The largest Bai gathering place in Yunnan Province, the streets are full of Bai beauties, and you can also experience tie-dye art.

Dali, Yunnan, not only has romance, but also has strong ethnic customs.

When many people travel to Dali, they will go to Dali Ancient City and Shuanglang Ancient Town, but these two places are very commercial. I prefer to find those quiet villages. This time, I will take you to the largest natural village in Yunnan Province.

At the foot of Cangshan Mountain and beside the Erhai Coast, there is Zhoucheng Village, known as the "Hometown of Tie-Dyeing". This is a small and quiet village. It is the gathering place of the Bai ethnic group in Dali and the largest Bai ethnic group village in Yunnan.

Zhoucheng Village is located in Xizhou Town, Dali City, 23 kilometers away from the ancient city of Dali, and 38 kilometers away from Xiaguan, next to the Yunnan-Tibet Highway, covering an area of ??4.7 square kilometers. Zhoucheng has a population of more than 10,000, almost all of whom are Bai.

Girls of the Bai ethnic group are really fair and beautiful. I remember one time I was lucky enough to attend a Bai wedding in Xizhou and was amazed by the Bai girls. Even I, a woman, find it too beautiful.

Zhoucheng not only has Bai beauties and beautiful streets, but also the amazing tie-dye culture.

In addition to the famous Butterfly Spring, the most famous thing in Zhoucheng is the tie-dye handicraft with a history of more than 300 years, which is an intangible cultural heritage.

If you come to Dali, you might as well give yourself a chance to slow down and experience the oldest art of the Bai people, and go to Zhoucheng, the hometown of tie-dye.

On Sifang Street, there are two huge ancient banyan trees and an ancient stage. You can eat a bowl of bait there and visit the lively market.

Zhoucheng is not big and can be visited in less than an hour on foot. There are many shops selling tie-dye in the village.

Tie-dye is one of the traditional folk dyeing techniques in my country. Together with batik and hollow printing, it is known as the three major printing techniques in ancient my country.

In ancient times, it was called miscellaneous cloth, also called jiao valerian dyeing. This ancient folk hand-made printing and dyeing craft originated in the Central Plains region more than 1,000 years ago. Today it is mainly preserved in Zhoucheng, Dali City, Weishan County, Dacang, Temple Street and other places.

In Zhoucheng, everyone from little girls in their 10s to grandmothers in their sixties can tie cloth.

Don’t underestimate the tie-dyed fabrics hanging in pieces, they are actually not expensive. Purely handmade, you will be amazed just by looking at the threaded plain cloth.

When you experience tie-dye yourself, you will feel that everything sold is at a ridiculous price.

Zhoucheng, located at the foot of Canglang Peak of Cangshan Mountain in Dali, has a very rich ethnic customs.

This is not a tourist attraction, so there are not many tourists. When you come to Zhoucheng, you must walk slowly through the small alleys to see the Bai folk houses, with pink walls and blue tiles, and deep lanes.

Women’s clothing in Zhoucheng is representative of the Bai decoration. You will see many older women still wearing traditional clothing, but young people no longer wear it.

If you walk around the streets of Zhoucheng, you will see Bai girls everywhere in the streets and alleys, as well as various tie-dye experience shops.

For example, Lanxu Ancient Tie-Dye Experience Store, Made by Mom, Shouyi Tie-Dye Experience Store, Jinhua Tie-Dye Workshop, and Puzhen Tie-Dye Museum. Generally, a tie-dye experience costs from fifty to sixty to hundreds. It ranges from ten yuan to ten dollars.

That day, a local friend in Dali took us to Lanyi Tie-Dyeing, and the lady boss even asked me to wear an apron made of tie-dye fabric.

Spend an afternoon experiencing tie-dye, known as the "living fossil of Bai folk customs", and truly understand what kind of happiness it is to waste time on beautiful things.

I haven’t experienced this threading work for a long time. Time slows down and you spend an afternoon experiencing this unique art.

In Dali, this tie-dye is called knotted flower cloth or knotted flower.

Dali tie-dye is entirely made by hand, and is made through manual drawing, sewing, dyeing and bleaching, flower tying, and grinding. It’s really difficult! You can't imagine how much time and patience those complicated patterns require.

It is said that the leaves of Isatis root are used as raw materials for dyeing, which does not fade and is environmentally friendly.

It is worth mentioning that each piece of cloth is dyed to a different degree during the soaking process, which means that each piece of tie-dyed cloth is unique.

Dali’s tie-dye is mainly white and blue. White is a symbol of good luck in the Bai area, while blue symbolizes hope, simplicity and sincerity. The combination of blue and white means "innocent, upright and upright". .

The tie-dye I made myself is very simple, but unique, and it is still on my table at home. Every time I see it, I am reminded of my time in Zhoucheng.

I like Zhoucheng because of its simplicity and liveliness, and also because of its tie-dyeing which is deeply rooted in the lives of the Bai people.