1. Brief Introduction
Dali City, formerly known as Tali, is the county-level seat of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in northwestern Yunnan.
Similar to Carlisle in England, Dali City is not a single city but a county-sized area called a city for administrative purposes. Transportation to Dali usually arrives at the modern industrial city called "Dali" but locally distinguished by its former name Xiaguan. Travelers to and discussion of "Dali", however, usually refers to the old town located about an hour away. The old town is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Yunnan, known for its natural scenery, historical and cultural heritage, and vibrant nightlife.
2. Economy
The total GDP of Dali is 31.351 billion CNY in 2014, total fiscal revenue 4.057 billion CNY, investment in fixed assets above designated size 26.248 billion CNY. In 2012 the total value of foreign trade import and export is 60.93 million US dollars. Much of the local economy now centers around tourism and services catering to travelers. Historically, Dali was able to control some of the trade between India and China and independently famed for the woodworkers of Xizhou and for its high-quality marble, used both for construction and decorative objects. There is also local tea. It was so prominent in the latter that the modern Chinese word for marble is literally "Dali stone".
3. Education
In 2012, Dali secondary school students amount to 17119 ; adult higher education is about 12686 students; secondary specialized school enrollment 4416 people, 13822 students; technical school enrollment 1940 people, 3034 students; ordinary Secondary school enrollment of 1595 people, 3747 students in school; ordinary primary school enrollment of 6882 people, 45,941 students; Dali City, 7133 full-time teachers of various schools. By the end of 2012, there are 2 public libraries with 399,000 books and 2 museums. A radio station, a television station. Cultural and artistic groups performed 566 games, published 10,329,000 copies of newspapers,
In 2014, the establishment of historical and cultural city protection bureau enhance the ancient city protection for historical buildings and ancient trees management approach, Start the restoration and reconstruction of the ancient city cultural center, the implementation of Dali Museum of Art and the Dali Photography Museum project.
4. Climate
Dali has a mild subtropical highland climate with short, mild, dry winters and warm, rainy summers as its low latitude tempered by its high elevation. Frost may occur in winter but the days still generally warm up to 15 °C (59 °F) or more. During summer, a majority of the days features some rainfall and daytime temperatures rise to 24 °C (75 °F). A great majority of the year's rainfall occurs from June to October. December 2013 was particularly marked for its high snowfall. Year temperature difference is small, the four seasons is not obvious in climate characteristics, the four seasons is often like early spring, warm and comfortable.
5. Transportation
Dali has convenient transportation: Dali Airport is a about 13 km east of Xiaguan on Weishan or Airport Rd. It services Kunming (20 min), Xishuangbanna(25 min), Chongqing (70 min), Chengdu (80 min), Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and GuiCNY. Dali is connected to Kunming and points east by the Hangrui Expressway, which also runs west toRuili on the Burmese border. The Dali Expressway is a spur connecting it with Lijiang. The road to the old town is China National Highway 214, which connects to the expressway to Lijiang north of the lake. It also runs south from Xiaguan to Menghai near the Burmese border. Long-distance busses run from the old town's west gate to Kunming, Lijiang, and Shangri-La. Every Monday, service is also available to Shaping for its market. Long-distance busses run from Xiaguan's stations on Jianshe Road. Dali has rail connections with daily service to Kunming via the Guangtong-Dali Railway and Lijiang via the Dali-Lijiang Railway. Service to Kunming usually consists of one train during the day and two trains running overnight, with sleeper cars. As the railway network expands in Yunnan, train service will become available to Shangri-La County and Ruili.
6. Tourism
Dali a world-known tourist city. Approved by the Ministry of Forestry, Dali established five national forest parks, namely Weishan County Wei Baoshan, Xiangyun County Qinghua Cave, Midu County Dongshan, Nanjian County Lingbao Mountain, Yongping Po Taishan. There are 1 state-level nature reserve: Cangshan Erhai Lake, 3 provincial nature reserves :Yunlong County Tianchi, Binchuan County Jizu Mountain, Yongping County Jinguang Temple and 14 state-level nature reserves. Cangshan has been identified higher plant species there are 182 families, 927 genera, and about 3000 species. Dali is one of the major medicinal herbs producing areas in Yunnan Province. It is well known for its variety and good quality. There are 600 kinds of Chinese herbal medicines are included in the national management. By the end of 2011, Dali has been awarded the title of "National Historic and Cultural City", "National Scenic Area", "National Nature Reserve", "Excellent Tourist City of China", "Best Chinese Charm City", "Cangshan National Geopark "and" China's top ten tourism and leisure city "and many other titles.
Population: 6.52 million
Temperature: average 14.9 °C (58.82 °F)
