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Nanzhao Customs Island is a small landscaped island in Erhai near Shuanglang, distinguished by elevated lake views and a collection of modern monuments inspired by regional history. Stone paths climb through gardens, pavilions and sculptural groups toward outlooks across the water to Cangshan and settlements on the eastern shore. The island’s compact terrain creates a sequence of changing perspectives in which open lake, mountain weather and built symbols continually overlap. Its architecture is contemporary and interpretive rather than surviving fabric from the medieval Nanzhao kingdom. Statues and ceremonial structures refer to Nanzhao rulers, Buddhist belief and Bai cultural identity, placing the island within the historical imagination of the Erhai basin. Nanzhao emerged in the eighth century as a powerful regional state whose capital and religious centers lay around Dali, and the island uses that legacy to create a symbolic cultural landscape. Modern artistic representation is combined with the authentic geography of the kingdom’s heartland: Cangshan, Erhai and the villages around them. This contrast between reconstructed memory and real setting is central to the island’s character and distinguishes it from an archaeological site.
A lakeside town on the eastern shore of Erhai, best used when the route already covers that side of the lake.
A Bai settlement north of Dali known for courtyard architecture, local food and village culture.
Zhoucheng Bai Village combines bai ethnic village life, traditional tie-dye workshops, and historic courtyard architecture in a practical Dali stop.
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