Liangzi | “Jason‘s 10 years in Dali”

Yesterday, I had a small gathering with Jason, and we marveled at the fact that we've been in Dali for ten years now.

Before coming to Dali, Jason ran an outdoor gear shop in Shanghai. His first appearance in Dali was as the owner of a late-night canteen.

I still remember one night many years ago when a friend took me to eat braised pork rice. We walked in the dark to Chengxin Well, took several turns, and somehow found ourselves inside a small building, where we ate a bowl of braised pork rice.

Time has passed, and I can't remember the taste anymore, but I still recall the feeling at that time: "This guy from Shanghai is so strange. Why would he come to Dali to make braised pork rice? Why does he only do it at night, in the dark, instead of during the day? Why are there so many strange people and things in Dali? Why do these strange things fascinate me?"

Ten years later, the friends who once ate braised pork rice together have all scattered, lost contact, but the person who made the braised pork rice has become one of my long-time friends.

The group of people who first opened shops on Renmin Road had simple ideas: they wanted to stay and do something interesting, and if they made a little profit, that would be great, but if not, it didn't matter. Dali was like a utopia where young people could play a large game of house. The mentality of the first-generation shop owners on Renmin Road was focused on fun—no one thought about getting rich, and no one expected to get rich.

Around 2011, Jason's late-night canteen officially opened in the middle section of Renmin Road. Shortly afterward, my little grocery shop quietly opened in the same area. After my shop closed at 9 PM each night, I would stroll over to the late-night canteen and have a bowl of beef brisket noodles or sweet rice wine egg custard, sometimes adding a plate of marinated tofu. I kept this routine for many years.

If I hadn’t gone to the late-night canteen, I wouldn’t have known how many people there were who couldn’t sleep at night. Starting from around 6 or 7 PM, people would come for a meal, and until 4 AM, well-dressed people would quietly sit down to eat a plate of scallion oil noodles, neither drunk nor disheartened, simply wanting to eat a hot meal before dawn.

At first, Jason was the main force behind the late-night canteen, with Xiao Chun and Xiao Hai helping out. Later, the tailor and Sister Hua also joined. In addition, during the day, Honghong’s fried fish and chips made the little shop bustling with a group of people, warm and united.

During the peak of the late-night canteen on Renmin Road in September, I lost count of how many late nights after the music ended, people who had been listening or singing would walk into the late-night canteen for a bowl of noodles to comfort their loneliness.

When business was busy, Jason and his team would each show their talents in the small kitchen. Garlic seafood fried noodles, beef brisket rice, beef brisket noodles, scallion oil noodles, sweet rice wine dumplings—these dishes kept coming out... During such times, I couldn’t help with much, so I’d just wash the dishes, acting as the temporary dishwashing sister, quickly cleaning the cups, plates, and bowls piling up in the sink. If you often ate at the late-night canteen those years, you might have used a bowl I washed.

The narrow and small old tile-roofed house even had its attic filled with people sitting cross-legged. The servers and customers were shoulder to shoulder, feet to feet, packed together joyfully, grateful that someone was cooking hot food for everyone in the middle of the night. On snowy winter nights, the distant gods could not compare to the warmth of a bowl of hot noodle soup in front of us.

Whether old or new Dali, it’s about people who have rooted themselves again in Dali. The atmosphere that Jason created at the late-night canteen made outsiders feel kindness and warmth: you are not alone.

I have seen sad and discouraged women walk into the late-night canteen, recklessly leaning on Jason’s shoulder, crying. At that time, Jason was in the kitchen, either frying rice or cooking noodles. He didn’t stop stirring with his spatula, nor did he stop the woman from leaning on him to cry. I sat in the corner and witnessed this scene. Jason didn’t say a word, but I felt his body language telling the woman: If you feel sad, you can cry, but don’t stop your hands; life must go on.

I spent both my 26th and 27th birthdays at the late-night canteen. My birthday coincided with the rainy season in Dali, with heavy rain falling day and night. People living in old houses would joke when they met: “How’s the leak in your house? Do you have enough pots, bowls, and basins to catch the rainwater?”

