Jinghong (; ; , , ; , ; , ; also formerly romanised as ''Chiang Hung'', ''Chengrung'', ''Cheng Hung'', Jeng Hung, ''Jinghung'', ''Keng Hung'', ''Kiang Hung'' and ''Muangjinghung'') is a city in and the seat of

Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture Xishuangbanna, sometimes shortened to Banna, is one of the eight autonomous prefectures of Yunnan Province. The autonomous prefecture for Dai people is in the extreme south of Yunnan province, China, bordering both Myanmar and Laos. Xishuangbanna ...

, in the far south of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

province, and the historic capital of the former Tai kingdom of Sipsongpanna.

History

The town was founded as Chiang Hung (Cheli), by Tai king Phanya Coeng in 1180.

Kingdom of Chiang Hung (Sipsongpanna)

During the Mongol Yuan Dynasty in China, the Tai kingdom of Sipsongpanna began a close and long-lasting relationship to

Lanna The Lan Na kingdom or the Kingdom of Lanna (, , "Kingdom of a Million Rice Fields"; , , ), also known as Lannathai, was an Indianized state centered in present-day Northern Thailand from the 13th to the 18th centuries. The cultural developme ...

, another historic Tai kingdom that lay south. In 1296, Lanna's capital

Chiang Mai Chiang Mai, sometimes written as Chiengmai or Chiangmai, is the largest city in northern Thailand, the capital of Chiang Mai province and the List of municipalities in Thailand#Largest cities by urban population, second largest city in Thailan ...

was founded by

Mangrai Mangrai (; ; c. 1238–1311) was the 25th king of Ngoenyang (r. 1261–1292) and the first king of Lanna (r. 1292–1311). He established a new city, Chiang Mai, as the capital of the Lanna Kingdom (1296–1558).Wyatt, D. K. Thailand, A Short Hi ...

, whose maternal grandfather was King Rung Kaen Chai () of Jinghong (i.e.: Sipsongpanna). The kingdoms of Sipsongpanna and Lanna maintained ties through migration and intermarriage. In 1401, the Sipsongpanna Tai ruler Tau Se Da Xam (pinyin: Dao Xianda) attacked a smaller Tai area to the north unknown as Weiyuan, equivalent to modern Jinggu. The Ming administration sought to retaliate but adopted a cautious response of diplomacy and Tau Se Da Xam withdrew his troops. About this period Sipsongpanna began to pay tribute to the Ming. In 1405 the Sipsongpanna Tai attacked Chiang Mai, in conjunction with Ming Chinese troops. In 1421 the Chinese attempted to cause a split in Sipsongpanna by backing multiple administrations during a period of civil strife, but their plan failed to succeed. 1448 saw the defeat of

Mong Mao Mong may refer to: People *A proposed original name for the Hmong people, based on the main group, the Mong community *Bob Mong (), American journalist and academic administrator *Henry Mong (), American surgeon and Presbyterian missionary *Mong M ...

, a Tai state in eastern Burma, by a combination of Chinese, Sipsongpanna and allied forces united under the Ming. In the 1450s another struggle for succession arose in Sipsongpanna, with one faction backed by Kengtung and one by Chiang Mai. Despite the Kengtung faction's victory, conflict started with that state shortly afterwards. The Burmese

Toungoo Taungoo (, ''Tauñngu myoú''; ), also spelled Toungoo and formerly Toung-ngú, is a district-level city in the Bago Region of Myanmar, 220 km from Yangon, towards the north-eastern end of the division, with mountain ranges to the east an ...

state arose in the 1530s to crush Chiang Mai, and its influence also extended to Kengtung and Sipsongpanna, which like other Tai kingdoms soon began to pay tribute.

