stele.  King Piluoge erected this near the end of his reign to list the state’s achievements and to give his side of the story of how and why Nanzhao vanquished two Chinese invading armies.

       The Tang Court considered Nanzhao its vassal and an ally against Tibet, which was a strong military state back then and a perennial threat to Sichuan.  Nanzhao saw itself as fully independent and its astute kings played one state off against the other to further its own interests and security.   As it grew in size and strength, Nanzhao aroused Chinese suspicion and the Tang Court launched punitive expeditions in the mid-8^th century, all of which failed miserably.

wax sculptures of the Nanzhao Court

       Nanzhao’s army repulsed the first before it could even approach the Dali Plain.  The second expedition crossed the Cangshan Mountains, but Nanzhao forces simply retreated to Taihe and stayed comfortably ensconced within its walls while their enemies succumbed to malaria and starvation.  The third and biggest attempt, said to consist of 200,000 troops led by General Li Mi, suffered a horrific defeat at Dengchuan, just north of Erhai, trapped between the warriors of Nanzhao on one side and Tibetans on the other.

       These became known as the Tianbao Wars, after the after the name of the Tang reigning era.  A mound preserved in one of the back streets of Xiaguan is supposed to contain the remains of the 200,000 Chinese killed in the last invasion.  The mound is too small for that, or even for just the heads, so perhaps it just contains the ashes.  

the recreated palace at Nanzhao Culture City

       The other vestige of the Tianbao Wars is the General’s Temple, dedicated to Li Mi, on the side of a hill in Xiaguan’s southwest suburbs.  Following an unusual custom, pious Bai worshippers make daily offerings to him here.  It’s as if they were apologizing for wiping out the general’s entire army, propitiating his spirit to avoid any spiritual revenge on his part.

       The victories confirmed Nanzhao’s independence, even though Tang China still considered it a vassal state.  The kingdom continued to grow until the late 9^th century before, overextended, it began a rapid decline.  Meanwhile, it also developed culturally and the 8^th and 9^th centuries witnessed the construction of several temples and pagodas that are today among the area’s top attractions.

the Snake Bone Pagoda 

       These include two temples—Gantong and Shenyuan—high up on the slopes of the western mountains.  More accessible is the Chongsheng Temple, just north of the old city, in front of which stand the iconic Three Pagodas.  The tallest one, with 16 closely spaced tiers, stands in the center nearly 70 meters high.  Smaller, ten-story pagodas, in a different style, rise 43 meters on either side.  The complex dates its construction to the early 9^th century.  The temple there now is a late 20^th century reconstruction, for the original was completely destroyed during the Muslim Rebellion in the 19^th century.

       The Three Pagodas survived unscathed, as they had during wars in the past.  They have also withstood several serious earthquakes.  The Lone Pagoda, outside the southwest corner of the walled city, replicates the style of the central pagoda at Chongsheng Temple, as does the Snake Bone Pagoda, four km north of central Xiaguan and today all but hidden behind new roadside apartment blocks.

shop houses in the old city

       At just over 30 meters height, the Snake Bone Pagoda is the smallest of the Nanzhao-era pagodas, but has the most interesting origin myth.  Accordingly, in the past a demon snake from the lake was causing floods all over the plain and the king promised a big reward to anyone who could kill it.  A local hero answered the call, wrapped his body with knives and jumped into Erhai Lake. 

       The demon snake swallowed him whole.  The hero then rolled around inside the snake’s body, mortally wounding it with the knives until both were dead.  The king ordered the snake’s body opened, the hero’s removed and his body given a magnificent funeral.  Then he ordered the Snake Bone Pagoda to be built in his honor.  Like the other ancient pagodas, it has also survived wars and earthquakes.

       Other Nanzhao relics lie further afield, like the late 9^th century Iron Pillar in Midu County and the shrines and sculptures of Shibaoshan in Jianchuan County.  Dali still reveres its Nanzhao legacy and in the mkd-90s created the Nanzhao Culture City in the southern suburbs.  The main building is a recreation of the ancient palace and the compound includes exhibition rooms of costumed wax figures in scenes of Court rituals, the Tianbao Wars, receiving envoys, etc. 

