Entity
Screen Wall of Dali Martial Temple
Dali, Yunnan, China
In 1384, during the Hongwu era of the Ming Dynasty, builders raised this massive screen wall on Bo'ai Road. Wars repeatedly broke the structure. In 1875, Yunnan Provincial Commander Yang Yuke funded a complete rebuild. Thirty-one years later, Brigade General Su Lunyuan organized further repairs. The wall survived the twentieth century by adapting. It shielded a commoners' factory during the Republic of China. After 1949, it echoed with the dry rustle of shifting grain when it served as a state granary. By the 1980s, the main temple halls were gone, leaving this wall as a solitary sentinel.
The wall showcases the traditional Bai 'Three Drops of Water' architectural layout. Conflict claimed the southern ear wall. The main wall and northern ear wall stand firm. The main wall measures 15.5 meters long, 8.2 meters high, and a massive 1.65 meters thick. Visitors can touch the rough stone-carved bracket sets and trace the relief sculptures of mythical beasts. Faded polychrome paintings still cling to the eaves, whispering of past grandeur. Nearby, two heavy stone tablets from 1686 and 1692, authored by commanders Sang Ge and Fan Chengxun, anchor the site's memory.
In 1994, a municipal allocation of 28,000 RMB secured the wall's survival. During the 2009 revitalization, priests combined the scent of sacred incense ash from the great temples of Luoyang, Jiexiu, and Dangyang in the courtyard. Today, the wall remains in situ, a prefecture-level heritage site. It bridges centuries of human devotion and daily labor.