Legend is one of the most mysterious chapters in culture.

Legend carries people's romantic imagination of unknown things and reflects the spiritual and cultural connotation of local people.

From the Western world to the Eastern world, legends have been everywhere since ancient times.

In our country, legends are an important part of folk culture. Since childhood, the myths and legends of Nuwa mending the sky, Jingwei filling the sea, and Kuafu sunning the sun have been familiar. One after another have gathered into complete chapters, forming a unique cultural symbol.

In addition to the myths and legends passed down by people, every place has legends unique to local characteristics, and the emergence and spread of these legends are mostly tied to natural wonders.

In Dali, this famous historical and cultural city with rich humanities also has exclusive local characteristics and legends, and these legends are all related to specific seasons or specific natural scenery.

Dali's most unique and magical natural scenery is nothing more than mountains, water, and clouds, and the mysterious legends told today are inseparable from these natural wonders.

The clouds in Dali, like the scenery in Dali, have a huge fan base across the country, brushing their screens at any time, causing an "earthquake" in the social circle.

Clouds of all colors and shapes are undoubtedly one of the most outstanding landscapes in Dali. They are mysterious, unpredictable, endlessly changing, and erratic.

Strange phenomena related to clouds often appear on the mountainside and top of Cangshan Mountain in Dali. Since its appearance, it has been seen many times by local people or captured and recorded by photographers with lenses.

These two wonders are the "Jade Belt Cloud" located on the mountainside of Cangshan Mountain and the "Wangfu Cloud" on the peak of Cangshan Yuju.

The "Jade Belt Cloud" that traverses halfway up Cangshan Mountain from north to south and the "Wangfu Cloud" on the top of Yuju Peak with the color of a sad love story have been recorded and described in written materials.

Regarding the "Jade Belt Clouds", the "Dali Prefecture Annals" records that on the midsummer day of Diancang, clouds often bound the mountainside, spanning the 19 peaks, about a hundred miles, like a belt. The poem of the past said: "Heaven will seal the jade belt. Mountain Gong".

Regarding "Wangfuyun", the "Dali County Annals Draft" describes as follows: When it was rumored that Mengshi was rumored to be a strange woman in the palace who lived on the peak of Yuju. Women change food, but blame them for constantly giving... Essence energy turns into clouds, and fame is clouded.

Jade belt cloud

The jade belt cloud appears in late summer and early autumn. After the majestic heavy rain, the weather in Cangshan turned clear. At this time, a cloud belt dozens of kilometers long appeared halfway up the 19th Peak of Cangshan Mountain. This cloud has a beautiful name "Jade Belt Cloud".

The jade belt and clouds are elegant and flexible, like a soft white yarn tied on the mountainside of Cangshan Mountain. They are soft and charming, making people unable to forget this wonderful sight once they see it.

In the Dali area, in a proverb among the Bai people,"Cangshan is a jade belt, and hungry dogs eat white rice." The appearance of jade belt clouds symbolizes a bumper harvest. Interesting legends about jade belt clouds are still circulating in Dali.

According to legend, the beauty of Cangshan and Erhai Lake attracted the Phoenix girl. She described the scenery of the 19th Peaks and 18th Rivers of Cangshan to the Jade Nu, a fairy beside the Queen Mother who specialized in weaving colorful cloud brocade in the sky.

The jade girl yearned for the scenery of the 19th Peak and the 18th Creek of Cangshan Mountain and asked the Queen Mother to allow her to descend to the earth. After getting permission, the jade girl took the phoenix to the Cangshan Erhai Lake and stayed on Zhonghe Peak on Cangshan Mountain. In order to better visit the Cangshan Erhai Lake and see the beautiful scenery.

One day, Jade Nu and Phoenix were washing their hair by the Yinxian River when they met a ragged and bony young quarry who fainted on the roadside.

It turned out that the young man's name was Bai Lang, and his parents were dead. His brother kicked him out of the house under the instigation of his sister-in-law. Being homeless, he had to go quarrying on the mountains.

When Jade Nu heard about Bai Lang's experience, she sympathized with him very much and admired him, and immediately married Bai Lang.

After the two got married, Jade Nu and Bai Lang mined bluestone for sale on Yingle Peak. Strangely, the stones dug out by Jade Nu turned into green jade and white jade. Jade Nu did not tell Bai Lang the reason, and even asked the villagers to dig. With the help of Jade Nu, everyone's life became better and better.

Time passed in a flash. It was time for the jade maiden to return to heaven. The jade maiden and Bai Lang were reluctant to part with each other. When they parted, Bai Lang held on to the jade maiden's colorful jade belt tightly, but the jade maiden still left. The jade maiden's colorful jade belt in Bai Lang's hand instantly transformed into a long cloud belt, winding halfway up the mountain of Cangshan Mountain.

