Watersplashing in Yongping
Ask for the Watersplashing Festival, or Poshuijie 泼水节, and everyone will tell you to go to Jinghong, capital of Yunnan's Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Region: the 'biggest and best' Dai celebrations to mark their New Year are taking place there. And big it is. Thousands of Han Chinese and foreign tourist flock to Jinghong every year. Jinghong's Poshuijie certainly is big -- and very commercial. If big crowds and big events are your thing, go to Jinghong.
The temple in Mangdao 芒岛, built in 1899, is one of few surviving examples of Dai Buddhist temples having survived the Cultural Revolution by being converted into grain storage.
Judith Shapiro: Mao's War Against Nature: Politics and the Environment in Revolutionary China
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.
Local Dali opera form.
Once an important salt-mining town, now the second largest town along the Heihui River north of Yangbi.
C. Patterson Giersch: Asian Borderlands: The Transformation of Qing China's Yunnan Frontier
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.
Upcoming Festivals
| Name | Date |
|---|---|
| Ghost Month | 13 Aug |
| Moerduo Temple Fair | 22 Aug |
| Benzhu Worship (Jianchuan Area) | 26 Aug |
| Benzhu Worship (Jianchuan Area) | 26 Aug |
| Maulid an-Nabi | 26 Aug |
| Burning Bag Festival | 26 Aug |
| Bridge Temple Fair | 27 Aug |
| Benzhu Worship | 27 Aug |
| Ghost Month Rituals | 27 Aug |
| Qingsuo Lantern Festival | 27 Aug |
| Lanterns on the Lake | 27 Aug |
| Benzhu Worship | 27 Aug |
Markets this Thursday
| Kunming | 昆明 |
|---|---|
| Jijie | 鸡街乡 |
| Dali | 大理 |
|---|---|
| Nanxin | 南新 |
| Junhua | 均化 |
| Duomei | 朵美 |
| Niujie | 牛街 |
| Yangcen | 羊岑 |
| Haidong | 海东 |
| Maidi | 脉地 |
| Gudi | 古底 |
| Liuhe | 六合 |
| Heqing | 鹤庆县 |
| Qiaohou | 乔后 |
| Daying | 大营 |
| Taiyi | 太邑彝族乡 |
| Liuchang | 刘厂镇 |
| Qinghaiying | 青海营 |
| Beiya | 北衙 |
| 果城村 | |
| Xinjie | 新街镇 |
| Qiaodian | 乔甸镇 |
| Mizhi | 密祉镇 |
| 鲁庄 | |
| 太和社区 |
| Lijiang | 丽江 |
|---|---|
| Shunzhou | 顺州 |
| Xishuangbanna | 西双版纳 |
|---|---|
| Xiding | 西定哈尼族乡 |
| Honghe | 红河 |
|---|---|
| Dianwei | 甸尾乡 |
| Shalatuo | 沙拉托 |
| Heping | 和平乡 |
| Longwu | 龙武镇 |
| Baixian | 白显 |
| Zhemi | 者米拉祜族乡 |
| Panzihua | 攀枝花 |
| Tongchang | 铜厂 |
| Baoshan | 保山市 |
|---|---|
| Xiaopingtian | 小平田 |
| Tengchong | 腾冲县 |
| Wama | 瓦马彝族白族乡 |
| Zhaotong | 昭通 |
|---|---|
| Shuanghe | 双河 |