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.
In Huize, the old capital of copper in Yunnan, many splendid guildhalls survive.
Jim Goodman: Living in Shangrila: Tibetans and Mosuo in Northwest Yunnan
Abstract: When Diqing Prefecture, opened its doors to foreign visitors in 1992, tourist agencies and government officials promoted Zhongdian County as the Shangrila of James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon. In 2001 the city officially changed its name to Shangrila. On a high plateau of over 3200 meters, surrounded by snow covered mountain peaks, inhabited mainly by relatively prosperous, friendly and contented Tibetans, with beautiful monasteries, lakes, forests and summer flowers, the county’s scenery and lifestyle certainly bore a strong resemblance to that in the novel. Living in Shangrila describes the life and environment of the Tibetan people throughout Diqing Prefecture. It also examines their neighbors the Mosuo, a branch of the Naxi nationality, who adopted Tibetan Buddhism as their religion, but are still mainly a matrilineal society, unique to Yunnan, living around Lugu Lake, the most picturesque body of water in the province. The book includes over 200 photographs.
A number of Chinese historic texts covering life and politics in Yunnan have survived over the centuries. I have translated a few of them.
Dali's biggest religious festival at the end of the fourth lunar month.
Hometown of many Bai merchants, Xizhou boast some impressive architecture.
John Israel: Lianda: A Chinese University in War and Revolution
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.
Remote temple in Weishan, site of temple fair.
Yunnan's only Shui-Township with stunning karst scenery.
Upcoming Festivals
| Name | Date |
|---|---|
| Pear Flower Festival | 17 Mar |
| Men's Festival | 17 Mar |
| New Moon Ritual | 19 Mar |
| Aluowuluo | 19 Mar |
| Madeng Trade Fair | 19 Mar |
| Weibaoshan Pilgrimage | 19 Mar |
| Kaixinjie | 19 Mar |
| Benzhu Worship (Fengyu) | 19 Mar |
| Wrestling Festival | 20 Mar |
| Dragon Worship | 20 Mar |
| Dragon Worship | 20 Mar |
| Benzhu Festival | 20 Mar |