Erhai Lake looks like an ear in shape, namely er in Chinese. The Erhai Lake in the east of Dali covers 250 square kilometers at an elevation of 1,980 meters with a water storage capacity of 300,000 cubic meters. Its vast pool, shining under the sun like a sheet of vivid green, and the snow mantles of the Cangshan Mountain reflected quivering in it, combine to form a breath-taking sight known poetically as “Silver Cangshan and Jade-like Erhai”.

    Erhai Park is also known for Tuanshan Mountain. The Erhai Park covers an area of more than 15,000 mu (1000 hectares). The mountain slopes are cocooned in luxuriant pines and cypresses and grass, and embroidered with clusters of camellias, azaleas, primrose, and exotic trees and flowers which can be found only in and around Dali.

    The pavilions, chambers and corridors atop the Tuanshan Mountain provide an all-encompassing view of the Cangshan Mountain, shimmering on the horizon like an immense screen, the Erhai Lake, its vast expanse of liquid silver strewn with white sails and alive with darting gulls and swallows, and the ancient city of Dali and its three pagodas, which are faintly visible in the distance. It is, indeed, an ideal place to marvel at the famous scene titled “Silver Cangshan Mountain and Jade-like Erhai Lake”.

    Source: http://www.yunnan.cn/english/content/tc.htm