Dali’s Today
2 min readDali today is full of vitality and prosperity in both the urban and rural areas.
With the development in machinery，electricity，textile，chemicals，papermaking，tea processing，marble products and so on，it has now become an industrial base in the west of Yunnan Province.The mainstay in the economy of the city is the production of cigarettes，tea，marble articles，clothing，cement and electric power.The Dali marble，Tuocha（white tea），furniture，tie-dyed cloth，straw woven hats，and plywood are well known both at home and abroad.In agriculture，Dali mainly produces rice，wheat，broad beans and maize.The species of rice”Dianyue No.1″turns out 1014 kilograms per mu（1/15 of a hectare）creating the highest record in China.And one crop of broad beans ranked the first in our country，yielding 514 kilograms per mu.In recent years，medicinal and perfuming crops are popularized.In sum，both in the city and around the countryside，Dali has become wealthy and prosperous，indeed a land of“fish and rice”in the west of Yunnan.
Minority Nationality Life
The folk ways of the minority nationality are richly colourful.The architectural layout of”Sanfang Yizhaobi”（a courtyard with rooms on three sides and a screen wall on the remaining side）and”Sihe Wutianjing”（one big courtyard with four smaller ones at the corners of the main one）of the Bai nationality is elegant yet unsophisticated.”Every household has a water well and every family owns a number of potted flowers”are the tradition and common practice of the Bais.
The attire of the Bai girls are brilliant and graceful，simple yet harmonious.The national minorities in the Dali area have many traditional festivals and gatherings，namely:the Benzhu Festival（worshipping the guardian saint or the local god of a Bai community），the Flower Festival，the March Fair，Raosanling Festival，Torchlight Festival and Lake Tour Festival.Among them，the March Fair is the most magnificent of all.
