Yunnan - China's most beautiful province


Early Maps of Yunnan

The history of maps in Yunnan began more than a thousand years ago. But it was the Jesuits who revolutionised mapping in China, producing the first accurate maps of the provinces, including remote Yunnan.



Remnants of colour still show on the stone carvings at Shibaoshan, revealing that the Buddhist images were once brightly painted.


Jim Goodman: Children of the Jade Dragon: the Naxi of Lijiang and their mountain neighbours the Yi

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In the first half of the 1990s Lijiang had barely made its appearance on the Chinese tourism stage, even less so the then remote mountains of Ningland and Lugu Lake. Jim Goodman's account of the Naxi and the Yi draws back to a time where not everything was staged for mass tourism: an account of a lost world.


A number of Chinese historic texts covering life and politics in Yunnan have survived over the centuries. I have translated a few of them.

Largest Miao village in the Kunming area with a large Christian community and a nationally-acclaimed church-choir.


C. Patterson Giersch: Asian Borderlands: The Transformation of Qing China's Yunnan Frontier

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Yunnan was not always China: indeed not so long ago large parts of Yunnan were only nominally part of the empire. To make Yunnan, outside the main Han cities, a Chinese province required significant effort. Here Giersch's study on Yunnan's hinterland makes an interesting if academic read.


Fog swirling on a cold winter morning over endless rice-terraces, the red of the early morning sun reflected in the flooded paddies: this is the classic view of the Hani Rice Terraces of Yuanyang, now of UNESCO World Heritage status.

Markets this Friday

Kunming 昆明
Jiulong 九龙乡
Wumeng 乌蒙乡
Jinsuo 金所乡

Dali 大理
Xiangtu 象图乡
Hecun 萂村
Gunipen 沽泥盆
Jiancao 捡槽
Longjie 龙街
Waxi 瓦溪
Fengyi 凤仪
Pingchuan 平川
Weishan 巍山彝族回族自治县
Wuxing 五星
Longjie 龙街
Wase 挖色
Baidangping 白荡坪
Yangbi 漾濞彝族自治县
Shaxi 沙溪
Zuòyì 作邑
Dianzhong 甸中
Yousuo 右所镇
寅街村
Wachang 瓦厂乡
Shidongcun 石洞村
妙姑村
田口
Xishan 西山乡
大栗树
Luming 鹿鸣乡
北桥
Midian 米甸镇
西庄
Jijie 鸡街乡
汤涧
Puping 普淜镇

Dehong 德宏
Lianghe 梁河县
Kachang 卡场镇

Honghe 红河
Xinhua 新华乡
Sancun 三村
Lengquan 冷泉镇
Lengdun 冷墩
Dongshan 东山镇
Daheigong 大黑公
Sankeshu 三棵树
Wuwan 乌弯
Shitouzhai 石头寨
Xinjie 新街
Dixibei 地西北

Wenshan 文山
Badaoshao 八道哨乡
Heizhiguo 黑支果乡
Boai 剥隘镇
Dongma 董马乡
Xinzhai 新寨乡

Chuxiong 楚雄
Dalongkou 大龙口乡
Qianchang 前场镇
Jiuchang 九厂
Guihua 桂花乡

Baoshan 保山市
Wafang 瓦房彝族白族乡
Mangbang 芒棒

Lincang 临沧
Yongde 永德县
Danjia 单甲乡
Yalian 亚练乡
Mengdui 孟堆乡
Fuhe 复合

Qujing 曲靖市
Daba 大坝
Dahai 大海乡
Huohong 火红乡
Jiache 驾车乡
Nagu 娜姑镇
迤车
Zhehai 者海镇

Yuxi 玉溪
Fuliangpeng 富良棚

Nujiang 怒江
Daxingdi 大兴地乡
Chenggan 称杆
Zilijia 子里甲乡
Fugong 福贡

Puer 普洱
Mangxin 芒信镇
Qiannuo 千糯
Kangping 康平乡