Yunnan - China's most beautiful province


The Red Soil of Dongchuan

The Red Soil of Dongchuan
The Wumeng Mountains' bright red soil, the buckwheat's yellow and Yunnan's dramatic skies make the region around Dongchuan a paradise for photographers.



A Lahu minority Christian service in a hill village near Menglian.


Jim Goodman: Children of the Jade Dragon: the Naxi of Lijiang and their mountain neighbours the Yi

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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.

Traditional Bai vernacular architecture with buildings to three sides and a screenwall.



Hometown of many Bai merchants, Xizhou boast some impressive architecture.


Judith Shapiro: Mao's War Against Nature: Politics and the Environment in Revolutionary China

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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.


Historic village on the old Kunming-Dali road.

Markets this Wednesday

Kunming 昆明
Jijie 鸡街乡
Shilin 石林彝族自治县
Tuanjie 团结
Longtou 龙头街

Dali 大理
Junhua 均化
Duomei 朵美
Shunbi 順濞
Shaba 沙坝
Yinqiao 银桥
Liuhe 六合
Heqing 鹤庆县
Zhongying 种英
Shanglan 上兰
Zhouguanying 周官营
Hongyan 红岩镇
顺荡
龙街
Hedian 禾甸镇
Qinghaiying 青海营
Shangcang 上沧
Gongguoqiao 功果桥镇

Honghe 红河
Zhicun 芷村镇
Shengcun 生村
Shalatuo 沙拉托
Baiyun 白云乡
Yongning 永宁乡
Tongchang 铜厂
Zhemi 者米拉祜族乡
Tutai 土台
Panzihua 攀枝花
Hongtian 红田

Wenshan 文山
Babu 八布乡
Tiechang 铁厂镇
Banlun 板仑乡
Zhuanjiao 篆角乡
Mulun 睦伦乡

Chuxiong 楚雄
Maojie 猫街镇
Mixing 弥兴镇
Yaoan 姚安县

Baoshan 保山市
Hehua 荷花傣族佤族乡
Xinzhai 新寨

Lincang 临沧
Mengding 孟定
Nanmei 南美拉祜族乡
Wumulong 乌木龙乡
Banhong 班洪乡

Qujing 曲靖市
Dahai 大海乡
Huohong 火红乡
Nagu 娜姑镇
Sandao 三道
Xitu 西土
Yema 野马林场
迤车

Zhaotong 昭通
Shuanghe 双河

Yuxi 玉溪
Chahe 岔河
Dalongtan 大龙潭

Nujiang 怒江
Lazan 腊咱
Lumadeng 鹿马登乡

Puer 普洱
Jiangcheng 江城哈尼族彝族自治县
Nuofu 糯福
Dashan 大山乡
Mengma 孟马镇

Diqing 迪庆
Zhonglu 中路
Kaifaqu 开发区