Slideshows

Most Wa people have now been resettled in modern villages near the road, but one village is holding out: Wending village in Cangyuan. Well, actually Wengding is a modern tourism attraction, but besides the entrance fee, the museum and the cultural activities (on holidays), it remains a living village where life goes on as it has for ages. Well, minus the head-hunting, but the old men smiled when asked about it.

And now for something completely different: that is what Cangyuan's tourism advisers must have said when they came up with the Cangyuan Sigangli Monihei Carnival. The meaning of the words has 'long' been lost, but locals seem to love it and the festival has acquired quite a following in the region.

Chama gudao 茶马古道, the old Tea Horse Road: an ancient trading route, a modern tourism romanticism - and still a way of life. Here a Hui family from Weishan 巍山 county is selling their horses at Dali's Third Month's Fair 三月街.

Bare-back riding to exhaustion, dead-sheep polo and professional jockeys: what would Dali's Third Month's Fair be without the races? More exciting than Ascot and you do not even have to be an aristocrat to get in!

Running a thousand years and still going strong: Dali's Third Month's Fair is the biggest market in Yunnan, drawing traders and shoppers from all provinces particularly to buy Tibetan and Chinese medicine.

Another one of those crazy festivals in the mysterious province of Yunnan. Just before Dai New Year the people of Menglian celebrate the Holy Fish Festival, a part religious event with the illumination of Menglian's Golden Pagoda, part entertainment with a mass fishing event in the Nanlei River. And if you then do not have enough, the festival is immediately followed by the Watersplashing Festival.

To see the old year out, for three days before their New Year, the Dai of Mangxin, a small township near Menglian, pay their respects to the old year by travelling to three temples in the vicinity. At each temple they celebrate with dance, food, offerings and just a little bit of watersplashing.

One of the most beautiful villages in Yunnan is Puzhehei with its spectacular setting amidst the karst hills of northern Wenshan. The best time to come is in August when the Lotus flower is in full bloom and the skies can be dramatic.

Ever climbed up a swaying pole over thirty-six sharpened machete-blades on your bare feet? Well, if not you are not cut out to be a Lisu man. In Lunma village, every year the Hua Lisu men climb the sword pole on the occasion of the Daogan, or Sword Pole, festival. Yes, it hurts. No, no-one really get's injured. How come? Well, you have to be a Lisu man to do it.

"Let's get together and dance": this is not only the translation of the name of the main Jingpo festival in Yunnan's southwestern Dehong region, it is also the programme. From near and far, Jingpo come together in one of the many festival grounds in the major towns and townships for a few days of dance and merry making. The dance, in two winding columns around four poles symbolizing the mountains and rivers, is said to represent the Jingpo wanderings in search of a good home.

Is this Yunnan's most beautiful valley? High up from the steamy lowlands of Dehong, nestled between two mountain ranges lies Husa Valley, home of the Achang. The Achang, one of Yunnan's smallest ethnic groups, are believers in Buddhism as the many temples dotted around the valley testify. Exploring the villages you are bound to be invited into their home, for the Achang are proud to show off their customs and must rank as some of the most hospitable people around.

Nanjian's temple, on a hillside on the eastern side of the town, has on its doors some of the nicest carvings you can find in Yunnan province. While the temple was badly damaged during the Cultural Revolution the carvings seem to have survived the tide of times.