Geography and climate

Jinghong has a latitude range of 21°27'–22°36' N and a longitude range of 100°25'–101°31' E. It borders Simao District of

Pu'er City Pu'er is a prefecture-level city in southern Yunnan Province, China. Pu'er City governs 9 counties, 1 district, 103 townships (towns), and a total population of 2.65 million. The urban administrative center of Pu'er is Simao District, which is ...

to the north, Mengla County and Jiangcheng County to the east and Menghai County to the west, as well as

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

Shan State Shan State (, ; , ) is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. Shan State borders China (Yunnan) to the north, Laos (Louang Namtha Province, Louang Namtha and Bokeo Provinces) to the east, and Thailand (Chiang Rai Province, Chia ...

to the south. The city is limited to the south by

Hengduan Mountains The Hengduan Mountains () are a group of mountain ranges in southwest China, southwest China that connect the southeast portions of the Tibetan Plateau with the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau. The Hengduan Mountains are primarily large north-south ...

, and the

Lancang River The Mekong or Mekong River ( , ) is a transboundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth-longest river and the third-longest in Asia with an estimated length of and a drainage area of , discharging of wat ...

(Mekong) passes through Jinghong. Two bridges near the city span this river, which flows south-east towards

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

. Climatically, Jinghong has a humid subtropical climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Cwa'') bordering on the

tropical wet and dry climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...

(Köppen ''Aw''). The city has a generally humid climate with strong

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

al influences. Summer is long and there is virtually no "winter" as such; instead, there is a

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...

(December thru April) and

wet season The wet season (sometimes called the rainy season or monsoon season) is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Generally, the season lasts at least one month. The term ''green season'' is also sometimes used a ...

(May thru October). Annual sunshine hours amount to between 1800 and 2300 and annual rainfall ranging from . The coolest month are December and January, averaging , while the warmest is June, at ; the annual mean is . However, high temperatures reach their peak in April before the onset of the monsoon from the Indian Ocean.

Administrative divisions

Jinghong City has 1 subdistrict, 5 towns, 3 townships and 2 ethnic townships. ;1 subdistrict * Yunjinghong Subdistrict () ;5 towns ;3 townships * Jingne () * Dadugang () * Mengwang () ;2 ethnic townships * Jingha Hani () * Jinuoshan Jinuo ()

Transport

Xishuangbanna Gasa International Airport Xishuangbanna Gasa International Airport is an airport serving the city of Jinghong in Southwestern China’s Yunnan province. It is from Jinghong City. It derives its name from Gasa town (ᦂᦱᧆ ᦌᦻ) of Jinghong, where it is situated. ...

is the second largest airport in Yunnan, located just five kilometers from the downtown. Flights to

Kunming Kunming is the capital and largest city of the province of Yunnan in China. The political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province, Kunming is also the seat of the provincial government. During World War II, Kunming was a Ch ...

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

and other major

cities in China A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

run regularly. There is one weekly international flight to

Luang Prabang Luang Prabang (Lao language, Lao: wikt:ຫຼວງພະບາງ, ຫຼວງພະບາງ, pronounced ), historically known as Xieng Thong (ຊຽງທອງ) and alternatively spelled Luang Phabang or Louangphabang, is the capital of Lu ...

(resumes 1 November). *The city has the largest public transportation center in

Xishuangbanna Xishuangbanna, sometimes shortened to Banna, is one of the eight autonomous prefectures of Yunnan Province. The autonomous prefecture for Dai people is in the extreme south of Yunnan province, China, bordering both Myanmar and Laos. Xishuangbanna ...

and connects travelers to nearby cities, towns and villages. * China National Highway 214 * China National Highway 213 *

Asian Highway Network The Asian Highway Network (AH), also known as the Great Asian Highway, is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to improve their connectivity via hig ...

AH3 * Kunming–Bangkok Expressway * Xishuangbanna railway station

Places of interest

The Dai Water Splashing Festival and nearby villages of that and other ethnic groups are the main attractions. Additionally, at least three botanical parks and gardens are located in or near the city, of which Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden is the largest and most famous one.

Notes

References

* Turton, Andrew (ed.) ''Civility and Savagery: Social Identity in Tai States''. Routledge, 2000. () *Patterson Giersch, Charles. ''Asian Borderlands: The Transformation of Qing China's Yunnan Frontier''. Harvard University Press, 2006. ()

External links

*
Jinghong City Official Website
. {{Authority control County-level divisions of Xishuangbanna Prefecture Tourism in Yunnan Cities in Yunnan National Civilized City