Protecting Erhai: The Seven Big Activities
When in April 2017 guesthouses and restaurants around western Yunnan's Erhai Lake were suddenly summarily ordered closed until further notice, big character slogans also began proclaiming: "Protecting Erhai: The Seven Big Activities" 保护洱海七大行动. The slogan suggests that the closure of tourist facilities is just one part of a wider campaign to clean up the Erhai environment.
Market day in Shiping's Guanyin Temple Alley 观音寺巷 appears almost unchanged from twenty years ago.
Judith Shapiro: Mao's War Against Nature: Politics and the Environment in Revolutionary China
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.
A number of Chinese historic texts covering life and politics in Yunnan have survived over the centuries. I have translated a few of them.
Yi embroidery.
Fog swirling on a cold winter morning over endless rice-terraces, the red of the
early morning sun reflected in the flooded paddies: this is the classic view of the
Hani Rice Terraces of Yuanyang, now of UNESCO World Heritage status.
Fei Hsiao-Tung and Chang Chih-I: Earthbound China: A Study of Rural Economy in Yunnan
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.
Benzhu Temple dedicated to 段宗棒.
A history trading post on the upper reaches of the Yangzi.
Upcoming Festivals
| Name | Date |
|---|---|
| Walnut Festival | 01 Sep |
| New Rice | 24 Sep |
| Across The Bridge Noodle Festival | 24 Sep |
| General's Cave Festival | 25 Sep |
| Benzhu Worship | 25 Sep |
| Mid-Autumn Festival | 25 Sep |
| Benzhu Worship | 25 Sep |
| Benzhu Worship | 25 Sep |
| Yangle Festival | 25 Sep |
| Benzhu Worship (Fengyu Area) | 25 Sep |
| Worship Mother Earth | 25 Sep |
| Leju Yi Festival | 25 Sep |
Markets this Saturday
| Dali | 大理 |
|---|---|
| Zhoucheng | 州城 |
| Yongping | 永平县 |
| Shanyang | 衫阳 |
| Paiying | 排营 |
| Xintun | 辛屯 |
| Lijiao | 力角 |
| Shijing | 师井 |
| Songgui | 松桂 |
| Caicun | 才村 |
| Diannan | 甸南 |
| Dali | 大理 |
| Caojian | 漕间 |
| Jiangwei | 江尾镇 |
| Huangping | 黄平镇 |
| Changyi | 长邑村 |
| Hongyan | 红岩镇 |
| 桥街 | |
| Deju | 德苴乡 |
| Hedian | 禾甸镇 |
| Junhuacun | 均华村 |
| Honghe | 红河 |
|---|---|
| Longpeng | 龙朋镇 |
| Shengcun | 生村 |
| Daqiao | 大桥乡 |
| Xinansuo | 新安所镇 |
| Daheishan | 大黑山乡 |
| Leyu | 乐育 |
| Shalatuo | 沙拉托 |
| Xinxian | 新现乡 |
| Tongchang | 铜厂 |
| Zhemi | 者米拉祜族乡 |
| Panzihua | 攀枝花 |
| Baoshan | 保山市 |
|---|---|
| Xiaopingtian | 小平田 |
| Tengchong | 腾冲县 |
| Wama | 瓦马彝族白族乡 |
| Puer | 普洱 |
|---|---|
| Jiangcheng | 江城哈尼族彝族自治县 |
| Lancang | 澜沧县 |
| Baozang | 宝藏乡 |
| Yongping | 永平镇 |
| Meng'a | 孟啊 |
| Diqing | 迪庆 |
|---|---|
| Xiaoweixi | 小维西 |
| Shangjiang | 上江 |
| Kaifaqu | 开发区 |