Yunnan - China's most beautiful province


Kiss of Life for an Old Caravan Market

Until the middle of last century, Shaxi was a flourishing village on the caravan road to Tibet. The following decades made it a place that history forgot. Now Shaxi is undergoing an award-winning restoration.



The watermills in Fengqing's Gumo village operate just like a thousand years ago.


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.

John Israel: Lianda: A Chinese University in War and Revolution

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Everyone knows about the Mao's Long March, but a few years later another long march took place: that of Chinese students leaving their cushy campuses on the east coast, trekking all the way to Yunnan where their universities reformed as Lianda, the united university. Kunming, then a total backwater, became a hotbed for new ideas, not just scientific. We liked the section of east coast girls scampering around Mengzi in their latest fashion.


Once an important salt-mining town, now the second largest town along the Heihui River north of Yangbi.

Markets this Sunday

Kunming 昆明
Zhuanlong 转龙镇
Jiulong 九龙乡
Tuanjie 团结
Xundian 寻甸回族彝族自治县

Dali 大理
Duomei 朵美
Jiuzhou 旧州
Junhua 均化
Sanying 三营
Longjie 龙街
Haidong 海东
Yunlong 云龙县
Longjie 龙街
Liuhe 六合
Binchuan 宾川县
Beitou 北头
Liantie 炼铁
Lawu 拉乌
Heqing 鹤庆县
Changxin 长新
Jianchuan 剑川县
Eryuan 洱源县
Pingpo 平坡
Minjian 民建乡
青苗
Puping 普淜镇
Niujie 牛街彝族乡

Lijiang 丽江
Hongyan 红岩

Xishuangbanna 西双版纳
Menghun 勐混
Mengman 勐满拉祜族哈尼族布朗族镇

Honghe 红河
Pingbian 屏边苗族自治县
Niujiaozhai 牛角寨
Diema 垤玛
Mengzi 蒙自县
Liangdi 浪堤
Chake 岔科
Jiayin 甲寅
Azhahe 阿扎河
Sankeshu 三棵树
Dixibei 地西北
Baohua 宝华
Yongning 永宁乡
Luoen 洛恩
Laomeng 老勐

Wenshan 文山
Badaoshao 八道哨乡
Guangnan 广南县
Pingyuan 平远
Zhesang 者桑乡
Heizhiguo 黑支果乡
Boai 剥隘镇
Dongma 董马乡
Babao 八宝镇
Xinzhai 新寨乡

Chuxiong 楚雄
Nanhua 南华县
Dayao 大姚县
Bailu 白路
Mixing 弥兴镇
Guanglu 光路镇
Yaoan 姚安县

Baoshan 保山市
Xiaopingtian 小平田
Tengchong 腾冲县
Wama 瓦马彝族白族乡

Lincang 临沧
Luodang 洛党
Mangka 芒卡镇
Fengwei 风尾镇
Boshang 博商
Yalian 亚练乡
Mengjiao 勐角乡

Qujing 曲靖市
Daba 大坝
Dahai 大海乡
Huohong 火红乡
Nagu 娜姑镇
Sandao 三道
迤车

Zhaotong 昭通
Shuanghe 双河

Yuxi 玉溪
Chahe 岔河
Dalongtan 大龙潭

Nujiang 怒江
Liuku 六库
Tongdian 通甸

Puer 普洱
Lancang 澜沧拉祜族自治县
Nanling 南岭乡
Yongping 永平镇
Meng'a 孟啊

Diqing 迪庆
Zhonglu 中路