Dali, a place one never wants to leave
This spectacular sight has inspired a local festival where the Bai people
gather at the tree on April 15th for the "Butterfly Meet". The romantic
spectacle of the butterflies feeding and mating in such abundance has made the
day one set aside for courtship and each Bai youth will seek to win the love of
his life by joining in with the traditional antiphonal singing.
At a pavilion near the spring, we find Mr. Yang, a local Bai musician who
plays folk music for visitors.
At 40 years old Mr. Yang can play all kinds of instruments, especially the
Suona and short flute. When he was 17, he was sent to study with a renowned
local musician, Yan Xuezhong. He studied for three years and then started his
own successful career. Now Mr Yang has five students of his own, including his
own son, and plays in the park for visiting travelers.
"Now I am at a tie-dying cloth factory not far from the Butterfly Spring Park
and here, I can watch the procedure for making a beautiful tablecloth. The
workers are dyeing the cloth with paint made of Banlangen, which is a kind of
Chinese herbal medicine. The paint is purely natural and is good for your skin
and health. "
Tie-dying is the traditional handicraft of the Bai people. The tie-dyes are
not merely their daily attire, but also considered as precious relics of Chinese
art. One factory worker shares with us the process involved in tie-dying.
The first step involves drawing the different designs on each piece of cloth.
The second step is to tie the cloth with thread - not too tightly not too
loosely. Thirdly, it involves dyeing the cloth and finally, the threads have to
be removed and the cloth hung out to dry.
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