Yunnan - China's most beautiful province


Xu Xiake 徐霞客 in Dali

Xu Xiake (1586 - 1641) was China's first travel blogger. During the third lunar month in 1639 he travelled through Dali and recorded his experiences in his diary, posthumously published as 徐霞客游记. Is it still possible to retrace Xu's steps on the Dali plain?




Rare Silver Pheasants 白鹇 can be seen roaming the woods of Tonghai's Xiushan Temple Mountain 通海秀山.


Liao Yiwu: God is Red: The Secret Story of How Christianity Survived and Flourished in Communist China

Cover Image
Liao Yiwu, one of China's most prominent dissidents, was driven out of China, but not before he used a period of internal exile to research Christian groups, mainly in Yunnan. In this book he tells the stories of the Christians of Dali and of Wuding county.


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

Jim Goodman: Children of the Jade Dragon: the Naxi of Lijiang and their mountain neighbours the Yi

Cover Image
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.


Hometown of many Bai merchants, Xizhou boast some impressive architecture.

Markets this Friday

Kunming 昆明
Tuanjie 团结
Jinsuo 金所乡
Kedu 柯渡镇

Dali 大理
Junhua 均化
Duomei 朵美
Hecun 萂村
Jiancao 捡槽
Gunipen 沽泥盆
Waxi 瓦溪
Wuxing 五星
Pingchuan 平川
Liuhe 六合
Heqing 鹤庆县
Yangbi 漾濞彝族自治县
Baidangping 白荡坪
Shaxi 沙溪
Shuanglang 双廊镇
Yousuo 右所镇
Shalong 沙龙镇
大栗树
Wachang 瓦厂乡
汤涧
龙洞村
Xishan 西山乡
Jijie 鸡街乡
Xiazhuang 下庄镇
Longjie 龙街

Dehong 德宏
Lianghe 梁河县
Kachang 卡场镇

Honghe 红河
Xinhua 新华乡
Mengla 勐拉
Niujiaozhai 牛角寨
Lengdun 冷墩
Lengquan 冷泉镇
Sancun 三村
Dongshan 东山镇
Daheigong 大黑公
Wuwan 乌弯
Shitouzhai 石头寨
Maandi 马鞍底

Wenshan 文山
Shadou 沙斗
Nijiao 腻脚彝族乡
Jijie 鸡街乡
Donggan 董干镇
Tienpeng 田蓬镇
Jiumo 旧莫乡

Chuxiong 楚雄
Qianchang 前场镇
Dalongkou 大龙口乡
Mixing 弥兴镇
Jiuchang 九厂
Guihua 桂花乡

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

Lincang 临沧
Yongde 永德县
Danjia 单甲乡
Lushi 鲁史
Mengdui 孟堆乡
Fuhe 复合

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

Zhaotong 昭通
Shuanghe 双河
Menggu 蒙姑镇

Yuxi 玉溪
Chahe 岔河
Dalongtan 大龙潭

Nujiang 怒江
Daxingdi 大兴地乡
Chenggan 称杆
Zilijia 子里甲乡

Puer 普洱
Mangxin 芒信镇
Qiannuo 千糯

Diqing 迪庆
Zhonglu 中路