Butterfly Spring (Hudie Quan)

A small park around a clear spring under a banyan tree, north of Xizhou. The site is associated with one of the most-told Bai folk tales and is the supposed origin of the legendary butterfly swarms that gave the spring its name.

The butterflies are largely gone — but the spring itself is still pleasant, the park has a small Bai folk-culture exhibit, and the location combines well with a visit to Xizhou and Zhoucheng. The 1959 Chinese film Five Golden Flowers, partly responsible for popularising Dali tourism in China, was filmed here. Modest entrance fee; about 20 km north of the old town.

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A story
A Bai legend tells of two young lovers, Wengu and Wangjiao, who threw themselves into the spring rather than be separated by Wangjiao's tyrannical landlord — and were transformed into butterflies. Every April and May, vast numbers of butterflies were said to congregate around the spring, forming chains by hanging from one another. The phenomenon was real, if exaggerated in later retellings: it was driven by a now-vanished ancient tree whose flowers attracted swarms in early summer. The original tree died decades ago and the butterfly numbers are a fraction of what they once were.

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