Yunnan - China's most beautiful province


Learning Bai

Learning Bai
Bai 白族话 is the language spoken by the Bai people 白族 in the Dali area. While Chinese has become the lingua franca, Bai is still actively spoken by many, particularly older people, but it does not have a native written form and comes in many dialects. Here we list the available resources for learning this difficult language.



Since its foundation by the charismatic scholar Xuan Ke 宣科 in the 1980s, the Naxi Ancient Music Association has been performing regularly in the old town of Lijiang.


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

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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.


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

Brenda McLean: George Forrest, Plant Hunter

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George Forrest, perhaps the most successful plant collector of his time, left little written about his numerous journeys to Yunnan, so this well-illustrated book fills in much needed detail about his life.


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.

Markets this Thursday

Kunming 昆明
Banqiao 板桥乡

Dali 大理
Nanxin 南新
Yangcen 羊岑
Niujie 牛街
Maidi 脉地
Fengyi 凤仪
Qinghua 清华
Gudi 古底
Yongjian 永连
Wase 挖色
Niujie 牛街
Qiaohou 乔后
Dacang 大仓镇
Daying 大营
Taiyi 太邑彝族乡
Huangping 黄平镇
Zhongjiang 中江
Qiaodian 乔甸镇
蛇街
太和社区
Shidongcun 石洞村
Mizhi 密祉镇
果城村
妙姑村
Puping 普淜镇
Jindunjiecun 金墩街村
Liuchang 刘厂镇
Luming 鹿鸣乡
Xinjie 新街镇
鲁庄

Lijiang 丽江
Judian 巨甸镇

Xishuangbanna 西双版纳
Xiding 西定哈尼族乡

Dehong 德宏
Kachang 卡场镇
Lianghe 梁河县

Honghe 红河
Nafa 那发
Dianwei 甸尾乡
Sancun 三村
Heping 和平乡
Wuwan 乌弯
Daheigong 大黑公
Jiache 架车
Zhongzhai 中寨
Baixian 白显

Wenshan 文山
Puyang 普阳
Funing 富宁县
Shupi 树皮彝族乡
Xichou 西畴县

Chuxiong 楚雄
Xiaoju 小苴
Jiyi 己衣乡
Tanhua 昙花乡
Sanchahe 三岔河乡
Dongpo 东坡傣族乡
Guanglu 光路镇

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

Lincang 临沧
Guoda 郭大彝族白族乡
Yongde 永德县
Danjia 单甲乡
Mengdui 孟堆乡
Fuhe 复合

Qujing 曲靖市
Wopo 窝坡
Fenghuang 凤凰
干海子
Laochang 老厂乡
Wuxing 五星乡
Xinjie 新街回族乡

Zhaotong 昭通
Linfeng 麟风
Shuitian 水田
Menggu 蒙姑镇

Yuxi 玉溪
Mosha 漠沙镇
Xingmeng 兴蒙
Hexi 河西
Fuliangpeng 富良棚

Nujiang 怒江
Jiakedi 架科底乡
Pihe 匹河怒族乡
Dimaluo
Fugong 福贡

Puer 普洱
Mangxin 芒信镇
Qiannuo 千糯
Fubang 富邦乡
Mujia 木戛乡
Ankang 安康佤族乡
Wendong 文东佤族乡

Diqing 迪庆
Weideng 维登
岩瓦