Butterfly Spring in Dali, Yunnan

by langrentoh1 on 2012-02-24 15:01:40

Yunnan Dali - Butterfly Spring

Dali's Butterfly Spring is one of the famous tourist attractions, known for its beautiful scenery, clear spring water, and a rare spectacle in the world - the butterfly gathering. With the spread of the film "Five Golden Flowers" which reflects Bai ethnic life, the unusual landscape of Butterfly Spring has become well-known both at home and abroad.

Since ancient times, many scholars and literati have come here to explore and write many important poems. The famous geographer Xu Xiake of the Ming Dynasty praised the Butterfly Spring in his travelogue, writing: "The big tree above the spring blooms like butterflies in early April, with wings fluttering vividly, no different from live butterflies. Moreover, there are thousands of real butterflies, connecting their antennae and feet, hanging upside down from the top of the tree all the way down to the surface of the spring, fluttering gracefully, with brilliant colors. Tourists all gather to watch this scene in this month, and it ends after May."

The poet Sha Chen of the Qing Dynasty praised in his poem "Butterfly Spring at Shangguan": "Thousands of butterflies are lost in the tree, their tails connected like tassels brushing against the emerald... Who would believe unless they see it, the solemnity of the butterflies as if they were banners and flags."

Butterfly Spring is located under Yunlong Peak of Dali's Cangshan Mountain. It is like a transparent gemstone, embedded among the greenery, attracting tourists near and far with its unique spectacle.

From Xiaguan, take the Yunnan-Tibet highway northward for more than 30 kilometers, and on the left side of the car will be an ancient stone archway. The three large characters "Butterfly Spring" on the archway were written by Guo Moruo during his visit to Dali.

From the archway to the Butterfly Spring, it is about a hundred meters away. The spring pool is two or three zhang (ancient Chinese measurement) square, surrounded by a railing made of bright marble. The spring water is crystal clear, with silver bubbles rising slowly from the sand and stones, gurgling out of the surface, creating ripples. This spring water benefits from the melting snow of Cangshan Mountain, not only stable in quantity but also excellent in quality.

Every year in the lunar calendar months of March and April, various rare flowers and grasses bloom on the Yunlong Peak mountain, and the mimosa trees by the spring emit a light and elegant fragrance, attracting thousands of butterflies to gather. These butterflies range in size from palm-sized to bee-sized. They either dance among the colorful azaleas and camellias or play around the heads of flower-decked tourists. Even more spectacular are countless colorful butterflies that hang upside down from the mimosa trees, connecting their antennae and feet into long chains, hanging all the way down to the water surface. In the sunlight, they shine with five colors, magnificent and beautiful. Especially on the 15th day of the fourth lunar month, if the weather is clear, the spectacle is even more grand, with not only an astonishing number of butterflies but also a wide variety, such as the swallowtail butterfly and the large gray butterfly, forming a world of butterflies.

On the day of the butterfly gathering, people dressed in red and green come in droves, their laughter making the butterfly gathering even more vibrant. There is also a touching mythological story about the origin of the butterfly gathering:

Butterfly Spring is also called the Bottomless Pool. In ancient times, there was a place called Yangjia Village under Yunlong Peak, where a girl named Wengu lived. She was as beautiful as a flower, clever and dexterous, and her diligence and beauty made young men dream of obtaining her pure love. On Yunlong Peak, there was a handsome Bai ethnic young hunter named Xialang, who was not only skilled in martial arts but also kind-hearted. One year, Wengu and Xialang met at the Chao Mountain Fair on the third day of the third month, fell in love at first sight, and pledged their lives to each other. Below Cangshan Mountain lived a cruel and vicious Yu King who, upon hearing of Wengu's extraordinary beauty, decided to make her his eighth concubine. He sent people to abduct Wengu into the palace. Xialang, upon learning this, risked his life to sneak into the palace and rescued Wengu. When the king discovered this, he immediately led his soldiers in pursuit. As they ran to the edge of the Bottomless Pool, they were exhausted, and the pursuing soldiers with knives and torches were already close. In the crisis, the two jumped into the Bottomless Pool together. The next day, the villagers searching for Xialang and Wengu found no trace of them, but instead saw a pair of colorful, beautiful butterflies flying out of a huge bubble that rose from the deep pool. The butterflies danced gracefully on the water surface, inseparable, attracting countless butterflies from all directions to play and circle above the pool. Since then, people began calling the Bottomless Pool the Butterfly Spring. Although this is a legend, indeed every year in the fourth lunar month when the mountain flowers are in full bloom, thousands of butterflies with different shapes gather by the spring.

The formation of Butterfly Spring is related to the environmental conditions of this area. To the west of the spring is Cangshan Mountain, and to the east is Erhai Lake. Cangshan Mountain is majestic and towering, standing like a screen, with snow-capped peaks shining brightly even in summer. Clouds gather and bring rain, resulting in abundant precipitation and lush vegetation. Erhai Lake covers an area of about 240 square kilometers, with charming scenery, flowers blooming all year round, and a climate like spring all four seasons. Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake not only provide the scenic beauty of "Silver Cangshan and Jade Erhai" for humans but also constitute the natural environment for the mass reproduction and growth of butterflies and other insects. Butterfly Spring is located on the northeastern side of the large fault of Erhai Lake. This side, under the action of groundwater dissolution, formed numerous sinkholes and caves, replenished by atmospheric precipitation and surface water, forming karst aquifers. The groundwater in these aquifers flows along dissolution channels, blocked by fine loose particles at the contact point with alluvial and colluvial materials, overflowing to form Butterfly Spring. The spring discharge is approximately 18.77 liters per second. The mineralization degree of the spring water is less than 0.5 grams per liter, belonging to bicarbonate calcium-magnesium type water, odorless, tasteless, and with a mild and pleasant taste. The good spring and beautiful water naturally attract butterflies to visit willingly. Thus, the butterfly gathering is not caused by the misfortune of the lovers but determined by the special environmental conditions there.

Regrettably, in recent decades, people have found it difficult to witness the beautiful butterfly gathering. Sometimes, though butterflies do gather, their numbers are much fewer. According to local elders, originally by the Butterfly Spring, there was a dense cluster of white-flowered, fragrant thorny vines whose branches wrapped around the horizontal tree trunks over the spring. Butterflies followed these hanging branches to form chains. Now, the thorny vines have been removed, the leaves of the trees over the spring have withered, and the surrounding natural environment has been damaged. Large amounts of pesticides used in the fields have mistakenly killed many butterflies, and the spectacular sight of butterflies hanging by their antennae and feet over the spring has long disappeared. Therefore, only by seriously studying the growth patterns of butterflies, strengthening the protection of the natural environment, and striving to maintain ecological balance can the enchanting butterfly gathering be restored and flourish.