Slideshows Yunnan
Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture 文山壮族苗族自治州

The Hualuo of Manlong village in Xichou county are another very distinctive small Yi community in Wenshan. They celebrate their annual Buckwheat Festival 荞菜节 in lunar April.

The Caihuashan Festival is the Miao's way of marking the New Year - and even the Han Chinese admit that the Miao have the most lively celebrations. In Maguan the annual get-together has also become an occasion to show off in elaborate dresses, many costing several thousand yuan. Traditional the costumes may not be, but who is to begrudge the Miao, historically one of the poorest ethnic groups, their participation in China's growing wealth?

Until the end of the 1990s Han settlers in a remote area of Guangnan county lived in a village built inside a karst cave, their houses built without roofs.

Tianpeng 田蓬 right on the Vietnamese border in Funing county has one of the best varieties of ethnic minorities in Yunnan: many Miao, two groups of Yao, Yi, Zhuang, plus some people who come over from Vietnam. But what the area is most known for is that here even the Han dress up.

Kids dress up for the Yi New Year celebrations in Muxiang 木香 village in Funing county on the full-moon day of the sixth lunar month.

The Yi Tiaogong Festival remembers victory in a protracted war after the Yi had to hide in a bamboo grove. But now, where most young people from the village have become migrant workers, the festival is slowly dying and will maybe not be celebrated again.

The Bailuo Yi of Chengzhai village in Malipo county are some of best dressers in the province. Here come a few snaps from their annual buckwheat festival, held on the first dragon day in the fourth lunar month.

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.

The southeastern region of Wenshan is home to a number of minority people, amongst them Miao, Yi, Yao. This slideshow documents some of their traditional dresses.