TA-LI

formerly Hsia-kuan, Pinyin Dali, or Xiaguan, city in western Yunnan sheng (province), China. It is situated at the southern end of the Erh Hai (lake) in a fertile basin about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of the original Ta-li. It has traditionally been an important centre on the routes westward from K'un-ming to the Tibet Autonomous Region and northern Myanmar (Burma); it also has routes leading south into the wild southwest region of Yunnan. Hsia-kuan was first known to the Chinese in the mid-8th century as Lung-wei-ch'eng; at that time it was a city built by Pi-lo-ko, king of the Nan-chao kingdom located in the area. After the occupation of the area by the Mongols in the late 13th century, it became a customs station and tax office, known variously as Lung-wei-kuan, Ho-wei-kuan, or Hsia-kuan. It grew into an important market town for local produce and was a centre of trade between Chinese merchants and the various minority peoples living in the surrounding mountain districts. Its trade in the 19th century was largely founded on tea produced in the vicinity. It was also a tea market second only to P'u-erh in Yunnan, and tea processing became an important industry in the early years of the 20th century. Its prosperity increased still further with the construction of the Burma Road during the Sino-Japanese War (193745), and its commercial role subsequently increased until it became the chief collection and distribution centre in western Yunnan. Hsia-kuan took the name of its prefecture (Ta-li) in the 1980s. The modern city is a collecting centre for cotton, tea, grain, sugar, pears, walnuts, and ham, as well as fish from the Erh Hai; these products were mainly for shipment to K'un-ming. Since 1949 the city has experienced some limited industrial development, including grain milling, oil extraction, and tea curing. It also has some light engineering industries, producing farm tools. Pop. (mid-1980s est.) 10,00050,000. Pinyin Dali, city in west-central Yunnan sheng (province), China. Ta-li is situated in a fertile basin on the west side of the Erh Hai (lake); this Ta-li should not be confused with another community also called Ta-li (formerly Hsia-kuan) that lies 10 miles (16 km) southeast of the original Ta-li at the southern tip of the Erh Hai. Ta-li was the traditional political and commercial centre of Yunnan, being located on the major trade route to Myanmar (Burma) and northern India. The area, which was known to the Chinese under the name K'un-ming, was originally occupied by tribes known as the Pai-man and from the 1st century BC onward was the site of an outpost of Chinese government. In the 6th century the Chinese lost what little control they had had in the area. After 738 a powerful state, Nan-chao, grew up in Yunnan and established a city nearby called Ta-li. In the early 9th century this became the capital of the Nan-chao state and subsequently (937) of the Ta-li kingdom, which succeeded the state in its control of Yunnan. A successor state, Hou-li, lasted from 1094 until the Mongol conquest of the area in 1253. The Mongols, however, transferred the political capital of their new province of Yunnan to K'un-ming, farther east. By the mid-20th century, the original Ta-li had lost its commercial importance to Hsia-kuan (which was subsequently renamed Ta-li), farther south along the lake, and had declined to minor importance. Pop. (mid-1980s est.) 10,00050,000.