Yunnan - China's most beautiful province


The Bai in Early Chinese Minority Film

After Liberation in 1949 Chinese cinema became a propaganda medium for the New China. The 1950 saw cinemas spreading to all towns, showing movies meant to increase the socialist spirit and fostering national unit. China's ethnic minorities often featured in these films before the Cultural Revolution. Only after its end played ethnic minority themes a role again. Here we look at films from before 2000 that feature the Bai minority.




The discovery of the bronze age culture of Sanxingdui in the Chengdu Plain is one of the most significant of the 20th century.


马健雄 (Ma Jianxiong): The Lahu Minority in Southwest China: A Response to Ethnic Marginalization on the Frontier

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The Lahu, with a population of around 470,000, inhabit the mountainous country in Yunnan Province bordering on Burma, Laos and northern Thailand. Buddhists, with a long history of resistance to the Chinese Han majority, the Lahu are currently facing a serious collapse of their traditional social system, with the highest suicide rate in the world, large scale human trafficking of their women, alcoholism and poverty. This book, based on extensive original research including long-term anthropological research among the Lahu, provides an overview of the traditional way of life of the Lahu, their social system, culture and beliefs, and discusses the ways in which these are changing. It shows how the Lahu are especially vulnerable because of their lack of political representatives and a state educated elite which can engage with, and be part of, the government administrative system. The Lahu are one of many relatively small ethnic minorities in China – overall the book provides an example of how the Chinese government approaches these relatively small ethnic minorities.


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.


Baofeng's Benzhu festival is classed as Dali-level intangible cultural heritage.


Markets this Saturday

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

Dali 大理
Zhoucheng 州城
Yongping 永平县
Paiying 排营
Wanqiao 湾桥
Lijiao 力角
Shijing 师井
Fengyi 凤仪
Diannan 甸南
Yongjian 永连
Wase 挖色
Jiangwei 江尾镇
Huangping 黄平镇
Dacang 大仓镇
Zhongjiang 中江
Jindunjiecun 金墩街村
Xiazhuang 下庄镇
蛇街
Hedian 禾甸镇
Hongyan 红岩镇
妙姑村
龙洞村
桥街
Luming 鹿鸣乡
Changyi 长邑村
Shalong 沙龙镇
Shidongcun 石洞村
Deju 德苴乡

Lijiang 丽江
Judian 巨甸镇
Jiuhe 九河

Dehong 德宏
Husa 户撒乡
Nangsong 曩宋阿昌族乡

Honghe 红河
Shengcun 生村
Xinansuo 新安所镇
Leyu 乐育
Daheishan 大黑山乡
Xinxian 新现乡
Mengping 勐坪

Wenshan 文山
Pingba 坪坝镇
Lida 里达镇
Shuanglongying 双龙营乡
Matang 马塘镇
Zhujie 朱街镇
Mugan 木杆
Zhulin 珠琳镇

Chuxiong 楚雄
Xiaoju 小苴
Wanyaoshu 弯腰树
Dahekou 大河口乡

Baoshan 保山市
Manglong 芒龙

Lincang 临沧
Cangyuan 沧源佤族自治县
Guoda 郭大彝族白族乡
Fengqing 凤庆县
Quannei 圈内
Shuangjiang 双江拉祜族佤族布朗族傣族自治县
Zhenkang 镇康县
Junsai 军赛乡

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

Zhaotong 昭通
Shuitian 水田
Linfeng 麟风
Menggu 蒙姑镇

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

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

Puer 普洱
Jiangcheng 江城哈尼族彝族自治县
Fuyan 富岩

Diqing 迪庆
Xiaoweixi 小维西
Weideng 维登
Kaifaqu 开发区
岩瓦