Yunnan · Three Towers That Outlived Everything Around Them
Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple (崇圣寺三塔)
The tall one went up in the ninth century under the Nanzhao kingdom and the two smaller ones followed under the Dali kingdom. Everything that stood around them has burned down, fallen down or been rebuilt, and they are still there.
Quick Facts
The Short Version
| What it is | Three brick pagodas from the Nanzhao and Dali kingdoms, with a large modern temple complex rebuilt behind them |
|---|---|
| Where | At the foot of the Cangshan range about 1.5 km north of Dali old town, facing Erhai lake |
| The tall one | Qianxun Pagoda, ninth century, sixteen tiers. The figure usually given is about 69 metres |
| The two smaller | Tenth to twelfth century, ten tiers each, about 42 metres, and both lean |
| The temple | Chongsheng Temple was the royal temple of the Dali kingdom. It was destroyed in the nineteenth century; the complex standing there now was built in 2005 |
| Inside the tall one | A restoration in 1978 recovered a large cache of Nanzhao and Dali period objects from the pagoda |
| Earthquakes | The pagodas have stood through repeated major earthquakes, including the one that wrecked much of Dali in 1925 |
| Time needed | An hour for the pagodas. Two to three if you walk up through the temple as well |
Why Go
What Is Old Here, and What Is Not
1. The pagodas are the real thing
Dali was the capital of two independent states, Nanzhao from the eighth century and Dali from the tenth, which between them ran this corner of the world for five hundred years, fought the Tang, traded with Burma and Tibet, and were finally taken by the Mongols in 1253. Qianxun Pagoda was built while the first of those states was at its height.
Its shape says where it came from. The dense stack of sixteen eaves with a gentle swell in the middle is the pattern used in Tang China, not the pattern used in Southeast Asia, which tells you which way this kingdom was looking when it built on this scale. The two smaller pagodas came a century or more later, are octagonal rather than square, and both lean slightly, which is recorded and monitored.
2. The temple behind them was built in 2005
Chongsheng Temple was the royal monastery of the Dali kingdom and, by the accounts that survive, enormous. It was destroyed in the nineteenth century and for well over a century the pagodas stood alone in fields. The large complex of orange-roofed halls climbing the slope behind them, the wide plazas and the bronze work, were all built in 2005.
This matters only because the site does not make it obvious, and visitors reasonably assume they are walking through the same centuries as the pagodas. They are not. The reconstruction is skilfully done and worth seeing for the view back down over the towers; it is simply a different thing from the three objects in front of it.
The catch. The ticket covers a large site and most of it is the new complex, so the walk up through the halls is long, exposed and mostly stairs at 2,000 m. If the pagodas are what you came for, you can see them properly in under an hour and the rest is optional. Going up anyway is worth it for one thing, which is looking back down at them with the lake behind.
Orientation
Pagodas First, Then Decide
The pagodas are near the entrance and the reflecting pool sits just north of them, which is where the photograph everyone takes comes from. That much is twenty minutes, and it is the part that is nine hundred to twelve hundred years old.
Behind them the site climbs through the rebuilt temple in a long sequence of plazas and halls, with a shuttle available. The reward at the top is the view back down the axis with the three pagodas lined up and the lake behind, which is the shot in the gallery above.
Practical
Things Worth Knowing
Morning light is front light
The pagodas face east toward the lake, so mornings light the faces and afternoons put them against the sun. Go early.
Take the shuttle up and walk down
The climb through the new complex is longer than it looks from the gate and it is all in the open.
Dali old town is a separate visit
It is a couple of kilometres south and needs its own half day. Do not try to fold it into the same hour.
It is 2,000 m
Lower than Lijiang and Shangri-La, and a sensible first stop if you are working your way up toward them.
Timing
When to Go
| Season | The case for | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| March to May | Clear air, flowers on the Cangshan slopes and the cloud band sitting on the range | Wind off the lake, which is constant here and stronger in spring |
| September to November | The most settled weather and the cleanest views across to Erhai | The first week of October is the national holiday |
| June to August | Green, warm, and the range often has cloud pouring over it, which is worth seeing | The rainy months, and the busiest domestic season |
| December to February | Dry, bright, very few visitors, and snow on the tops of Cangshan | Cold wind, and short afternoons on an exposed site |
Context
Two Kingdoms That Were Not China
From the eighth century to the thirteenth, this valley was the centre of states that governed themselves. Nanzhao unified the local polities around 738, defeated Tang armies sent against it, and at one point reached into what is now Burma, Laos and Vietnam. The Dali kingdom succeeded it in 937 and lasted until the Mongol conquest in 1253.
Buddhism was the state religion of both, in a local form with its own iconography, and Chongsheng Temple was its centre. Several Dali kings abdicated to become monks there, which is a detail worth holding on to when looking at the scale of the place: this was a working part of how the kingdom governed itself, not an ornament to it.
The people of the valley today are largely Bai, whose language and building traditions are their own, and the villages around the lake still use the whitewashed, painted-gable house that is unmistakably Bai rather than Han. The pagodas are the most visible survival of the period when this was a capital rather than a provincial town.
Nearby
Other Stops on the Same Trip
Town · 1.5 km south
Dali Old Town (大理古城)
The walled Ming town below the site, rebuilt and busy, and the base for the lake.
Spot · 130 km north
Old Town of Lijiang (丽江古城)
The Naxi town up the road, and the usual next stop heading north.
Spot · 155 km north
Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (玉龙雪山)
The glacier and the meadows above Lijiang, and a good deal higher than here.
Where to Base
Dali (大理)
Dali sits between the Cangshan range and Erhai lake at about 2,000 m, with the old town on the strip between them and the pagodas at the northern end. The fast train from Kunming takes around two hours and continues north to Lijiang.
Two nights is right: one for the pagodas and the old town, one for the lake, which is the actual reason to linger. It is also the sensible first altitude stop on the way up to Lijiang and Shangri-La.
Experiences
What You Can Actually Do Here
On site · 1 hr
The pagodas and the pool
The three towers and the reflecting pool north of them, which is the old part of the site.
On site · 1.5 hr
Up through the rebuilt temple
The 2005 complex on the slope, for the view back down the axis with the lake behind.
Guided · 1 day
Dali, the lake and the Bai villages
The pagodas, then the villages around Erhai where the building tradition is still in everyday use.
Worth an hour for the pagodas and another for the climb behind them, with one thing understood before you go in: the towers are ninth to twelfth century and the temple around them is from 2005. Go in the morning for the light, walk up for the view back down, and keep Dali old town and the lake for a separate day.
Plan Dali as the First Stop Going North
Tell us your dates and what you are after, and our local team will build the route: the fast train in from Kunming, the pagodas early, a day on the lake and in the Bai villages, and on to Lijiang with the altitude taken in order.