Purple Tern

16-Sep-2025

Dali is particularly noted for these venerable structures, which are part of the Chongsheng Temple complex.

The biggest, Qianxun Pagoda, is 70 metres tall, and dates back to the Nanzhao Kingdom (it was built in the early part of the ninth century). The other two pagodas are somewhat shorter (about 43 metres), and were constructed about a century later.

According to legend, they jointly protect the area from dragons...

This all sounded very interesting, but having seen the crowds roiling the streets of the old town, and having read that you really need to get to the pagodas early to avoid the press of people (which in our case would involve missing breakfast, always a serious consideration), we wondered how pleasant a visit it would be.

Also, it sounded pretty expensive. Information on the internet was all over the place, but people were regularly quoting ticket prices of 121 yuan per person, or 191 yuan if you wanted to see the whole complex... That's a ton of money compared with the cost of everything else around here, and you certainly don't want to fork out such a sum for a suboptimal visit.

So we were dithering...

Eventually, we said, we'll go and see. It's a nice walk out there anyway.

So we did go and see, and I can definitively say that today, 16 September 2025, the standard price to visit the whole (very extensive) site was 75 yuan (90 yuan if you want to use the buggy to get to the top). And if you're over 60, which of course we are, it costs 37 yuan each. That's GBP 3.70 or MYR 22. Which you can hardly complain about, especially as it's really easy to spend hours here...

True, there were lots of visitors, but the huge area absorbed them very nicely, and never felt crowded. As well as the awe-inspiring pagodas -- and it really is sobering to think how long these guys have stood here, surveying the scenery and the ways of humans -- there are really beautiful gardens to enjoy (the Chinese are SO good at gardens) and a maze of temples that lead you ever further up the hillside.

Your first view of the pagodas

Just a fraction of the wonderful floral displays

Here's what we liked:

Pagoda worship... This is the big one

The smaller pagodas lean, which the big one doesn't. But they've all survived pretty serious earthquakes, so credit where credit is due... It's hard to appreciate the degree of lean in a photo, as you have converging verticals to contend with. But this is the straightest picture we could manage, and yes, from some angles, they do lean...