page_title: Dali City
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Dali City / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: The American Museum journal Identifier: americanmuseumjo18amer (find matches) Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s) Authors: American Museum of Natural History Subjects: Natural history Publisher: New York&#160;: American Museum of Natural History Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: 262 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL treasures and a safeguard of her his- tory. China should have a simUar ac- tive society to protect, care for, and repair her buildings, monuments, and antiquities. She needs an Arcliajologi- cal Survey, financed by the government and administered by trained men, to locate and appraise her scientific treas- ures and to undertake the establishment of national and provincial museums where her priceless objects of art and antiquity can find a permanent resting place and be open to exhibition and study. In this period of transition China's peril is great. She must awake to save the memorials of her ancient civiliza- tion or they will be stolen from her by ruthless vandals, bartered to enrich the coffers of soulless traders, and the rec- ords of her glorious past will lie in cruuiljling walls and heaps of dust.^ ^ See A merican Museum Journal, Vol. XVI, pp. 109-112, and Vol. XVII, pp. 525 and 530 for further illustrations of Chinese" monuments photo- graphed by Mr. Andrews. Text Appearing After Image: Gate at the old city of Tali-fu in Yunnan. — Marco Polo passed through this gate about the year 1284. The famous traveler visited China during the reign of Kublai Kahn, and it is mainly to his book of recollections that Cathay, as the Chinese empire was known to mediseval Europe, owed the growing familiarity of its name in Europe during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The Polos were pioneers of a very considerable intercourse between China and Europe, which endured for about half a century, or until the end of the Mongol dynasty. Trees are growing from the upper parts of this historical monument and it soon will be a crumbling ruin Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: Dali City, formerly known as Tali, is the county-level seat of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in northwestern Yunnan. Dali City is administered through 12 township-level districts, two of which are also commonly referred to as Dali.
  Xiaguan is the modern city centre and usually conflated with Dali City by virtue of being its seat. This town is the destination of most long-distance transportation heading to Dali and is sometimes referred to as Dali New Town to avoid confusion.
  Dali Town is another division of Dali City, located 10 km to the north of Xiaguan. This town, commonly referred to as Dali Old Town to distinguish it from the city seat in Xiaguan, is usually the Dali referred to in tourist publications. 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.
context_section_description: The Dali area was formerly known as Xiemie (苴咩; Xiémiē). The old town was the medieval capital of both the Bai kingdom Nanzhao (fl. 8th and 9th centuries) and the Kingdom of Dali (937–1253). That city was razed and its records burnt during its conquest by China's Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. The present old town was organized in the late 14th century under the Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. The area became significantly Muslim (Hui) under the Yuan and Ming and was the center of the Panthay Rebellion against the Qing from 1856–1863. It was severely damaged during a massive earthquake in 1925.
  Rail and then air transport have permitted the area (particularly Dali Old Town) to become accessible to tourists in the 20th century. It is now one of China's official tourist cities and, along with nearby Lijiang, one of the most popular towns. In order to preserve the appeal of the old town, industrial development is restricted to newer townships such as Xiaguan. Building codes mandate that new construction in the old town and surrounding countryside must conform to the traditional Chinese style, with tiled roofs and bricks, plaster, or white-washed walls.
caption: Dali's Wuhualou in 1918.
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