Third Month Street Fair (三月街 Sanyue Jie)

Date: the 15th to 21st of the third lunar month

Bai is an ethnic group with a long history and unique culture inhabited in the Bai Autonomous Prefecture of Dali, Yunnan Province. The population totaled 1.86 million according to the fifth national census in 2005. The Bai have their own language, which belongs to Tibeto-Burman, a language group of Sino-Tibetan language family. Most of them know Chinese.

The Street Fair is the grandest show of the year for the Bais. Held from the 15th day to the 21st day of the third lunar month every year at the foot of the Mount Diancang Shan, west to the ancient city of Dali, the Bais are holding the festival mainly pray for a good harvest.

The Third Month Street is also named the Market of Guanyin, literally the Goddess of Mercy. Legend has it that back in the period of Nanzhao State (938-1253), the Goddess of Mercy came to Dali to speak on Buddhism on the 15th of the third lunar month, and then the Third Month Street became a temple fair for loyal believes to pay homage. As time went, for Dali's strategic location, the city became a prosperous trade market in the region and a grand festival for the local people.

Another legend is about the existence of a "trade fair on the moon." It is said that the third princess of Dali fell in love with a young fisherman. On the 15th of the third lunar month, the two went to the moon to buy fishing net and other working instruments but returned home empty-handed. The local people somehow managed to relocate the trade fair to the earth and then the trade fair began in Dali. Until now, the Bais still call the Third Month Street the "Moon Street."

The traditional commodities traded at the fair are horses, mules, tea, medicine etc. But now, both the trading place and the commodities have changed a lot. In addition to the exchange of commodities, there are horse racing, performance of operas, folk singing and dancing, attracting tens of thousands of visitors, including those from other Chinese ethnic groups as well as tourists from over ten countries and regions.

Moreover, the Third Month Street Fair is also an occasion for love. In Dali, there is a famous place for people in love to visit, the Butterfly Lake. A romantic story said a young couple, after going through all the hardships, jumped into the lake simply to keep their love alive and transformed into butterflies. In the 1950s, a movie based on the story, Five Golden Flowers, was very popular across China. Today, many Chinese still talk about the movie and hum its theme song.