Dali City, situated in the west of Yunnan Province, has an area of 28,500 square kilometers with a population of 3 million.Dali Bai Nationality Autonomous Prefecture has one city and 11 counties within its jurisdiction. Its prefectural capital is Dali City including Xiaguan city and Dali ancient city.

Dali City is a famous historic cultural city of China, once the capital city of Nanzhao regime and Dali Regime in the ancient China, a city of picturesque scenery. With the verdant greenery Erhai Lake as its center, the scenic spot and place of historic site of Dali constitute one of the major places of historic interest and scenic beauty of China.

There are four scenic areas in the Dali region, including the Cangshan Mountains, Erhai Lake, Butterfly Spring and other historic relics ( in Dali City), Jizu Mountain ( in Bingchuan County ), Shibao Mountain ( in Jianchuan County ) and Weibao Mountain (in Weishan County ). Among those areas, Dali City attracts the largest numbers of Chinese and foreign visitors.

Dali City possesses one of the country's seven freshwater lakes -- Erhai Lake. There are big embankments along the banks of the lake. It belongs to the subtropical monsoon climatic zone with conspicuous dimensional climatic character, the annual average temperature of which is 15.1C and the yearly precipitation of 1100 mm. It has the rich resource such as platinum and marble and also gold, lead, brown coal (lignite), copper and rock salt (halite), etc. It is also rich in such resources as hydraulic power, forestry and mountainous grassland.

Dali Ancient City is widely acknowledged as "Backpackers' Paradise" in China. Foreign visitors like to stay in Dali ancient city. Some of them live there for months or even years, to observe and study the fascinating culture of Bai nationality. In the so - called " Yangren Street (foreigner's street) " in the heart of ancient city where is always full of foreign visitors, there are several dozens of cafes, western style restaurants, and clothes shops offering services to foreign guests. And it seems that everyone of local Dali Bai people in the Yangren Street is a multi linguist.

Dali Ancient City was set up in 1383 in the Ming Dynasty. It has a history of more than 600 years. When the city was first set up, it was entirely enclosed by the city walls on four sides and each side had a gate. Over the years, the walls on the east and west sides were destroyed. Only the walls on the south and the north were destroyed. in 1983, the local government renovated the wall and the gate tower. On the tower, four Chinese characters are quite striking, meaning "Literary State". inside the gate, an old street, running from south to north, connects the south gate with the north gate.

This ancient city was once a vital communications hub where the population was dense. Many trade caravans gathered here and the markets were prosperous. On both sides of the street, there were numerous shops, inns, tea houses and restaurants, very bustling and exciting. The local government has given high priority to its preservation. So Dali Ancient City still remains its original looks. Now, the shops here mainly sell some locally-made handicraft articles: marble products, straw weaving wares, embroideries, wax printing clothes and other ornaments. Small retailers also sell some antiques, ancient paintings, old coins and silver wares.

In the field of industries, it has placed the development of food industry as its priority industry with the development of mining, building materials, machinery, textile and other industries. Traditionally well-known local products and specialties are the Bowl-Shaped Compressed Mass of Tea Leaves, Cigar, Zha-dyed cloth, Bow Fish and snow pear. In the field of agriculture, paddy rice, wheat, rapeseed, sugar cane and flue-cured tobacco and others are grown in abundance. In the area of communication, priority is given to highway traffic.