Watersplashing in Yongping
Ask for the Watersplashing Festival, or Poshuijie 泼水节, and everyone will tell you to go to Jinghong, capital of Yunnan's Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Region: the 'biggest and best' Dai celebrations to mark their New Year are taking place there. And big it is. Thousands of Han Chinese and foreign tourist flock to Jinghong every year. Jinghong's Poshuijie certainly is big -- and very commercial. If big crowds and big events are your thing, go to Jinghong.
Remnants of colour still show on the stone carvings at Shibaoshan, revealing that the Buddhist images were once brightly painted.
C. Patterson Giersch: Asian Borderlands: The Transformation of Qing China's Yunnan Frontier
Yunnan was not always China: indeed not so long ago large parts of Yunnan were only nominally part of the empire. To make Yunnan, outside the main Han cities, a Chinese province required significant effort. Here Giersch's study on Yunnan's hinterland makes an interesting if academic read.
A number of Chinese historic texts covering life and politics in Yunnan have survived over the centuries. I have translated a few of them.
Bai wedding customs.
Yunnan's only Shui-Township with stunning karst scenery.
Fei Hsiao-Tung and Chang Chih-I: Earthbound China: A Study of Rural Economy in Yunnan
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.
Upcoming Festivals
| Name | Date |
|---|---|
| Start of Spring | 04 Feb |
| Benzhu Worship | 05 Feb |
| Temaoke | 06 Feb |
| Benzhu Worship | 10 Feb |
| Benzhu Worship | 16 Feb |
| Lunar New Year's Eve | 16 Feb |
| Benzhu Worship | 16 Feb |
| Daba Spring Festival Evening Party | 16 Feb |
| Benzhu Worship | 17 Feb |
| Dalaogeng | 17 Feb |
| Benzhu Worship | 17 Feb |
| New Year Ritual | 17 Feb |
Markets this Thursday
| Kunming | 昆明 |
|---|---|
| Jiulong | 九龙乡 |
| Dali | 大理 |
|---|---|
| Nanxin | 南新 |
| Niujie | 牛街 |
| Yangcen | 羊岑 |
| Wanqiao | 湾桥 |
| Maidi | 脉地 |
| Longjie | 龙街 |
| Gudi | 古底 |
| Fengyi | 凤仪 |
| Longjie | 龙街 |
| Yongjian | 永连 |
| Wase | 挖色 |
| Daying | 大营 |
| Taiyi | 太邑彝族乡 |
| Huangping | 黄平镇 |
| Qiaohou | 乔后 |
| Dacang | 大仓镇 |
| Zhongjiang | 中江 |
| Qiaodian | 乔甸镇 |
| 太和社区 | |
| 蛇街 | |
| Shidongcun | 石洞村 |
| 妙姑村 | |
| Jindunjiecun | 金墩街村 |
| Luming | 鹿鸣乡 |
| 鲁庄 | |
| Puping | 普淜镇 |
| Lijiang | 丽江 |
|---|---|
| Judian | 巨甸镇 |
| Xishuangbanna | 西双版纳 |
|---|---|
| Xiding | 西定哈尼族乡 |
| Baoshan | 保山市 |
|---|---|
| Manglong | 芒龙 |
| Lincang | 临沧 |
|---|---|
| Guoda | 郭大彝族白族乡 |
| Luodang | 洛党 |
| Cangyuan | 沧源佤族自治县 |
| Yalian | 亚练乡 |
| Quannei | 圈内 |
| Shuangjiang | 双江拉祜族佤族布朗族傣族自治县 |
| Junsai | 军赛乡 |
| Zhenkang | 镇康县 |
| Yuxi | 玉溪 |
|---|---|
| Mosha | 漠沙镇 |
| Xingmeng | 兴蒙 |
| Hexi | 河西 |
| Fuliangpeng | 富良棚 |
| Puer | 普洱 |
|---|---|
| Fuyan | 富岩 |
| Diqing | 迪庆 |
|---|---|
| Weideng | 维登 |
| 岩瓦 |