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Dali, a treasure land, boasts of its natural
beauty, long history, famous culture and elite peoples, enjoying a
fame of "Culturally Renown City".
 Mountains in Dali are very high, with green pine
and jade like bamboo. Brooks flow with pretty sounds. Flowers are
blooming everywhere. Cangshan in Dali is very steep, pretty and
charming with its sharp cliffs, green trees and flowers. There are
19 screen-like peaks touches the sky. The top of mountain is
snow-clad all year around, with fog surrounding the peaks. It
looks so mystique and so unfathomable. Among each two peaks of
these 19 peaks, there is always a brook with clear water running.
Sometimes the water runs like sheets of jade one piece upon the
other. Sometimes the water runs like a waterfall flying down from
the sky. Sometimes the water looms inside the bamboo forest. The
brooks are running with clear dingdong sound to Erhai Lake. There
is Jizu Mountain, a pilgrimage for Buddhists, famous in Southeast
Asia. The murals from the caves of Shibao Mountain are as
beautiful as those of Dunhuang. Weibao Mountain was the cradle for
the Nanzhao Kingdom in the Tang Dynasty.
 The basins in Dali are always surround by mountain,
brooks, fields, villages, happy people. Golden Sand (Jinshajiang)
River is located at Dali's east, Lancang River and Nu River at
west, Lishe River at south, and Heihui River at north. So Dali is
crisscrossed with rivers and brooks running all year around. Erhai
lake, Cibi Lake, West Lake, Sky Lake in Dali are all known as
Bright Pearls on the plateau with waves upon waves, willows after
willows, and villages by villages surrounded. Erhai Lake is swept
with thousand waves. Fish can be seen from clear water. White
sails are dotted on the lake, which are surrounded by fishermen's
villages. Willows are on the lakeshore with branches touching
water. There are many famous tourist spots around the lake such as
Three Pagoda Temple, Butterfly Spring, Erhai Park, Avalokitesvara
Temple, and so on. They are so charming that Dali becomes much
more interesting. Dali is so attractive that a visitor will forget
his nostalgia just as the following poems describing Dali: "Water
runs around mountains and mountains surround the cities. A river
runs smoothly from villages with smoke floating upward. Birds are
flying out from white clouds. Fish are swimming inside a pretty
lady's mirror. The mystique mist comes up from the Lake. Boats and
buildings in the lake tell autumn stories. A drawer who can draw
tiger heads and sleeping dragons with just black ink, can not draw
a picture like this with so many papers wasted." This poem was
written by Li Jingo, a poet in the Yuan Dynasty. There are still
the unique scenes hard to find in the world such as Shangguan
Flowers, Xiaguan Wind, Cangshan Snow, Erhai Moon, Jade-Like Cloud,
Butterfly Spring, and Weishan Bird Pass.
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