Yunnan - China's most beautiful province


Raid on Cikou Church

Western missionaries were not always welcome in Yunnan. And when in 1867 they opened a mission in the upper Mekong valley, on the gates of Tibet, they incurred the wrath of Tibet's rulers.



Early 20th century murals at Mangzhong Temple near Menglian


Judith Shapiro: Mao's War Against Nature: Politics and the Environment in Revolutionary China

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Even if Chinese civilization has developed more against than with nature, the Mao years were a particular exercise in environmental destruction. In one case-study Shapiro tells the story of the draining of the northern part of Dianchi Lake, one of the first steps turning Kunming's lake into the fetid cess-pool it is today.


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

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.


Historic village on the old Kunming-Dali road.

Markets this Saturday

Kunming 昆明
Fazhe 法者镇
Shilin 石林彝族自治县
Tangdan 汤丹镇

Dali 大理
Zhoucheng 州城
Yongping 永平县
Shuixie 水泄
Paiying 排营
Lijiao 力角
Shijing 师井
Diannan 甸南
Dali 大理
Caicun 才村
Jiangwei 江尾镇
Huangping 黄平镇
Zhongjiang 中江
Gonglang 公郎镇
寅街村
桥街
前所
Jindunjiecun 金墩街村
Deju 德苴乡
Midian 米甸镇
Changyi 长邑村
Beiya 北衙
云南驿村
西庄

Lijiang 丽江
Jiuhe 九河
Shunzhou 顺州

Honghe 红河
Xinansuo 新安所镇
Daheishan 大黑山乡
Leyu 乐育
Lvchun 绿春县
Majie 马街
Longwu 龙武镇
Xinxian 新现乡
Xinjie 新街
Nanke 南科
Jinping 金平苗族瑶族傣族自治县
Mengqiao 勐桥乡

Wenshan 文山
Pingzhai 平寨乡
Matang 马塘镇
Pingba 坪坝镇
Banggu 蚌谷乡
Muyang 木央镇
Nanping (Majie) 南屏镇 (马街)

Chuxiong 楚雄
Shizhong 适中乡
Wanyaoshu 弯腰树
Dahekou 大河口乡

Baoshan 保山市
Zhonghe 中和
Bawan 坝湾镇
Mangkuan 芒宽彝族傣族乡

Lincang 临沧
Menglai 勐来乡
Fengqing 凤庆县
Xinhua 新华彝族苗族乡

Qujing 曲靖市
Baiwu 白雾
Daqiao 大桥乡
Jiache 驾车乡
Leye 乐业镇
Luna 鲁纳乡
Malu 马路乡
Shangcun 上村乡
Zhehai 者海镇
Zhichang 纸厂乡

Zhaotong 昭通
Shuitian 水田
Linfeng 麟风

Yuxi 玉溪
Mosha 漠沙镇
Yani 亚尼
Yuanjiang 元江哈尼族彝族傣族自治县
Nanuo 那诺乡

Nujiang 怒江
Hexi 河西
Puladi 普拉底乡
Laowo 老窝
Aludi 阿路底

Puer 普洱
Lancang 澜沧县
Donghui 东回镇
Minle 民乐
Xuelin 雪林佤族乡
Menglian 孟连傣族拉祜族佤族自治县
Mengsuo 勐梭镇
Puyi 普义乡

Diqing 迪庆
Xiaoweixi 小维西
Kaifaqu 开发区