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The Old Town
A proper look at the old town begins at Tonghaimen, the South Gate that is Dali's finest extant classical building. It is the first building to catch the morning sun rays, which add a bright patina to the wood-carved struts and awnings and the sloping roofs with the curling corners. From the balcony of the first tier one can see the straight streets and rectangular layout of the city. Parts of the old wall are connected to each side of this gate. The original stood about 8 metres high and was partially dismantled after the Muslim Revolt. At the end of the 90's the local government reconstructed the entire length of the wall's southern section, hoping in the near future to re-erect the other three sides, along with the eastern and western gates.
One long main street connects the South Gate with An Yuan Gate at the northern end, somewhat smaller but sporting exquisite woodcarved decorations. This is the business thoroughfare of Dali, Fuxinlu, lined on each side with shop-houses in the old style, occasionally interrupted by new, taller, cement buildings. At the end of the 90's this street was widened, motor traffic banned, marble benches and ornate lamp posts set up, and the Tower of Five Glories, a Qing style, three-story building that replaced a more modest structure which had been there until the Second World War, was constructed to straddle Fuxinlu in the southern part of the old town.
Besides the shops Fuxinlu is full of small stands selling handicrafts. 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 shops all the way to Huguolu, in the centre of Dali.
Also not far from the south gate, on the left,is the Dali City Museum. The main hall here is actually Du Wenxiu's former headquarters. A pair of cannon used in his reign is on display in front. The exhibits inside include Nanzhao sculptures, ancient artifacts and samples of attractive marble slabs. In the gardens outside stand many stone steles, some with inscriptions in Sanskrit.
Continuing down the main street beyond the Tower of Five Glories visitors pass a city park, where the older men like to gather to listen to their caged songbirds while they converse or play mah-jong. A little further on is the Huguolu intersection, the beginning of the backpacker area. Two blocks north and one block east is Yu Er Park, a more secluded venue for relaxing, landscaped with flower trees, ponds and rockeries. Back up on the main street and another two blocks north is the old Catholic church. While the missionaries didn't convert a great many residents, the church is still there, and still holding Sunday services. A newer Catholic church, in the classic Chinese style, lies off a lane branching south from Renminlu.
Church efforts in Dali were a minor footnote to the great religious influence of Buddhism and Islam. Buddhism, the Indian Mahayana sect, was the religion of Nanzhao, inspiring the magnificent pagodas around Dali and the sculptures. of Shibaoshan. The most famous work of religious art is the Three Pagodas just north of Dali. The central one stands 69 metres tall and has 16 tiers. The companion pair have 10 tiers each and are 43 metres high. All three once adorned the Chongsheng Monastery, formerly the largest in the area, but destroyed in the Muslim Revolt. Miraculously, the pagodas were left unmolested and also survived several major earthquakes since their construction.
Two other Nanzhao pagodas merit attention. The Lone Pagoda of Hongshen Temple, just across the highway west of the south gate, towers 46 metres and has 16 tiers. Further south, in Yangpi village, 3 km northwest of Xiaguan, stands the Fotu Pagoda, or Skeleton Python Pagoda. With 13 tiers it rises 39 metres and takes its name from a Nanzhao legend. Accordingly, a python used to prey upon the local villagers until he happened to swallow the fully armed hero Duan Chicheng, who sliced the snake's insides and killed it, though he perished himself. The villagers interned both him and the python's skeleton in this pagoda they erected to commemorate the event.
Besides the pagodas, other sites in the area are connected to the Nanzhao legacy. The unusual General's Temple, on a hill just northwest of Xiaguan, honours one of the great losers in Chinese history-the commander of a strong Tang Dynasty army which invaded Nanzhao in the 8th century and was wiped out to the last man. Their bones were collected and deposited in a big stone urn in Tianbao Park in the city. General Li Mi, their commander, committed suicide, but his descendants erected the temple and the local Bai have adopted him as a protector god.
Artifacts and sculptures from the Nanzhao period, among other exhibits, are on display in the provincial museum in Xiaguan. And in recent years a recreation of the old palace has been put up on the southern edge of Dali.
More Nanzhao relics exist between Xiaguan and Dali, specifically at Taihe, which for a while served as the kingdom's capital. On the west side of the road above Taihe the stone Nanzhao Stele is housed in a small park. Erected by King Geluofeng in 706, its 3800 characters narrate Nanzhao's early history, its relationship to Tang China and its differences with Chang'an, as well as its side of the current conflict. Across the road, sloping down towards the plain beside the lake, lies Taihe. Not much of its Nanzhao look is left, save for parts of the original wall, but, like Dali off the main thoroughfare, it is an interesting warren of stone houses and cobbled streets.
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