Slideshows Yunnan
Qujing Prefecture 曲靖市

In Huize, the old capital of copper in Yunnan, many splendid guildhalls survive.

Winter in the Wumeng Mountains is a grim and miserable affair, acerbating the grinding poverty. Travelling here sets one back a decade or more as little of China's recent progress has arrived here. It is a living museum of mankind - would you want to live in it?

The wetlands of the Daqiao Reservoir north of Huize are one of the few wintering grounds for the extremely rare black-necked cranes. At 2500m above sea-level, the weather is often cold and grim, but the stark scenery makes up for any hardship endured.

Shengjingguan 胜境关 is the old border crossing from Yunnan to Guizhou near Fuyuan. The archway with the four stone lions described by many early explorers still stands, as does the (now renovated) stone gate. From here a narrow path leads down into a peaceful valley, presenting the modern-day traveller with views that have changed little since the caravan days.

Gugan 古敢, a remote township surrounded on three sides by Guizhou province, is the home of Yunnan's Shui ethnic minority. In their villages, in the beautiful Huangnihe Valley below towering karst mountains, time seems to have stood still: houses are built from rough unhewn stone, hot-springs provide warm water and not even the wheel seems to have been invented: bullocks and buffaloes pull sledges not carts.

Early spring paints the fields of Luoping a golden yellow.