Entries about pagodas

Travelling through Dali was my favorite part of the trip through Yunan. Dali was historically the heart of the Buddhist area in southern China and still has a strong Buddhist community. The main site is the Three Pagodas, but before you get to them, you walk up through the newly rebuilt Chongsheng monasteries.

Here we are with our guide, who (I think) said he was half Han Chinese (the majority ethnic group in all of China) and half Bai, which is the main ethnic group that comes from Dali. He's the one holding the flag. The guy talking into the microphone is translating the Chinese info into Korean.

All of the monasteries were destroyed by fire, earthquake, and war, but they were restored in the late 90s (finished in 2005). They did a pretty good job restoring the buildings and with the new paint, it's really beautiful, but it does feel like it's missing that 'historicalness' that the pagodas have. But the restoration is really thorough and the colors really draw you in.

During the height of Buddhist influence, 9 kings abdicated in succession in order to become monks at the temple here. They were each represented by huge painted statues. Because the buildings are still active monasteries, we were asked not to take pictures, but some of the kings were pretty scary looking (wonder what kind of monks they became). Outside of the temples, there were these red and yellow flags. I was looking for some explanation, but the best I could find was that it was part of a 'wish tree' where people lift their wishes up. These ones were pre-printed and available for sale.

The Three Pagodas were built sometime in the 800s and have survived fires, wars and earthquakes. In fact, the pagoda on the left leans pretty noticeably (but I also used a fisheye lens, so both towers look like they're leaning). Supposedly, they have little or no foundation which makes their survival even more extraordinary. During one Earthquake, one of the Pagodas developed a large crack, but then when the aftershocks hit, the crack healed and the pagoda remains today.

Dali (and Yunan in general) is celebrated for it's farmland. These images (all but the first one were taken from the moving bus - sorry), really give you a feel for how the ride through Dali went. It was just one incredible landscape after another.