Yunnan - China's most beautiful province


Black Well, White Gold

Black Well, White Gold
Heijing is a small town in the northern Chuxiong mountains. Salt once made Heijing one of Yunnan's richest towns. Now its architectural splendours are being rediscovered.



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


John Israel: Lianda: A Chinese University in War and Revolution

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Everyone knows about the Mao's Long March, but a few years later another long march took place: that of Chinese students leaving their cushy campuses on the east coast, trekking all the way to Yunnan where their universities reformed as Lianda, the united university. Kunming, then a total backwater, became a hotbed for new ideas, not just scientific. We liked the section of east coast girls scampering around Mengzi in their latest fashion.


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.


This old caravan town on the Jinsha River is Yunnan's gateway to Tibet.

Markets this Thursday

Kunming 昆明
Jijie 鸡街乡

Dali 大理
Nanxin 南新
Yangcen 羊岑
Niujie 牛街
Maidi 脉地
Gudi 古底
Qiaohou 乔后
Daying 大营
Taiyi 太邑彝族乡
Huangping 黄平镇
Zhongjiang 中江
鲁庄
果城村
Jindunjiecun 金墩街村
Beiya 北衙
Qiaodian 乔甸镇
Liuchang 刘厂镇
Xinjie 新街镇
Mizhi 密祉镇
太和社区

Lijiang 丽江
Shunzhou 顺州

Xishuangbanna 西双版纳
Xiding 西定哈尼族乡

Dehong 德宏
Husa 户撒乡
Nangsong 曩宋阿昌族乡

Honghe 红河
Dianwei 甸尾乡
Shalatuo 沙拉托
Heping 和平乡
Longwu 龙武镇
Baixian 白显
Tongchang 铜厂
Zhemi 者米拉祜族乡
Panzihua 攀枝花

Wenshan 文山
Tiechang 铁厂镇
Babu 八布乡
Zhuanjiao 篆角乡
Funing 富宁县
Mulun 睦伦乡
Jiumo 旧莫乡

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

Baoshan 保山市
Manglong 芒龙

Lincang 临沧
Cangyuan 沧源佤族自治县
Wumulong 乌木龙乡
Shuangjiang 双江拉祜族佤族布朗族傣族自治县
Quannei 圈内
Zhenkang 镇康县
Junsai 军赛乡

Qujing 曲靖市
干海子
Kuangshan 矿山镇
Laochang 老厂乡
Wuxing 五星乡
Xinjie 新街回族乡
Yangmeishan 杨梅山
Yema 野马林场
Yulu 雨碌乡

Zhaotong 昭通
Linfeng 麟风
Shuitian 水田
Menggu 蒙姑镇

Yuxi 玉溪
Mosha 漠沙镇
Yani 亚尼
Yuanjiang 元江哈尼族彝族傣族自治县
Nanuo 那诺乡

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

Puer 普洱
Fubang 富邦乡
Mujia 木戛乡
Fuyan 富岩
Ankang 安康佤族乡
Wendong 文东佤族乡