The ancient capital of Nanzhao, Weishan, still preserves a complete style of the Ming and Qing city. 1300 years ago in Dali, Yunnan, there rose an ancient Nanzhao Kingdom with a great reputation. Today's Weishan Yi and Hui Autonomous County of the Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Dali was the birthplace of the ancient Nanzhao Kingdom at that time, and up to today, the style of its ancient capital is still well-preserved.
Weishan Ancient City was built in the second year of Yuanfeng in the Western Han Dynasty, and took shape in the 22nd year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1389 AD), and has a history of more than six hundred years. It has witnessed the magnificent rise of the Nanzhao Kingdom, and also seen the instant when the Nanzhao Empire disappeared like ashes. The reporter found during his recent visit to Weishan Ancient City that this ancient city, which had an important status in the history of the southwestern frontier, had never suffered serious damage in history, and still retains the complete style of the Ming and Qing city till now.
According to Zhu Jinwen, Director of the Tourism Bureau of Weishan County, Weishan Ancient City is "square as a seal", the city looks like a chessboard, with 25 streets and 18 lanes scattered like stars, crisscrossing each other, which is a typical "chessboard-style" layout of the Ming and Qing cities. The old city's appearance is basically well-preserved. There are about 5000 households living inside the ancient city now, and most of the residents' houses still maintain the styles of the Ming and Qing periods. Various shops, workshops, and food stalls on the street still have an ancient look.
Passing through the north gate of Weishan Ancient City, the reporter walked on this two-kilometer-long, the oldest and longest Nanzhao ancient street in the country. The residential buildings and shops on both sides of the street relatively completely preserve the tile roof wooden frame structure of the Ming and Qing periods. The two-story ancient buildings with brick earth walls are mostly "three workshops and one wall" and "four courtyards and five sky wells", with carved beams and painted rafters. The houses on the main street have their ground floors all as shops, with brick earth platforms half a person's height. The wooden boards on the counters have been polished bright by customers' clothes corners and hands over time. The boards are movable, and the shopkeeper needs to disassemble and assemble those brown board walls in sequence when opening and closing the shop. The shop door is also the home door, and the side door is generally a narrow long passage, with dim light even in broad daylight, giving people a sense of deep solemnity.
Tourist Yang Mingyi sighed: "This ancient capital can actually completely maintain its unique ancient appearance and atmosphere. It has perfectly achieved the harmonious unity of history, tradition, and folk culture ecology, which is really rare!"