Yáozhōu

Yaozhou lies in a highland basin east of Dali. The Gao family held hereditary authority here after the fall of the Dali kingdom. When the Ming established Yao'an Prefecture in 1382, appointed officials governed alongside members of the Gao family, who retained hereditary posts. On the wooded mountain west of the town stood Longhua Temple. In the early Ming monks gathered there to teach and worship, making it a religious center of western Yunnan.