Yunnan - China's most beautiful province


Dancing under the Moonlight: the Costume Festival of Zhizuo

Dancing under the Moonlight: the Costume Festival of Zhizuo
As villages go, Zhizuo could hardly be more remote. Some 70km from the county town, first along a winding mountain road, then on a deeply rutted track without public transport: even in the dry season it takes several hours and a bit of stamina to reach. Yet, at least on the first full moon of the year, the effort is worth it, as Zhizuo holds one of Yunnan's most colourful festivals, the Dress Competition Festival or Caizhuangjie 赛装节.



In Huize, the old capital of copper in Yunnan, many splendid guildhalls survive.


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.

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.


Once an important salt-mining town, now the second largest town along the Heihui River north of Yangbi.

Markets this Saturday

Kunming 昆明
Fazhe 法者镇
Shilin 石林彝族自治县
Tangdan 汤丹镇

Dali 大理
Junhua 均化
Zhoucheng 州城
Duomei 朵美
Shanyang 衫阳
Yongping 永平县
Paiying 排营
Lijiao 力角
Shuixie 水泄
Shijing 师井
Diannan 甸南
Liuhe 六合
Heqing 鹤庆县
Dacang 大仓镇
Caojian 漕间
Jiangwei 江尾镇
Gonglang 公郎镇
Changyi 长邑村
Deju 德苴乡
云南驿村
Junhuacun 均华村
桥街
前所

Lijiang 丽江
Jiuhe 九河
Liming 黎明

Dehong 德宏
Lianghe 梁河县
Kachang 卡场镇

Honghe 红河
Niujiaozhai 牛角寨
Xinansuo 新安所镇
Leyu 乐育
Daheishan 大黑山乡
Majie 马街
Lvchun 绿春县
Wuwan 乌弯
Xinxian 新现乡
Daheigong 大黑公
Nanke 南科
Jinping 金平苗族瑶族傣族自治县
Mengqiao 勐桥乡

Wenshan 文山
Pingzhai 平寨乡
Pingba 坪坝镇
Matang 马塘镇
Banggu 蚌谷乡
Muyang 木央镇
Nanping (Majie) 南屏镇 (马街)

Chuxiong 楚雄
Wanyaoshu 弯腰树
Dahekou 大河口乡
Mixing 弥兴镇

Baoshan 保山市
Wafang 瓦房彝族白族乡
Mangbang 芒棒

Lincang 临沧
Luodang 洛党
Yongde 永德县
Danjia 单甲乡
Fuhe 复合
Mengdui 孟堆乡
Xinhua 新华彝族苗族乡

Qujing 曲靖市
Baiwu 白雾
Daqiao 大桥乡
Leye 乐业镇
Luna 鲁纳乡
Malu 马路乡
Shangcun 上村乡
Zhichang 纸厂乡

Zhaotong 昭通
Shuanghe 双河

Yuxi 玉溪
Tadian 塔甸
Jiasa 戛洒镇
Mosha 漠沙镇
Xingmeng 兴蒙
Hexi 河西

Nujiang 怒江
Hexi 河西
Puladi 普拉底乡
Aludi 阿路底
Laowo 老窝

Puer 普洱
Lancang 澜沧县
Mangxin 芒信镇
Qiannuo 千糯
Minle 民乐

Diqing 迪庆
Xiaoweixi 小维西
Kaifaqu 开发区
岩瓦