Nice small map titled Tali Fou et le Lac de Tali, from wood engraving with fine detail and clear impression, approx. size with margins is 20.5 x 16.5 cm. From La Nouvelle Géographie universelle, la terre et les hommes, 19 vol. (1875-94), great work of Elisee Reclus. Cartographer is Charles Perron.

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Dali

Wade-Giles romanization Ta-li

historical town, west-central Yunnan sheng (province), southwestern China. It is situated in a fertile basin on the west side of Lake Er; since 1983 historical Dali has been administered as a town under the city also called Dali (formerly Xiaguan), which lies 10 miles (16 km) southeast of the original Dali, at the southern tip of the lake.

Dali was the traditional political and commercial centre of Yunnan, being located on the major trade route to Myanmar (Burma) and northern India. The area, which was known to the Chinese under the name Kunming, was originally occupied by local tribes and from the 1st century BCE onward was the site of an outpost of the Chinese government. In the 6th century the Chinese lost what little control they had had in the area. After 738 a powerful state, Nanzhao, emerged in Yunnan and established a city there called Dali. In the early 9th century this became the capital of the Nanzhao state and subsequently (937) of the Dali kingdom, which succeeded the state in its control of Yunnan. A successor state, Houli, lasted from 1094 until the Yuan (Mongol) conquest of the area in 1253.

The Mongols, however, transferred the political capital of their new province of Yunnan to Kunming, farther to the east. Much of the town was rebuilt during the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644), beginning about 1382. However, by the mid-20th century Dali had lost its commercial importance to Xiaguan (renamed Dali in 1983) and, prior to its incorporation into the latter entity, had declined to minor importance. Its many historical and cultural sites have transformed historical Dali into a major tourist destination.

Lake Er

Chinese (Pinyin) Er Hai , or (Wade-Giles romanization) Erh Hai

lake in western Yunnan province, China. It lies in a deep basin at the eastern foot of the snow-covered Diancang range (also called Cang Shan) between the upper waters of the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), there called the Jinsha River, and the Mekong River. Lake Er is the last remnant of a larger lake, which formed the extensive alluvial plain surrounding it, particularly on the west side. It is drained from the southern end by the Yangbi River, which flows into the Mekong. The lake is about 30 miles (50 km) long from north to south but only 6 to 10 miles (10 to 16 km) wide from east to west. The surface of the lake is about 6,365 feet (1,940 metres) above sea level.

Lake Er contains a number of islands. The south of the basin has comparatively easy communications to eastern Yunnan and to Sichuan province and is on the main route southwestward to Myanmar (Burma). The surrounding area was first brought under Chinese control during the Yuan dynasty in the late 13th century, before which the Lake Er basin had been the centre of the independent states of Nanchao (Nanzhao) and, later, Dali.

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