Butterfly Spring

蝴蝶泉

A Bai love-story landmark made famous by *Five Golden Flowers*, with a square spring under an ancient tree, a butterfly house, and a day trip combined with Zhoucheng tie-dye and Shaxi along Erhai's western shore.

Butterfly Spring lies beneath Yunnong Peak of Cang Mountain, about 27 km north of Dali Old Town, near Zhoucheng village. Water wells up from underground to form a pool roughly 10 metres square. Beside it, an ancient albizia tree leans out over the water. Each year in the fourth lunar month, when the tree blooms, butterflies cluster and hang from its branches. This is known as the Butterfly Gathering, and the Ming-dynasty traveller Xu Xiake recorded it in his travel notes. The 1959 film *Five Golden Flowers* made the spring a symbol of romance for young Bai people. The scenic area includes the Butterfly Spring, with a stele inscribed by Guo Moruo, the Butterfly World with live butterflies and a specimen hall (popular with children), a Butterfly Museum, and Wanghai Pavilion, which offers views over Erhai. Admission is about 40 yuan. A visit takes about 1 to 1.5 hours and works well as a stop on a tour of Erhai's western shore: Shaxi, then Zhoucheng (the home of Bai tie-dye, where many workshops offer tie-dye experiences for about 30 to 80 yuan each), then Butterfly Spring, then Shangguan, and on to Shuanglang. Getting there: take a minibus bound for Shangguan or Shuanglang from Dali Old Town's north gate and get off at the Butterfly Spring junction; the trip takes about 50 minutes. By car or chartered vehicle it takes about 40 minutes. Note that wild butterflies at the spring are far fewer than before, so the butterfly house is the main attraction and expectations should be modest. The site is heavily commercialised and busy with tour groups. When buying Zhoucheng tie-dye, check whether a piece is handmade or machine-printed.

Butterfly Spring

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