大理喜州英语导游词.docVIP

大理喜州英语导游词 　　after an eight-hour ride in the night train we arrived at the dali train station, which is in the suburb of the new city of dali. we had made hotel bookings to stay in old dali, a nice and quiet old town about fourteen kilometers north of new dali. it took us thirty minutes by bus to get to our hotel. 　　it was still quite early in the morning. we checked in, had a shower, and then went outside to try some local snack for breakfast. since we had managed to get some sleep on the night train we were all ready for the day’s event. around nine thirty we caught a local bus and set out for our destination, the small town of xizhou. 　　xizhou is a bai town seventeen kilometers north of old dali. this place is well-known for its many old, protected houses and courtyards that survived from the late ming and the qing dynasties. the bai people in xizhou are a special breed of the bai community. they have been constantly referred to as the jews of the bai, a label which all townsfolk happily take to be an honor for it is really a recognition of their gift and skills in making successful business deals, now and in the past. 　　from 1920s to 1949, there existed about 400 families in xizhou, all engaged in running some sort of private businesses. it was said 200 of the families kept shops locally or in other parts of yunnan, while the other 200 traveled across the country to buy and sell, and some powerful families even made their way as far as the whole of southeast asia and the subcontinent of india. they traded in a variety of things: gold, silver, pearls, jade, cotton, silk, natural minerals, medicinal herbs, tobacco, opium, and so on. over a few decades, the merchants from xizhou had built up a great fame and wealth with which they also built nice houses with open courtyards. 　　by what the locals said, there were the great four, middle eight, and minor twelve families, all were well-established big merchant firms in the past. the top one of the great four, the yans’