Foreign Tourist Street

Located in the Dali Ancient City, Foreign Tourist Street merely has a thousand meters long from the east to the west with the width of seven meters. Paved with dark gray slates, it is an indispensable part for tourists when they visit Dali Ancient City.

What happened?

Originally named Huguo Street, there once occurred an event that Yunnan people upraised their arms to rebel against the Yuan Shikai who claimed himself the emperor at that time.

Features

Dali Ancient City has a chessboard layout with five streets from south to north and eight lanes from east to west, Foreign Tourist Street are among them being one line segment of the chess. Therefore, it has been kept the architecture of Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911). The residential houses are typically laid out either in the form of Sanfang Yi Zhaobi (three houses and one screen wall in front) or Sihe Wu Tianjin (four houses and five courtyards). It is a pedestrian street where scatters many western restaurants, café and shops titled with English words.

What to buy

Foreign Tourist Street gathers a series of souvenirs, among them the marble handicrafts have been the most popular such as Four Treasures of Study flowerpot, vase and lantern made from marbles. The most featured in Bai minority is tie dyeing that almost each Bai people can make. Dali snow pear produced in the east shore of Lake Erhai tastes soft and fine. Visitors prefer to hunt for souvenirs in the Huguo Street where collects various local products.

Three Courses of Tea

There is a unique tea called “Three Courses of Tea” that can be easily found in the Foreign Tourist Street which symbolically mirrors life's progress - first bitter then sweet. The first course is slightly bitter; the second course is trifle sweet (walnuts and candy are added to the tea), and the third course is unforgettable satisfying.

Place suggest to go

Visitors could find bazaars in Xingsheng Road and Fuxing Road in Dali City, where small commodities can be found easily.