Yunnan - China's most beautiful province


Into the Land of the Black Lisu

The Nujiang Canyon, on Yunnan's western frontier, was until the 1930s a blank area on the map that not even Chinese troops dared to enter. In 1905 two British explorers made the first foray into this land of the Black Lisu.



Early 20th century murals at Mangzhong Temple near Menglian


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

Cover Image
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.


A number of Chinese historic texts covering life and politics in Yunnan have survived over the centuries. I have translated a few of them.

Fei Hsiao-Tung and Chang Chih-I: Earthbound China: A Study of Rural Economy in Yunnan

Cover Image
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.


Best surviving station on the French-built Vietnam-Kunming railway.

Markets this Tuesday

Dali 大理
Junhua 均化
Zhongsuo 中所
Fuheng 富恒
Duomei 朵美
Liandong 炼洞
Yongping 永平县
Fengyu 风羽
Haidong 海东
Guanping 关平
Baofeng 宝丰乡
Liuhe 六合
Yinqiao 银桥
Binju 宾居
Madeng 马镫
Heqing 鹤庆县
Shuijing 水井
Hongyan 红岩镇
龙洞村
Qinghaiying 青海营
Hedian 禾甸镇
Shalong 沙龙镇
Deju 德苴乡
Xiazhuang 下庄镇
Beiya 北衙

Lijiang 丽江
Shunzhou 顺州

Honghe 红河
Shengcun 生村
Wantang 湾塘乡
Caoba 草坝镇
Mingjiu 鸣鹫镇
Longwu 龙武镇
Dayangjie 大羊街
Mengping 勐坪

Wenshan 文山
Lida 里达镇
Zhujie 朱街镇
Shuanglongying 双龙营乡
Mugan 木杆
Jiayi 稼依镇
Zhulin 珠琳镇
Banlun 板仑乡

Chuxiong 楚雄
Gaoqiao 高桥镇
Dalongkou 大龙口乡
Mixing 弥兴镇

Baoshan 保山市
Zhonghe 中和
Bawan 坝湾镇
Mangkuan 芒宽彝族傣族乡

Lincang 临沧
Menglai 勐来乡

Qujing 曲靖市
Kuangshan 矿山镇
Xitu 西土

Zhaotong 昭通
Shuanghe 双河

Yuxi 玉溪
Mosha 漠沙镇
Yani 亚尼
Yuanjiang 元江哈尼族彝族傣族自治县
Nanuo 那诺乡

Nujiang 怒江
Gudeng 古登
Bingzhongluo 丙中洛
Lishadi 利沙底乡

Puer 普洱
Jiangcheng 江城哈尼族彝族自治县
Donghui 东回镇
Meizi 梅子镇
Xuelin 雪林佤族乡
Menglian 孟连傣族拉祜族佤族自治县
Mengsuo 勐梭镇
Wenggake 翁嘎科镇

Diqing 迪庆
岩瓦