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Butterfly Spring

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The Butterfly Spring lies in green trees at the foot of Yunnong Peak of Cangshan Mountain. The spring is 24 kilometers away from the Ancient City of Dali. It is a square spring pond. The water in the pond is as clear as a mirror and around the pond stand marble balusters. The Chinese characters for "Butterfly Spring" have been inscribed at the entrance by the famous Chinese contemporary intellectual Guo Moruo.

The dense crowns of two Silktree Albizzia, which are about a hundred years old, cover the Butterfly Spring. All kinds of flowers bloom in the third and fourth month of every lunar year on Yunnong Peak. The big Silktree Albizzia gives off a faint fragrant scent. The scent attracts the butterflies, so thousands of them congregate around the Butterfly Spring. Some of the butterflies are as big as a palm, and some are as small as a small coin. The butterflies are of all the color of the rainbow. There are more than one hundred kinds of butterflies can be identified. Many of them may even connect with each other by head and tail, and hang from the Silktree Albizzia to the water's surface. The sight is so magnificent and wonderful that people call it "the Party for Butterflies"

The Park of Butterfly Spring contains a Butterfly Museum. The Museum keeps many rare specimens of butterflies. There is also a Butterfly Pavilion and Butterfly Stele. Climb up the mountainside to enjoy the beautiful sights of Erhai Lake from the Sea Watching Pavilion.

Legends

Long, long ago, when the Spring was still called the Pool without Bottom a father and his daughter lived by the pool. The daughter's name was Wen Gu. She was clever and beautiful just like a golden flower. She grew up, and fell in love with the hunter Xia Lang however Wen Gu was taken by a black-hearted landholder. Xia Lang came back from hunting and went all to find her. The land holder's solders were sent to chase them and they were pursued relentlessly until they and finally jumped into the Pool without Bottom.
At that very moment, there was lightening and loud thunder in the sky, a violent storm came. When the sun shone again after the storm, a pair of extremely beautiful butterflies flew out from the pool. They were followed by numerous small butterflies.  The date was April, 15th in the lunar calendar. From then on, on this day of every year, thousands of beautiful butterflies would gather here and tell the moving love story. This how the Party of Butterfly got its name.

Location:

Ticket Price:

Opening Time:
Tourtime:1h

How to get there:

you can get there by special buses. The travel will take you about 46 kilometers and last about 1 hour.

Tips:

1) There are large markets where you can buy specimens of butterflies from the Park of Butterfly Spring. All kinds of butterfly specimens are available.
2) The Butterfly Spring is not far away from the Zhoucheng Village. Zhoucheng Village is the largest Bai village in the Autonomous Region of Dali. It had once been the Royal Garden of the Kingdom of Dali. The village is home to ancient buildings such as Benzhu Temple and Wenchang Palace. It has been developed into a tourist village showcasing the folk-customs of Bai people.