Slideshows

Hand-made giant sparklers, called "Fire Flowers" 火花, are part of the firework displays for temple fairs in Menglian county.

The Dai "Kinnarī" Bird Dance 紧那罗神鸟舞 draws on the local legend of Zhao Shutun 召树屯 with a half-bird/half-human dancer at its center.

The 1846 murals at Luose Temple 罗色庙 on the southern side of Yilong Lake 异龙湖 near Shiping 石屏 depict an Yi battle against the Ming army. (Photographed through a crack in the door)

Market day in Shiping's Guanyin Temple Alley 观音寺巷 appears almost unchanged from twenty years ago.

Laoxudian 老旭甸 in Shiping 石屏 has been dubbed Fossil Village 化石村 as the houses are built from sandstone containing many fossilised plants. In a region mostly inhabited by Yi, this village is entirely Han with the families from the Zhou 周 clan.

The Dragon Fruit Cactus 量天尺 has a nocturnal flower that opens only once. It grows in southern Yunnan.

Hidden in the forests above Shangyun 上允 are the ruins of a Buddhist temple fortress founded during the Qing Dynasty by separatist monks from Jizushan who built a significant religious following by the local Lahu and Dai people.

An important Dai festival traditionally marking the beginning of the summer retreat for monks.

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.

WeiBaDa 维巴达 is a Dai ritual worshipping traces of Buddha, such as footprints and handprints, in Jinggu county 景谷县.

The Gourd Festival 葫芦节 is the main festival of the Lahu people. In Lancang, its date has been moved into April to coincide with the county's foundation.

The firing of self-made rockets is one of the fun parts of the Dai Watersplashing Festival 泼水节.