Dali City: Tourism finds a way
The world plunges in to an uncertain new era, with extreme measures of self-isolation and lock down in place. However, almost from the ashes, tourism starts to regain a foothold in the remote town of Dali City. The tourist hotspot in China’s Yunnan province welcomes over 47 million tourists, generating 45 billion Yuan every year. Perhaps it’s a microcosm of the giant nation’s return to normality, with falling infection rates and robust measures put in place to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
The empty streets are an increasingly familiar sight across the globe. But China’s robust measures are in full view. A health check point worker sits at his post, enforcing QR code scans to track people’s coming and goings.
A nurse from Dali Second People's Hospital stops to pose. She’s a member of the Chinese Communist Party and responsible for compulsory body temperature detection at the gate of the ancient city.
’It’s hard work but I feel like I’m doing something to help, hopefully people will come back here soon.’
Yuan speaks to me from behind her thick dark glasses beneath her broad-rimmed hat, her voice muffled from a surgical mask. She and her partner are the two sanitation workers tasked with cleaning the streets for 6 hours a day. With their backpacks full of disinfecting spray they’re indiscriminate as they spray down stalls and souvenirs met with the grumbles of shop owners.
“I run three shops in this town and have wages to pay. It’s supposed to be high season, I don’t know what to do. Hopefully the government will help.”
There is a palpable air of anxiety when talking to the shop keepers here. They hope that numbers will increase moving in to summer. But at the moment they have no idea how to help their business except good control of food hygiene and quality, and just being patient.
A shop owner rests beside the river fountain with his infant daughter and pet dog. He runs 3 shops in the ancient city, one inn and two BBQ restaurants. He is on the phone trying his best to negotiate with the landlord to reduce the rent, but it’s not going too well. He thinks the number of tourists could rise until after summer another traveling high season), he hopes the government will step in with policies to support small business owners like him.
“School is reopening at the end of March so it’s our daughter’s last chance to have some fun since the lockdown.”
Two parents share their situation with me as their 8 year old daughter poses in her Han era costume. She seems happy enough in her fancy dress and face mask.
The ancient city is a famous shooting location for Han costume cosplayers, who are starting to trickle back. In their view it’s probably the best time for shooting in Dali because of the relatively empty streets. But you can see, much to the relief of local business, that the streets are starting to fill, and for now it seems China has got a glimpse of the ‘other side’ of this global crisis.
Photography and interviews by Wenjun Chen
Words by Glenn Zimmatore