South Gate, 1993, before renovattion

       The Nanzhao Kingdom fell when a usurper massacred the entire royal family to seize power.  Internecine warfare followed, kings rose and fell and finally in 937 Duan Siping, a Bai lord from Yuanbang village, at the foot of Wutai Mountain, where a statue of him stands in the Sanling Temple, assembled allies, took control, founded a new dynasty and gave the state a new name—the Kingdom of Dali.  Shortly afterwards, in 960 China also had a new ruling dynasty—the Song. 

       But this regime did not make any trouble for its southwestern neighbor.  The Song Dynasty’s main security concern was its northern frontiers and the menace of mounted nomads.  China needed horses for its own forces to deal with this enemy and the Kingdom of Dali was a prime source.  For the Song Court it was better to keep the peace with Dali so as not to upset the trade in horses.

South Gate at night

       Thus the Kingdom of Dali enjoyed over three centuries of peace.  It did not, like Nanzhao, seek to enlarge itself and was never as big a state.  Areas to the east and south were relatively autonomous and Dali’s direct administration only applied to what is now Dali Prefecture.  Part of the consequence was an emphasis on religion.  The state patronized temples, renovated old ones and built new ones.  Nine of its 22 kings retired to become monks.

       The kingdom’s peace came to an end in 1244, when a Mongol army advanced against its northern frontier.  Dali’s king dispatched a strong force that defeated the invaders at Jiuhe, a little north of Jianchuan County.  Eight years later a much bigger Mongol army, personally commanded by Kubilai Khan, swept down from recently conquered Lijiang and besieged Dali.  King Duan Xingzhi’s troops put up a good fight, temporarily halted the Mongol advance, but only held out until the beginning of 1253.  Dali’s king fled to Kunming, but pursuing troops captured him.

Fuzinglu viewed from South Gate

the Tower of Five Glories

       Contrary to ordinary Mongol practice upon taking a city, Kubilai Khan forbade plunder and massacre.  He brought Duan Xingzhi back to Dali and installed him as the Mongols’ administrator of the area.  He also left a stone inscription of his achievement on a stele mounted on a slope just west of the old city, which is still in place.  Together with the Dali troops, he went on to subdue the rest of Yunnan and annexed it to the Mongol Empire.  In 1279, when Kubilai Khan inaugurated the Yuan Dynasty, Yunnan then became part of China.  The following century the Ming Dynasty overthrew the Yuan, but Mongol forces remained in Yunnan until finally driven out in 1382.

Qing Dynasty buildings in the old city

       To fully incorporate Yunnan into China, the Ming Court sponsored large-scale immigration into the province and stationed garrisons of soldier-farmers, many of them Muslims, all over the western part.  Dali was rebuilt, with surrounding walls and massive gates at the four cardinal directions.  The remnants of this layout became prime attractions when Dali became a tourist destination.  The East and West Gates were only reconstructed in recent decades, while some remains of the old wall were extended.  The North and South Gates are still the original buildings, though the stone lions in front of the South Gate disappeared during renovation in the mid-90a.   

       Inside the walls, shop-houses and other buildings went up in the Ming style, dominated by the Tower of Five Glories on the main north-south street.  The original looked like a rectangular block, taller than it was wide, with an arched passageway at its base, and a wide, tiled roof with upturned corners, similar to those on the four city gates. 

Dali's Catholic Church

       During the Second World War, city authorities demolished the Tower because it feared Japanese air forces could use it as a landmark to bomb other targets in the vicinity.  When it was rebuilt, it was in a totally different style, taller, with three tiers, a standard Qing Dynasty building.  In recent decades smaller pavilions have been added to the area and today it is one of the most popular spots in the city. 

       The shop houses on the southern half of Fuxinglu, the street between the North and South Gates, now sell marble ware, jewelry, Bai handicrafts and other souvenirs, but those on the northern side still cater to the local population.  A Protestant church on this street as well as a Catholic church on a lane around the corner from the center of town, attest to the efforts of Christian missionaries in the early 20^th century.  They didn’t win many converts, but the churches, in the style of local architecture, are still intact and among the sites tourists visit. 

       The natural beauty of its setting alone would suffice to draw travelers to spend time in Dali, even if it had no relics of its past.  But it does, and these are unique assets.  Dali’s monumental legacy stretches back fourteen centuries, covering each successive stage of its history.  No other city in Yunnan can make the same claim.

watchtower at Shangguan, from where sentries saw the Mongol armies pour into the plain 

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