Sanyuejie

The festival

The Sanyuejie, the "third month fair", is the largest festival of the Bai people of Dali, in the west of Yunnan. It is held from the 15th to the 21st day of the third lunar month — from May 1 to 7 in 2026 — at the foot of Mount Cangshan, between the old town of Dali and Lake Erhai. It is also called the Guanyin fair: according to legend, the goddess of Mercy came to Dali to deliver the inhabitants of a monster, and the faithful set up canvas shelters to honor it and listen to the sutras.

Dali being a crossroads of the Tea and Horses Road, the religious fair has become over the centuries the great trade and cultural fair of western Yunnan: horses of Dali, medicinal plants, handicrafts and agricultural products exchanged between Bai, Han, Yi, Naxi, Lisu, Hui and Tibetans. In the day, we do our business there; in the evening we sing and dance around the camps.

Horse races, opera bai and singing competitions complete the program of this more than a millennium old fair.