The Dengchuan Plain 邓川坝子
The Dengchuan Plain 邓川坝子, north of Dali's Erhai Lake 洱海, has with West Lake 西湖 and the Miju River corridor 弥苴河 some beautiful, if hardly known, scenic areas. It's natural scenery, however, is man-made, the result of more than a thousand years of cultivation and water-management projects that have transformed a swamp and marshland into the current cultural environment.
In Huize, the old capital of copper in Yunnan, many splendid guildhalls survive.
Jim Goodman: Living in Shangrila: Tibetans and Mosuo in Northwest Yunnan
Abstract: When Diqing Prefecture, opened its doors to foreign visitors in 1992, tourist agencies and government officials promoted Zhongdian County as the Shangrila of James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon. In 2001 the city officially changed its name to Shangrila. On a high plateau of over 3200 meters, surrounded by snow covered mountain peaks, inhabited mainly by relatively prosperous, friendly and contented Tibetans, with beautiful monasteries, lakes, forests and summer flowers, the county’s scenery and lifestyle certainly bore a strong resemblance to that in the novel. Living in Shangrila describes the life and environment of the Tibetan people throughout Diqing Prefecture. It also examines their neighbors the Mosuo, a branch of the Naxi nationality, who adopted Tibetan Buddhism as their religion, but are still mainly a matrilineal society, unique to Yunnan, living around Lugu Lake, the most picturesque body of water in the province. The book includes over 200 photographs.
A number of Chinese historic texts covering life and politics in Yunnan have survived over the centuries. I have translated a few of them.
The Dali history museum inside the headquarters of Du Wenxiu.
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.
Jiama are religious woodcut prints.
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.
Upcoming Festivals
| Name | Date |
|---|---|
| Daba Spring Festival Evening Party | 16 Feb |
| Benzhu Worship | 17 Feb |
| Benzhu Worship | 17 Feb |
| Dalaogeng | 17 Feb |
| Bath Gathering | 18 Feb |
| Benzhu Worship | 18 Feb |
| Start of Ramadan | 18 Feb |
| Longsa Festival | 18 Feb |
| Benzhu Worship (Fengyu Area) | 18 Feb |
| Benzhu Worship | 18 Feb |
| Benzhu Worship | 18 Feb |
| Benzhu Worship | 18 Feb |
Markets this Thursday
| Kunming | 昆明 |
|---|---|
| Tuanjie | 团结 |
| Dali | 大理 |
|---|---|
| Nanxin | 南新 |
| Niujie | 牛街 |
| Yangcen | 羊岑 |
| Shuixie | 水泄 |
| Maidi | 脉地 |
| Xintun | 辛屯 |
| Songgui | 松桂 |
| Gudi | 古底 |
| Taiyi | 太邑彝族乡 |
| Qiaohou | 乔后 |
| Daying | 大营 |
| Gonglang | 公郎镇 |
| Huangping | 黄平镇 |
| 太和社区 | |
| Midian | 米甸镇 |
| 鲁庄 | |
| 前所 | |
| 西庄 | |
| 寅街村 | |
| 云南驿村 | |
| Qiaodian | 乔甸镇 |
| Lijiang | 丽江 |
|---|---|
| Shigu | 石鼓镇 |
| Xishuangbanna | 西双版纳 |
|---|---|
| Xiding | 西定哈尼族乡 |
| Honghe | 红河 |
|---|---|
| Dianwei | 甸尾乡 |
| Majie | 马街 |
| Lvchun | 绿春县 |
| Heping | 和平乡 |
| Daheigong | 大黑公 |
| Wuwan | 乌弯 |
| Xinjie | 新街 |
| Nanke | 南科 |
| Baixian | 白显 |
| Jinping | 金平苗族瑶族傣族自治县 |
| Mengqiao | 勐桥乡 |
| Wenshan | 文山 |
|---|---|
| Pingzhai | 平寨乡 |
| Muyang | 木央镇 |
| Banggu | 蚌谷乡 |
| Nanping (Majie) | 南屏镇 (马街） |