Since then, jade belt clouds will appear every summer and autumn, and the bluestone dug by the jade girl has turned into water-ink colored stones. People call it "Jade Girl Stone", which is the well-known marble.

There is another version of the legend of Jade Dai Yun, which is related to the Dragon Girl.

Legend has it that the Dragon Lord and the Dragon Mother lived on Cangshan Mountain. They had seven beautiful daughters, and the seven daughters often took a bath in the spring pool in the mountain stream.

When the seven dragon girls are bathing in the mountain stream, the jade belt and cloud will appear. People say that the cloud belt is formed by connecting the belts removed by the seven dragon girls.

Today, a 11.5-kilometer-long hiking path that overlaps with the jade belt clouds has been built halfway up Cangshan Mountain where the jade belt clouds appear-the jade belt cloud travel road.

This road has fresh air, excellent environment, and beautiful scenery. Every year, many people come here.

Tour route:

1. Hiking on Yudai Yunyou Road. (Gantong Cableway-Qilongnvchi (Qilongnvchi Station)-Zhonghe Cableway)
2. Take a cruise ship on the Erhai Lake to view from afar.

Wangfuyun

Jade belt clouds appear in summer and autumn, while "Wangfu clouds" appear in winter and spring, mainly appearing at the peak of Yuju Peak, one of the 19 peaks of Cangshan Mountain.

When the "Wangfuyun" appears, strange phenomena will appear in the Erhai Lake. The originally calm Erhai Lake suddenly has strong winds and waves, making fishing boats unable to fish in the Erhai Sea. Therefore, the "Wangfuyun" is also known as the "Wuduyun".

The legend of Wangfuyun can be said to be a household name in Dali and has a wide spread, from the elderly to children.

Legend has it that King Nanzhao had a very beautiful princess. The princess had grown up, but she was still married. The sons of the king and grandchildren rushed to ask for marriage from the princess, but the princess didn't take a fancy to anyone.

Later, the princess met a hunter at the Bai People's Roundabout Sanling Festival. The hunter was handsome and burly. The princess fell in love with him at first sight, but because of the disparity in status between the two, she was opposed by the king.

The princess and the hunter broke through many obstacles and settled down for life. They fled to Cangshan Yuju Peak and lived a happy life.

The good times did not last long. When the king learned about this, he asked Master Luo Quan of Luoquan Temple to cast a spell and it fell heavily on the summit of Yuju Peak. In order to protect the princess from the cold, the hunter ventured to Luoquan Temple to steal the master's eight-treasure cassock. He was discovered, and then Master Luo Quan knocked it down the Erhai Lake and turned it into a stone snail.

The princess waited for the hunter at Yuju Peak for a long time, but the hunter had not returned. At this time, news came that the hunter had an accident. After hearing the news, the princess died of sorrow and depression.

After the princess died, her essence turned into a white cloud, and this white cloud appeared for a long time and stayed together, just like a princess who had died in a depressed state. At this time, there would be a strong wind on the Erhai Lake. People say that this is the princess. Want to blow away the water of the Erhai Lake and see the lover sleeping on the bottom of the sea.

Mountains and rivers are another feature of Dali, and Dali's water is inseparable from mountains. When talking about water, we must talk about mountains, and what is worth mentioning in Dali must be Cangshan.

Dali's water is inseparable from Cangshan Mountain. Whether it is Qingbi River, Ximatan, Qilongnu Pond on Cangshan Mountain, or Butterfly Spring at the foot of the mountain, strictly speaking, they are all related to Cangshan Mountain.

Dali was called "Ye Yu" in ancient times as the country of Zeguo, which was prone to floods, so there are many legends about water.

qingbi River

Qingbi River, one of the eighteen rivers in Cangshan Mountain, feels the classic scenery on the cableway tour route.

The legend about Qingbixi is spread in Dali as follows:

Legend has it that in ancient times, floods raged in Dali. In order to control the floods, people built Guanyin statues in Qingbi River to suppress the fierce floods.

I don't know which year, heavy rains continued in Dali and flash floods raged, driving the Guanyin statue in the Qingbi River into the center of the Erhai Lake.

After that, the people were worried that the flood would recur and endanger Dali, so they carved a stone plaque of "Yu Cave" on the cliff above the Qingbi River. Dayu was a hero in controlling flood disasters in ancient China. People hoped to use his power to prevent the people of Dali from suffering from floods.

Later, people rebuilt the statue of Guanyin. Today, a statue of Guanyin still stands in the lower pool of Qingbi River.

Tour route:

1. Take the Gantong cableway to arrive directly.
2. Take the Ximatan Cableway, get off the Cableway at Qilongnongchi Station, travel 4.5 kilometers on Yudai Yunyou Road to Qingbixi.

ximatan

Ximatan, the highest lake on Cangshan Mountain, is also the highest altitude point that can be directly reached by the Cangshan cableway. It is also one of the best places to watch the snow in Cangshan Mountain.

