Dali History

Dali, located in the middle part of Yunnan Province, is a vast territory and has abundant resources with beautiful mountains and rivers. Dali is a block in southwest of China needed to be developed. Having a long history, Dali is one of the earliest cultural birthplaces. Dali is famous for the pretty landscape and exotic ethnic customs.
 

In Ancient Times

In 221BC, the Qin Dynasty (221BC-206BC) began to operate the southwest of China and established the administrative institutions in the southwest area. Since then, the central government had begun to manage the Dali. In 109BC, Emperor Wudi sent troops to defeat the small troops in southwestern China and built Yeyu County in Dali, opening the Silk Road in Southern China, which made Dali become the transfer station from Sichuan to India.

In the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280), Liu Bei built the Shu-Han Kingdom. The area of Yunnan, Guizhou and the southwest of Sichuan was called Nanzhong belonging to Shu Kingdom. Meng Huo was caught by Zhu Geliang (a person of great wisdom and resourcefulness in ancient China) because of the rebellion. After the rebellion, Shu Kingdom reconstructed Yunnan County in Dali. In 265, Ningzhou was set up, which managed Dali. In 597 in Sui Dynasty (581-618), the area of Kunming took place the rebellion. The Sui Dynasty pacified the rebellion. In Tang Dynasty (681-907), Dudufu was set up in Rongzhou. And the counties in Dali were administered by Dudufu.

In 7th century, around the Lake Erhai in Dali area appeared about 6 tribes. The one in the south called Nanzhao. In 8th century, with the help of Tang, Nanzhao developed gradually. Meanwhile, the contradiction between them was intense. So in 749 and 754, the war between then broke out and in 794, they were reconciled to each other again.

In 937, the Dali Kingdom was built by Duan Siping, which almost inherited the territory of Nanzhao. About more than 300 years, the Yunnan area was under the management of Dali Kingdom. In 1253, Kublai (one emperor in Yuan Dynasty) destroyed Dali. In 1274, Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) built Yunnan Province. In Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) Dynasty, Yunnan Province was an important in southern China. The status was ranked only second to Kunming and the economic and cultural development was also close to the Central Plain Region. The politics was secure and the historical events didn’t have a lot.
 

In Contemporary Time

After the founding of new China, the commissioner government office was built in 1950. In 1956, Heqing and Jianchuan were divided into Dali Prefecture. In 1956, November, Dali Bai Nationality Autonomous Prefecture was built. Until 2000, there were 1 city and 11 counties in the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture.