March Street Fair of Bai Ethnic Group in Dali

The March Street Fair (Sanyuejie in Chinese) lasts about a week and start on 15th of March of Chinese calendar, it is not only the supplies exchanges grand occasion of the people of Bai Nationality, but also is a festival of celebrating reunion of people of Bai Nationality once a year. The March Street is held on time in Dongluan in Changshan and the west of Dali City. In this period, the businessmen gather and the goods accumulate, the people of each nationality all take the best handicraft products and the local special products to sell in the March Street, take the best literature program to present in the March Street, pick the best to ride to attend the horse-racing.

The history of March Street in Dali is long, it is said that it has already for more than 1000 years. March Street was the temple fair of teaching the sutra by Buddhism in the past, later, because Dali was the strategic area of Dali and India, along with the demand of the social and economic development, turn into gradually the trade market and the festival grand occasions with the strong race color. And it had the scale of equal grand view in the past.

Up to now, the prosperity of March Street grand occasion is prosperous to have already canned compare in former days not, its movable contents are more abundant and colorful. There are more than 20 provinces, cities, autonomous regions and foreign friends of several ten nations to attend this grand occasion, the population is over a million in the session, the total amount of trade is near ten million, the big animals are more than ten thousand, the species of the medicine material appear on market up to thousand. There are not only state-run companies, collective, individual business, business enterprise of each city and country in Dali State but also state-owned company units of region inside and outside of the province to attend the supplies exchanges. The visitors who attend the meeting and sightseeing of outside and inside the province are also too much.

March Street is divided into five districts: the general merchandise market, animal market, medicine material market, race court and comprehensive market in the city. The general merchandise market is constitute by more than ten long streets, stores are one by one; The animal market is in the west of the general merchandise market, there is a habit in Dali which is: You feed the animals, if you don¡¯t sell them, you need to take them to March Street to ask the price, so there are so many old farmers, the old farmers who sell and buy the animals are many too. The race court is in the northern side of March Street, house-racing also is the most attractive activity.

In the time, the strong riders of Bai Nationality, Yi Nationality, Tibetan, Hui Nationality, Miao Nationality etc. in the west of Yunnan gather, treating only a the order, the horses run away, it is very sublime. The local people who attend the meeting in March Street all like to go around the Chinese medicine material market which sends various of flavor of Chinese medicine and buy several Chinese medicine to get ready for using in the four seasons. The stands in the medicine material market increase and do not reduce in the recent years. In addition to the street field at the foot of mountain, the Gucheng in Dali also is noisy uncommon.

There are each race literature performance and the athletics activities in the cultural building and stadium. The Huashantai drew on a few audiences, there are several thousand families who grow flowers, there are famous flowers and grass put at the front of each house to be enjoyed and bought for people. The stands and stores are no less than in the March Street. At night, the lights put together, various folk song sings on stage towards sing, the Daben Song is sang for all night till dawn. The March Street in Dali likes the Nadamu of Mongol, Wangguo Festival of Tibetan, and the splash water stanza of Dai Nationality, is really a race carnival that is filled with the intense emotion.