Slideshows Yunnan · Dali
Binchuan County 宾川县

The suona melodies in the region of Binchuan's Pingchuan town are part of Dali's intangible cultural heritage and are performed on festival days in the Pingchuan Guanyin Temple 平川观音寺.

This ancestral hall in a remote village near Binchuan's Pingchuan 宾川平川 is one of Yunnan's best preserved clan houses, built by the republican era general Yang Ruxuan 杨如轩.

Binchuan's Wocun 萂村 celebrates its king of a brief kingdom between Nanzhao and the Dali Kingdom during the lunar New Year period.

The large Wenmiao and Wumiao Complex in Zhoucheng 州城 underlines the towns historic importance.

Depictions of Buddhist Hell in the Guanyin Temple 观音阁 in Zhoucheng 州城.

Huadeng 花灯 "Flower Lantern" is a kind of local folk opera, combining folk song, dance and dialect, with the topic frequently modern life such as dating. Traditionally Huadeng is performed during Spring Festival, but now relatively rare. Huadeng has been recognized as intangible cultural heritage of Binchuan county. This is a performance of the county Huadeng Troupe, performing "Three Matchmakers" 三个媒人.

On the upper floor of an old Bai farmhouse in Shangcang Village, Binchuan County 宾川县上沧村, next to the ancestral altar quotations from Chairman Mao have survived since the Cultural Revolution.

The Benzhu Temple of Zashipeng Village near Shangcang in Binchuan County 宾川县鸡足山镇上沧村杂石棚村 has some beautiful wooden Benzhu statues dating back to the late Qing dynasty.

Zhoucheng in Binchuan County is another town that history forgot: stripped of it status as county town in the 1950s (its name means 'old town'), nothing much happened here since: Mao still adorns the walls of the ancient tower, the temple is rotting away and a dog is still waiting for its turn at the dog butcher.