Slideshows Yunnan Province 云南

North of Bingzhongluo the road ends and Tibet begins: a narrow dirt track, still wide enough to carry supply trucks, follows the Nujiang up to Chawalong, a small commercial center for the scattered Tibetan villages beyond. Beyond it, transport is by caravan only. The trail winds perilously along arid slopes, sometimes with spectacular views of the snow mountains, until it reaches Bitu, connected by road to Tibet.

Late July is the season for the tasty Matsutake or 松茸. To this market on the outskirts of Zhongdian locals come to sell their pickings to the highest bidders, every mushroom assessed individually, the best morsels fetching more than 20Y.

Like the Yi, the Bai celebrate the Torch Festival at the end of summer.

Revived in 1990, Chengjiang's 立夏节 now marks the official start of the summer season on Fuxian Lake and is celebrated with a large market.

Laoheipeng is a small Yi village in western Weishan, right on the border to Changning county. The annual temple fair is not only an opportunity to get the Lusheng out, but also for some strange Taoist rituals.

Nanmei, on the slopes of a large valley not far from Lincang City, is the center of Lincang's Lahu and possibly the only place in Yunnan where the Lahu still wear traditional dress in everyday life.

Watersplashing in a Dai village south of Lincang.

Mile County's Yi seem to specialize in a novel kind of festival: exclusively performed for paying photographers with a competition between the villages of who can host the most outrageous event. Hongwan went first and now a number of other villages have followed suit. This one here in Taowa eschews nudity but compensates with a not so novel use of big gourds. But everyone seemed to like it.

Shaxi's principle festival is in honour of the Taizi, one of the many deities in this small Bai town. On festival day, 'the Prince' is taken from his resting place inside the Benzhu Temple, strapped onto a horse and paraded around town in a grand procession.

Performances of Yunnan Opera 滇戏 are very rare today, but a small troupe of villagers from Shilong 石龙村 near Shibaoshan continue the tradition. They perform during Spring Festival and on occasion on the old stage in Shaxi.

At the end of the Dragon Worship, which is now largely a paid-for performance for the benefit of photographers, each household in Taowa village receives a tray of food, each different. Here are some of them.

March in Kunming is cherry flower time and there is no better place for taking a snap than Kunming Zoo on top of Yuantongshan.