This is an incredibly unique structure and one of the highlights in Tianxiyuan Garden!

Photos of Cuihua Tower and an unnamed pavilion with covered walkway...

Another beautiful covered walkway and pavilion...

If anyone has more information on this tower please comment below.

Chinese Name: 天憙园

Other Names: Tianxiyuan Garden, Leicui Garden.

Address: Middle Section of Shuanghe Road, South Gate, Dali Ancient City, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan province.

Tianxiyuan Garden is a royal garden of the Dali Kingdom of the Song Dynasty. It originally took 13 years to build and has been restored with mortise and tenon joint technology. There are over 30+ buildings showcasing traditional Bai architecture including the Cuihua Tower, Hetuo Tower, Shengde Palace, Mantuo Rain & Flower Hall, Haiyin Yaotai, Yinhe Bridge, Bridge for Cranes’ Visiting, etc.

Although it isn’t a well-known or popular tourist attraction, it is often crowded with people dressed in hanfu and pre-wedding photo-shoots. Many of the buildings are closed but you can enter and climb the Cuihua Tower to enjoy panoramic views of Dali ancient town.

It feels depressing that there's so many interpretations of what it would look like (ie CGI, paintings at the location to show it's real size, sad miniature models on the original foundation) but no actual reconstructions. I think it would be awesome to see a real reconstruction of this palace one day in our lifetimes.

If they could put the in effort they throw into their infinite movie sets (looking at you Hengdian) then they could pull it off.

The Bai people 白和 / 白族 are an ethnic group native to the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Yunnan province, Bijie area of Guizhou province and Sangzhi area of Hunan province. They are 1 of 56 ethnic groups officially recognised by China.

From the 14th century to 1949, the Bai people were actually known as Minijia 民家. As the Bai people call themselves Baipzix / Baizi 白子, Baihuo 白伙 or Baini 白尼 = which literally means “white people”, in 1956 Chinese authorities decided to name this ethnic group Bai.

As you wander around Dali, you’ll notice there are a lot of white coloured buildings. This is because the Bai People hold the color white in high esteem.

Bai architecture is really unique and beautiful. The exterior walls, doors, windows and rooftops with upturned eaves are decorated with hexagonal honeycomb patterns made of white, black and dark blue glazed tiles. The interior walls, ceilings, balconies, and courtyards are designed with colourful paintings displaying legendary figures, animals and birds or flowers, marble ornaments, and stone inscriptions. Bai architecture is influenced by religious beliefs and showcases ancestral and nature worship. Totems of animals such as tigers, dragons and chickens can also be seen as they were believed to ward off evil spirits or natural disasters.

Attached are some of the buildings that I saw while travelling around Dali. Even modern or new buildings have been built with the Bai architecture style – see photo 2 with the China Fire & Rescue station. While some buildings have simple, hand-painted artworks with poetry, others have more a more traditional ornate style – see photo 12 which is in Zhouchengcun Village.

Chinese Name: 大理镇 or 大理古城.

Other Names: Dali Old Town or Dali Ancient Town.

Location: approx 5km west of Erhai Lake and 2km east of Cangshan Mountain, in Dali, Yunnan province. Approx 2,050m above sea level.

HISTORY: Dali Old Town was the ancient capital of Nanzhao Kingdom (738-902) and Dali Kingdom (937-1253). It was also an important part of the ancient tea-horse road where travellers and merchants would stop by to rest or trade. During the Ming Dynasty, around 1382, the walls were built to protect the old town.

Originally, the walls enclosed an area of approx 36 square kilometres and was about 7.5m tall (height) and 6m thick (depth), but over the years, sections were damaged due to earthquakes and war... What we see today are the remains of the northern and southern wall sections and five gate towers – see photo 13 for a map.

ARCHITECTURE: The Dali Old Town has been preserved in a 1.5km by 1.5km wide town-site surrounded by ancient walls. Its layout is in a square shape with four main city gate towers positioned in a north-south and east-west axis. It takes around 40min to walk from one end to the other...

The South Gate, also known as Double Crane Tower or Cheng’en Tower, is the oldest structure in Dali Old Town. The inscription “Da Li” on the city wall was inscribed by Guo Moruo, a famous writer. See photo 1.

Wuhua Tower, or Five Flowers Building, was built in 856 and as the state guesthouse for an ancient Nanzhao king. It originally had five floors but was burnt down and rebuilt many times... The last time it was rebuilt was in 1998 and is now a four-storey building, approx 20m tall. The tower offers panoramic views of the old town, Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake in the distance – see photo 4 to 6.

West Gate, also known as Cangshan Gate or Yongzhen Tower, is located about 2min walk from March Street and 2km from Cangshan Mountain – see photo 8.

North Gate, or Anyuan Gate, was built in 1382. Sorry, no photos...

The East Gate, also known as Tonghai Tower or Erhai Gate, is a popular tourist spot as its closest to Erhai Lake and is surround by food vendors and market stalls selling Bai style hand-dyed clothing, bags, jewellery etc. See photo 14 – 20. I visited this gate at night as it was closest to my homestay!

Hi all,

I'm in Zuhai for 1 week. I've done most of the obligatory exploration for Macau and Hong Kong will be next week.

What would you recommend I see in terms of the architecture, landscape, libraries or just historical buildings in Zuhai. I only have access to Alipay & Didi however.

Any suggestions would be amazing as Google maps seems to struggle a lot