The roof of the late-night canteen also leaked. Outside, it was pouring rain, while inside, it was a small rain. We laughed and sang birthday songs, blew out the candles, cut the cake, and spent my birthday in a foreign land after growing up. I shared the cake with the customers in the shop, and anyone who was there got a piece. Everything was by chance. Strangers wished me well, hoping I had a brilliant future and found happiness in this world.

The rent of that old tile-roofed house increased from 25,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan, and later, rents in the surrounding shops increased to tens of thousands, even 200,000 yuan. It no longer made sense to continue. So, Jason chose to move the late-night canteen to Yincang Road. Just like before, it’s small, quiet, and they cook hot food for the sleepless people at night.

During the time when rents were soaring, many interesting shops on Renmin Road gradually disappeared. Some people chose to leave Dali and return to the city, while others chose to buy property in Dali and invest in this small town. Wave after wave of people, full of hope and dreams, came to Dali, injecting infinite vitality into this small town in western Yunnan.

It’s inappropriate to complain that Dali has changed—everything in the world changes. Positive people are always positive, constantly adjusting themselves, like surfing: rising and falling but always staying above the waves. The complainers are still crying over spilled milk, while the optimistic ones have already passed through even more beautiful scenery.

After relocating, the late-night canteen gradually became stable. Jason began to return to what he loves, hiking in the mountains and forests, listening to the sound of bamboo groves and pine trees, watching the moonrise and sunset, walking along streams with his two dogs, camping by hidden wild hot springs.

Jason and his friends have traveled through the nineteen peaks and eighteen streams of Cangshan, searching for hidden beautiful corners between Cangshan and Erhai. They have discovered several classic routes and now take people who are equally interested on hikes, routes that ordinary people can easily finish. This broke my previous stereotype that hiking meant carrying a heavy backpack and enduring hardship. Walking between Cangshan and Erhai is such a relaxing and wonderful experience.

Jason’s hiking route in Cangshan and Erhai:

• Walk along the ancient Tea Horse Road, overlooking the sunset over Erhai from the Nanzhao ruins.
• Go to Cangshan to collect mushrooms, visit Wuwei Temple, and drink mushroom chicken soup after descending the mountain.
• Cross Mo Canxi, see Erhai, go to a secluded mountain temple, and have a vegetarian meal.
• Ride a bike through the fields along Erhai, and have a homemade meal after sunset.

... For more experiences and routes, you can follow Jason's public account or search for “Dali Experience community” on Dianping, where the routes are described in detail with real pictures.

The guides are still the same people from the late-night canteen days: Jason, Honghong, the tailor, along with Nuomi and Harry, the two dogs.

The spirit of mutual help and friendship in old Dali continues to be passed down, especially embodied in Jason.

Cat Jie, a fellow from old Dali who had opened the Cat Three Café near Chengxin Well, faced a business partner breaching a contract, which put her in a difficult position. At the time, Cat Jie was unwell and resting at her hometown, unable to deal with the problem. Our forever warm-hearted Jason stepped forward, uniting a group of capable friends to help solve the issue and successfully relocated the café.

Throughout the whole process, with everyone lending a hand, the new Cat Three Café was reborn and became even more beautiful.

The idea of a community kitchen at Cat Three Café was first proposed by Honghong, and Jason took the lead in implementing it. Since August, it has been running smoothly. Once or twice a week, good friends come to cook dishes from their hometowns. The meals are simple, affordable, and serve 20 to 30 people each time. A portion of the proceeds is donated to the café, thanking Cat Jie for providing the space.

Old friends gather in the small courtyard of Cat Three for lunch, chatting, soaking up the sun, and drinking coffee. Time seems to have returned to 2010, forever young, and forever filled with tears of joy.

Jason's ten years in Dali also represent a group of similar people like us, who came from all corners of the earth to a small town beneath Cangshan, using our passion to warm the land here, planting seeds of love and blooming flowers of kindness.

Some come and go

some leave and return

but Jason has always been here

just like me.