Ximatan Lake is 1.5 meters deep and covers an area of about 4500 square meters. It is a alpine moraine lake in the Quaternary Dali Glacial Age.

Since then, Ximatan is still a "mountaintop moraine lake" with excellent water quality and crystal clear. The remains and characteristics of the Fourth Glacier are still preserved around, such as blades, ice cones, ice erosion and other landscapes.

According to records, Ximatan was originally called "Gaohe" and was a water conservancy project during the Nanzhao Dynasty of the Tang Dynasty. During the Fengyou period of Nanzhao, King Nanzhao sent his army General Shengjun to build a mountain reservoir here to guide mountain spring water to irrigate farmland.

Legend has it that in the later period of the Dali Kingdom, Kublai Khan marched south to Dali. The army stationed Xima on the top of the mountain and captured Yangju Mie City in Dali Kingdom. This lake was named "Xima Tan".

At the turn of spring and summer every year, red, white, pink and yellow rhododendrons bloom in large areas, the lake is extremely colorful, and tall and straight firs and rhododendrons are crowded among the mountains, which is very spectacular.

In the alternate season of autumn and winter, after a snowfall, Ximatan is covered in silver and transformed into a vast sea of snow, attracting people to be intoxicated.

Tour route:

1. Take the Ximatan Cableway, transfer to Qilongnongchi Station, directly reach the entrance of the attraction, and then go on foot.

Qilongnongchi

Like Qingbi River, Qilongnu Pond belongs to the Eighteen Rivers of Cangshan Mountain. It is also the scenic spot with the largest number of spring ponds on Cangshan Mountain. It consists of seven completely different spring ponds.

Most of the spring ponds on Cangshan are related to "dragon". Most of the spring ponds are named after the word "dragon", such as Black Dragon Pool, Yellow Dragon Pool, Double Dragon Pool, etc.

Legend has it that the Qilongnu Pond is the place where seven dragon ladies bathe. Every summer night, they would come here to bathe and not return to the Dragon Palace until dawn.

The eldest daughter is tall, so she chose the largest Yilong Pool to bathe. The other sisters also chose the pool water that suits them based on their age and body shape.

Qilongnu was the youngest and very shy, so she hid in the pool water in the deepest mountain stream, which was most difficult for ordinary people to find.

From then on, people have called the pool where the seven dragon girls bathe "Seven Dragon Girls Pond".

The streams of Qilongnu Pond are endless all year round. The springs are crystal clear, and the springs and ponds are in various shapes. They either slowly meander on the stones, fall into the pool, or flow and gather into streams and waterfalls.

There are tall stones all around the Qilongnu Pool. From Yilong Pool to Qilongchi, the higher the altitude, the smaller the pool water area, and the scenery is more exquisite and unique than the next.

The Qitan water has different water colors and gives people different feelings, showing the characteristics of strangeness, beauty, clarity and tranquility.

Tour route:

1. Take the Ximatan Cableway, get off the Cableway at Qilongnongchi Station, change to Qilongnongchi Sightseeing Bus, and then go on foot.

butterfly spring

Butterfly Spring is the most famous spring pool at the foot of Cangshan Mountain.

The legend of Butterfly Spring is also the most widely known among outsiders. The legend of Butterfly Spring can be aptly called "the Bai version of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai."

Legend has it that Huadian Spring was originally known as "Wuditan" a long time ago. In the village not far from Wuditan lived a Bai girl Wengu, and on Yunnong Peak lived a young Xia Lang. The two of them liked each other and fell in love.

One day, when the local bully saw that Aunt Wen looked like a flower, he had evil thoughts and wanted to take Aunt Wen for himself, and sent someone to forcibly snatch her away. After Xialang found out, he rushed to rescue Aunt Wen, but unfortunately he was discovered. The two fled all the way to the Endless Pond.

Seeing that there were pursuers behind them and there was no way out, Xialang and Gu Wen jumped into the bottomless pool together. Then a pair of colorful butterflies flew out of the pool water, but no bodies were found at the bottom of the pool.

From then on, people called Wuditan the "Butterfly Spring". In order to praise their efforts to pursue freedom and beautiful love, the day when Xialang and Wengu died in love-April 15th of the lunar calendar was designated as the Butterfly Festival, which was the Valentine's Day of the Bai people.

Every year on the day of the Butterfly Festival, young men and women of the Bai nationality go to the Butterfly Spring to sing and dance to each other, using their songs to convey their love.

All the myths and legends in Dali convey people's resistance to the secular world and yearning for a better life. They have become part of Dali culture for thousands of years.

The mystery and interest of Dali legends continue to attract more people to enter the city, understand the city, and finally become obsessed with the city!

[Editor] Reading Yunnan Yijing

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