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       Dali dispatch

       Welcome to ‘Dalifornia,’ an Oasis for China’s Drifters and Dreamers

       Young Chinese are flocking to the picturesque mountain town of Dali to escape the cutthroat competition and suffocating political environment of the country’s megacities.

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       Embracing one’s inner child, in Dali. Li Xiaoxue, center, moved there in August, after returning to China from Los Angeles. Ms. Li said Dali’s diversity and open-minded culture reminded her of California.

       Photographs by Gilles Sabrié

       Written by Vivian Wang

       Gilles Sabrié and Vivian Wang spent several days in Dali, in southern China, meeting the wandering souls and free spirits who have made a home in the ancient mountain town.

       Feb. 4, 2024, 12:03 a.m. ET

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       To find the dance circle in the bed-and-breakfast’s courtyard, drive north from the bedsheet factory converted into a crafts market, toward the vegan canteen urging diners to “walk barefoot in the soil and bathe in the sunshine.” If you see the unmanned craft beer bar where customers pay on the honor system, you’ve gone too far.

       Welcome to the Chinese mountain city of Dali, also sometimes known as Dalifornia, an oasis for China’s disaffected, drifting or just plain curious.

       The city’s nickname is a homage to California, and the easy-living, tree-hugging, sun-soaked stereotypes it evokes. It is also a nod to the influx of tech employees who have flocked there since the rise of remote work during the pandemic, to code amid the picturesque surroundings, nestled between snow-capped, 10,000-foot peaks in southwest China, on the shores of glistening Erhai Lake.

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       The area has long been a hub for backpackers and artists, who were lured by its cheap rents and idyllic old town, where ancient city gates and white-walled courtyard homes point to the history of the Bai ethnic minority, who have lived there for thousands of years.

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       Women of the indigenous Bai ethnic minority, at a village market. One of Dali’s many appeals is its preservation of Bai traditions.

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       Digital nomads like Liao Zhili, 23, center, are drawn to Dali, where they can work remotely in a picturesque location.

       Map locates the city of Dali in southwest China, on the shores of Erhai Lake.

       Erhai

       Lake

       CHINA

       Dali

       G56

       G214

       Beijing

       CHINA

       Shanghai

       Detail area

       20 miles

       By The New York Times

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       Vivian Wang is a China correspondent based in Beijing, where she writes about how the country’s global rise and ambitions are shaping the daily lives of its people. More about Vivian Wang

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