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.
Early 20th century murals at Mangzhong Temple near Menglian
Fei is the father of modern sociology in China: western-trained, he came to Yunnan at the end of the 1930s when China's eastern universities relocated west. In "Earthbound China" he applied modern empirical techniques that he had pioneered around Shanghai to the Chinese hinterland. The economical development, and subsequent societal changes, of three un-named, but typical villages in Yunnan is analyzed in great detail in this fascinating study.
A number of Chinese historic texts covering life and politics in Yunnan have survived over the centuries. I have translated a few of them.