Dali- Weishan Area,7/19

One courtyard of the large compound

We drove south a couple hours to a Muslim (Hui) minority area near Weishan. The mosque there had a distinctly Chinese look, like the Catholic Church we saw yesterday. We visited a compound with three generations of one family who happened to have twin sons, a fairly unusual situation, we were told. The owner had initially built one residence in the 1980's, along with courtyard wall, then added two more as needed. We also went to a pair of compounds formerly owned by two members of the same Muslim family who fled China during the Cultural Revolution. One compound was now shared by 2 families, the other was much larger (6 courtyards) and was a museum, at least partly. We were allowed to walk up to the upper levels, which in most Chinese homes are for storage, but here were used for visitors.

This shop was is in the village where we had lunch.

We went to lunch in a neighboring village with a quaint main street, which we explored afterwards. Some of the buildings looked like they were on their last legs.

Our next venture was to Weibo Mountain and a group of Daoist temples. These were a bit different than the ones I take tourists to in Chinatown. This largely because of the Yi minority influence.  Where we might see lions, one temple had tigers, worshipped by the Yi. The first temple was dedicated to 13 generations of Yi rulers, who had repelled Chinese rule, but were eventually conquered by Kublai Khan. There were frescoes here that had been stolen by the Japanese and China only got them back by paying for them. The interesting thing to me was learning that the reason Kwan Yin is male in India and female in China was because a female Tang dynasty emperor demanded the switch.

Kids mugging for the camera

Further on, the last temple we saw was overflowing with people... an entire village had come for 3 days to get help from the spirits for the next year. There were kids all over the place, women throwing big stacks of paper money into a fireplace, chanting and music in front of the altar, and a general air of celebration. We quickly became the newest attraction, especially among the kids who loved having their photos taken and seeing how they looked. Kids who held back jumped in eagerly for the second and third round. Even the elderly ladies got in on the game, once we coaxed them to pose. We were invited to join them for a meal later, but had to get back to the hotel.