To quickly understand Dali, start with the Dali State Museum

Dali region has a civilization history of over 4,000 years. During the Tang and Song dynasties, the local dynasties of Nanzhao and Dali Kingdom were successively established here, and it was also a hub of the Southern Silk Road since the Han and Tang dynasties. The people of various ethnic groups in Dali, with the Bai people as the autonomous ethnic group, have created their own civilization history under the nourishment of the advanced culture of the Central Plains since ancient times. The cultural accumulation is very rich, and up to now, a total of 266 national, provincial, and county-level key cultural relics protection units have been announced, making it the autonomous state with the most cultural relics and historical sites among the 30 minority autonomous states in the country, and it is also a key area for archaeological excavations and research at the national and provincial levels. The Dali State Museum focuses on the historical relics of the Nanzhao and Dali Kingdom periods. It is a local comprehensive museum with bronze, ceramics, and stone carving art as the main body, and featuring the ethnic folklore of the Bai people; it is the central institution of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture engaged in cultural relics investigation, excavation, collection, exhibition, and research. Although the museum has been established for just over 10 years, its collection has already begun to take shape, with more than 7,000 pieces of historical relics, ethnic relics, revolutionary relics, and other materials and fine Dali marble products. Many of them are unique treasures of the museum, such as the Dali bronze drums, chime bells, cast stone molds, and copper axes with horse patterns from the Warring States period, water field models, pottery houses, pottery figures, pottery horses, and various inscribed utensils from the Western Han to the Jin dynasty, Buddhist statues of different materials such as Avalokitesvara, Maitreya, and Heavenly Kings and warriors from the Nanzhao and Dali Kingdom periods, as well as the Vajra Pestle, pagoda models, Dali Kingdom manuscript scrolls, Yuan and Ming dynasty porcelain, and fine natural Dali marble paintings such as 'Peacock Opening Screen' and 'The Birth of a Beautiful Monkey'. The exhibition is arranged in 12 exhibition halls, of which 8 are permanent exhibition halls, including 'Bronze Relics Exhibition', 'Nanzhao Dali Kingdom Relics Exhibition', 'Nanzhao Dali Kingdom Stone Carving Art Exhibition', 'Nanzhao Dali Kingdom Painting Art Relics Exhibition', 'Ceramics Exhibition', 'Dali Marble Fine Products Exhibition', 'Dali Modern Revolutionary History Exhibition', 'Bai Ethnic Folklore Exhibition', etc. These displays showcase the rich and unique historical culture of Dali.