大理外传：一个英国人的大理速写本

by Jason Pym, 万哲生

两千年来，大理一直是中国西南的交通要冲与商业中心。西藏马贩子南下购买茶叶，缅甸药草商来往云南，他们都要路过大理。

2005年，英国画家万哲生（Jason Pym）与新婚妻子万可（CC）来到大理度蜜月，在古城咖啡馆前面晒着太阳。两个星期后，他们在大理租下房子，安顿下来。十余年间，他画下大量速写，记录大理的人文、美食和自然风光，为这座城市作传。

在他眼中，大理的风花雪月、草木乡民，都不只是游客的消费对象，而是每天心之念之的邻家故里。正如他喜欢的一个大理当地的说法，一生中最重要的就是“老地、老伴和老友”。

万哲生的母语不是汉语，但是他决定一定要用中文记录自己所热爱的大理，因为这是他相处多年的本地朋友和乡亲能够看得懂的语言，这里毕竟是他们祖祖辈辈生活的家乡。

正如他在后记中所说：“我并不担心自己这本书写得不完美，只是认为用中文写完它，就可以说，我对得起大理这个地方了。”

一个外国人描绘一方水土的态度和能力，让身为东道主的我们会心又汗颜。

Genres: China

204 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2017

About the author

I’m a British author and illustrator, and I’ve been living in China for the last 20 odd years.

My latest book, The Story of Chinese Characters《汉字博物馆》published in 2024 won China’s prestigious Bingxin Children’s Literature Award.

A Dali Sketchbook 《大理外传》about Dali prefecture in Yunnan province is now in its third printing, and continues to be well received.

My Goodreads ratings are purely based on a book's entertainment value, not literary merit (so pot boilers often get more stars than worthy tomes).

Ratings:
* I'll never get these hours of my life back. Not necessarily badly written, but really, really irritating.
** Not the worst way to spend the day, but not something I enjoyed.
*** Good, but I wouldn't recommend it particularly.
**** Great: Read this!
***** Amazing. A book I'll read over and over, but usually for personal reasons so probably not worth you picking up.

Reviews

[Alice Poon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was sent a copy of this delightful book by my GR friend Jason Pym, a British artist living in Dali, Yunnan, who wrote it entirely in Simplified Chinese. Usually I would decline reading anything written in Simplified Chinese, as I think it mutilates and degrades the beautiful Chinese language. But I made an exception in this case, not least because it was written by a native British, knowing how hard Chinese language writing is for Westerners. Another major reason is that I wanted to learn about the ancient history of beautiful Dali.

I was not disappointed. A portion of the book is dedicated to relating the early history of Yunnan's "white tribe", which can be traced back all the way to the times of the Three Kingdoms. In the 8th century, this ethnic tribe came under the rule of Nanzhao and became a tributary state annexed to the Tang dynasty. Due to subsequent disputes with Tang, Nanzhao was annihilated after a period of prosperity. By the 10th century, the Duan family established the Kingdom of Dali, which carried the tradition of Buddhism and ruled in peace for 300 years until its conquest by the Mongols.

Other portions offer interesting information about the landscape, flora and fauna, tribal customs and other cultural tidbits of Dali.

[M. Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dali - no, not Salvador, the city in Yunnan in south-western China - is the kind of place that most non-China hands probably never experience. The tourist trails around Beijing and Shanghai are far away, although Kuming is close. As the Chinese star rises, interest in the country grows, but what is it really like to live there? Jason Pym knows, and he has done a fantastic job of giving a flavour of his life there in this book. It's a fascinating dip-into book which covers everything from tips on where to get books, or the best local variations of tofu, to bits and pieces on which hikes to take and which animals to avoid. It's part travel-diary - even though as a long-term resident of Dali, Jason Pym's 'journey' is through his life there - and part guidebook. The story told is of a city rich in its own history and culture, often at odds with the dominant Han, an early centre of Buddhism, and at the crossroads of traderoutes which have barely featured in Western consciousness at all. And not only did Jason Pym write and research it, he illustrated it too, with consummate skill and style. If this book doesn't make a traveller want to get away from the tourist traps of the east coast of China and its hinterland, nothing will.

[Shorel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be required reading for anyone coming to Dali. Brilliant. After this, go on to read the Tower of Five Glories.