Third Month Fair

Origins and legends

Local memory connects the fair to Buddhist devotion as well as romantic folklore. According to one tradition, the bodhisattva Guanyin visited Dali on this spring date, prompting townspeople to hold an annual temple assembly in gratitude. Another tale recounts that a lakeside fisherman married the daughter of the Erhai Lake dragon monarch. The newlyweds supposedly visited a divine fair held on the moon to search for fishing nets. When they found none, they brought the idea of the heavenly bazaar down to Earth. Over time, these sacred beginnings evolved into a broad public gathering to seek bountiful harvests and court future spouses.

The mountain bazaar

Trading forms the beating heart of the event. Stallholders set up along the lower slopes of Mount Diancang, offering everything from local cured ham and sweet confections to Pu'er tea, jade, amber, and hand-stitched embroidery. Herders bring mules, cattle, horses, and Bactrian camels journeying all the way from Inner Mongolia. The fair is especially renowned for botanical remedies, featuring Western Yunnan's richest collection of traditional curatives. Vendors spread out dried roots and blossoms such as biond magnolia, wild liquorice, and Chinese hawthorn, with supplies arriving from nearby provinces as well as India, Myanmar, and Thailand.

Games and performances

Beyond commerce, the gathering fills the slopes with sound and motion. Residents put on customary regional garments, while the streets of Dali Old Town display hanging paper lanterns and fresh floral arrangements. Crowds assemble to cheer on mounted horse riders and dragon boat crews competing along the water. Other participants take part in wrestling, martial arts exhibitions, archery bouts, and competitive games with balls or strategy boards. Musical performances and folk singing take place throughout the grounds, turning the entire perimeter into a celebratory stage for local ethnic culture.

Civic recognition today

Over recent decades, regional authorities have supported the fair to encourage local enterprise and protect Bai heritage. Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture formally acknowledged the celebration in 1991, granting residents an official multiday public holiday. Later in the 1990s, government funding alongside private capital provided permanent stone pathways and hundreds of solid merchant stalls. In 2008, the state inscribed the fair onto China's national inventory of intangible cultural heritage. Today, the marketplace welcomes sightseers from across China and overseas while remaining a cornerstone of regional life.

How Third Month Fair is kept

Festivities begin as residents and traders arrive near Dali Old Town, adorning the quarters with fresh blooms and hanging lanterns. People don their community's festive garments and gather beneath Mount Diancang. Daily life centres around the sprawling market stalls, where merchants offer dried roots, teas, handicrafts, and livestock. Alongside the trading, crowds watch or join athletic contests such as horseback races, dragon boat dashes, wrestling matches, and archery. Evenings and afternoons feature singing, dancing, and board games, offering young people an enduring venue for courtship and shared merrymaking.

When and where

The festival takes place every year during spring, lasting for several consecutive days. It opens on the fifteenth night of the third lunar cycle, which generally corresponds to mid-April or early May on solar calendars.

The fair gathers in Dali City within Yunnan province, in southwest China. Market stalls and sports grounds occupy the slopes beneath Mount Diancang, positioned just outside Dali Old Town, which serves as the historic cultural heartland of the Bai people.

What Third Month Fair means

Historically rooted in Buddhist temple worship, the assembly represents thanksgiving and prayers for fruitful crops. It also carries strong associations with romance, standing as a time-honoured setting for courtship between young men and women. Folklore links the gathering to the benevolence of Guanyin and tales of love across different worlds, reinforcing Bai communal identity and shared ties across diverse regional ethnic neighbours.

On the table

• Pu'er tea
• traditional candy
• local ham

Questions people ask about Third Month Fair

See also

NowruzThe Iranian new year at the March equinox, kept with fire, greenery and picnicsMid-Autumn FestivalAn annual harvest festival celebrating family reunions, full moons and mooncakesSabantuyA summer festival of folk sports and feasting celebrated by Tatar, Bashkir, Chuvash, and Kazakh communities.Laba FestivalA winter porridge festival marking the start of the Chinese New Year season

Good reading and sources

• Third Month Fair on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-04.