Dali 大理镇 | |
|---|---|
 Dali Old Town | |
  Dali Location in Yunnan | |
| Coordinates:25°42′09″N100°09′19″E / 25.7026°N 100.1554°E /25.7026; 100.1554 | |
| Country | People's Republic of China |
| Province | Yunnan |
| Autonomous prefecture | Dali |
| County-level city | Dali City |
| Elevation | 2,007 m (6,585 ft) |
| Population (2010)[1] | |
• Total | 82,556 |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (China Standard) |
| Dali Old Town Dali | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||||
| Chinese | 大理古城 | ||||||||
| Postal | Tali | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Bai name | |||||||||
| Bai | Darl·lit | ||||||||
| Hani name | |||||||||
| Hani | Dafli | ||||||||
Dali Town (Chinese:大理镇;pinyin:Dàlǐ Zhèn) is atownship-level division inDali City, in the northwest ofYunnan province,China. The town contains the historic centre of thecounty-level city of Dali and is also commonly known asDali Old Town (Chinese:大理古城;pinyin:Dàlǐ Gǔchéng). The modern centre of Dali City, however, is 10 km south of the old town atXiaguan.[2] Being the county seat of Dali City, Xiaguan is often labelled as Dali on maps and is sometimes referred to as Dali New Town (大理新镇) to distinguish it from Dali Town. The old town has become well known as a tourist site in part thanks to its picturesque location and historicBai architecture.
Dali has long been a regional centre of commerce, being located at a crossroads of trade routes between Tibet, China, Burma, and Southeast Asia. TheBai people first settled the region 3000 years ago.[3] Dali first emerged as the capital of theNanzhao Kingdom in the 8th century. Later, the town served as the capital of theKingdom of Dali until its conquest by theYuan.
The old town of Dali has been preserved in a 1.5 by 1.5 km wide townsite surrounded by its ancient walls. Due to its relatively well-preserved architecture, the town has developed as a major tourist attraction in recent decades. Major sites of interest includethe Three Pagodas, Dali Museum, the ancient city gates,an artificial town built as the set forDemi-Gods and Semi-Devils, and theCang Mountain Range to the west.
Dali Town is located in a depression at the southern end of theYun Mountains, part of the greaterHengduan Mountains at the southeast edge of theTibetan Plateau. This depression, an extension of theRed River Fault, is filled byErhai, a lake that is part of theMekong River basin. The old town of Dali is located on a plain between Erhai on the east and theCang Mountains to the west.[4]
Dali is served by local public transit buses inDali City connecting withXiaguan. The town also has some long-distance bus services that run toKunming andLijiang.Highway 214 runs through the town, eventually connecting withTibet Autonomous Region in the north andXishuangbanna in the south. The nearest train station and airport are both in Xiaguan.
Dali has been dramatically changed by tourism since the mid-2000s, when a number of bed-and-breakfast began to open to cater to domestic and foreign tourists. Subsequent to the discovery of pollution in Erhai lake and a visit from Chinese President and General Secretary of the Communist PartyXi Jinping, inns within twenty meters of the lakeside were closed and in some cases demolished, in order to prevent sewage from leaking into the lake.
