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.
Jim Goodman: Children of the Jade Dragon: the Naxi of Lijiang and their mountain neighbours the Yi
In the first half of the 1990s Lijiang had barely made its appearance on the Chinese tourism stage, even less so the then remote mountains of Ningland and Lugu Lake. Jim Goodman's account of the Naxi and the Yi draws back to a time where not everything was staged for mass tourism: an account of a lost world.
A number of Chinese historic texts covering life and politics in Yunnan have survived over the centuries. I have translated a few of them.
Locally important temple.
Yunnan's only Shui-Township with stunning karst scenery.
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.
Dali's dragon boat races were held on the day of the Torch Festival.
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 |