The population of Bai nationality is about 1.6 million persons, most of them live in Yunnan province, others live in Sichuan, Guizhou, Hunan ,etc. They have their own language, at the same time , most of them are good at Han language so that they can communicate with other nationalities.
Bai believe in Buddhism and worship the Village God.
Most Bai are engaged in agriculture and fishery.
Bai is a ancient nationality which has its own splendid national culture. They created many inventions and works in the field of astronomy, calendar, meteorology, medical science, literature, etc. In their settlement , you also can feel their excellent talent on architecture, artistic carving and painting.
In Dali----the most famous regions Dai live , under the beautiful Cang Mountain which is covered by snow throughout the year, bordering on Erhai Lake , there are thousand of ancient pagodas , among them, the Three Pagoda of Dali is famous not only in Yunnan , but in China. The main pagoda is 69.13m height, the other two are 43m height, they are the symbol of ancient city --- Dali.
Dai's house are very attractive and have their own special architecture style which is a mixture of architecture, artistic carving and painting.
Bai always serve their guests with their "three step tea" . The first step of tea is called " bitter tea", it smells delicate fragrance but tastes very bitter; the second step is called " sweet tea" which added sugar, walnut, sesame and something like cheese, it is delicious; the last step is called " aftertaste tea" which is added honey and pepper, it taste bitter , sweet and at the same time spice. Most tourists enjoy the three step tea as Bai themselves. To me, it is also the most special tea I have ever taste!
Bai in Chinese is mean "white" , Bai love the color white and think white dresses are the most honorable dresses. So no matter men and women of Bai are love dress in white.
The most important festival of Bai is " March Street" . With the beautiful scenery of the spring Dali, March Street hold once a year from Lunar march 15th to 20th at the food of Mount Chuang to pray for good harvest. During this festival, Bai try to show their own literature and art as well as their products to guests from other nationalities and other countries. There are always over one hundred thousand guests every day during the festival. You can't understand why it is so attractive to everyone until you join it by yourself !
Bai in Dali also share the Torch Festival on Lunar June 25th with Yi nationality . Every house has torch at the door and young men go out at night with torches in hands to pray for happiness and expel the evil. Young men and women dance and sing around the torch, there are bright torches , dances, songs and best wishes everywhere...