A study on the changes of cultural and educational facilities in Dali City during the Ming and Qing dynasties

Abstract During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the central government implemented a policy of Bureaucratization of Native Officers, in order to develop and consolidate the integration of frontier with the mainland. Through the gradual construction of cultural and educational facilities, appointed officials were able to achieve the political goal of ideological integration with the Central Plains in the frontier society. Taking the construction of cultural and educational facilities as a starting point, this article attempts to explore the relationship between urban development, power change and cultural identity in Dali City from four aspects: the number of facilities, scale regulation, spatial form and functional structure. Shows that: (1) In basic education facilities, charitable schools replaced village schools, and New-type schools gradually increased and showed decentralised distribution, making Confucianism available to a wider audience. (2) The scale of the main educational facilities had expanded and the regulation has improved, gradually showing a concentrated distribution. And due to the formation of functional zoning, cultural and educational facilities occupy a more central and prominent landscape position in Dali City. (3) Influenced by the Confucian culture of Central Plains, the number of imperial examinations gradually increased, and the social life of Dali City changed. Dali City gradually converged with the Central Plains, and the local people's sense of cultural identity with the Central Plains deepened, strengthening the central government's rule over the border areas.