Yunnan , () is a landlocked
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
in
the southwest of the People's Republic of
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is
Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces of
Guizhou
Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...
,
Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
, autonomous regions of
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
, and
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
as well as Southeast Asian countries:
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
,
Laos, and
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
. Yunnan is China's fourth least developed province based on disposable income per capita in 2014.
Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with high elevations in the northwest and low elevations in the southeast. Most of the population lives in the eastern part of the province. In the west, the altitude can vary from the mountain peaks to river valleys by as much as . Yunnan is rich in natural resources and has the largest diversity of plant life in China. Of the approximately 30,000 species of
higher plants
Vascular plants (), also called tracheophytes () or collectively Tracheophyta (), form a large group of land plants ( accepted known species) that have lignified tissues (the xylem) for conducting water and minerals throughout the plant. They ...
in China, Yunnan has perhaps 17,000 or more.
[ Yunnan's reserves of ]aluminium
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...
, lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
, zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
and tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
are the largest in China, and there are also major reserves of copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
and nickel
Nickel is a chemical element with symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive but large pieces are slow ...
.
The Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
first recorded diplomatic relations with the province at the end of the 2nd century BC and the province became part of the Silk Road to Bhitargarh
Bhitargarh ( bn, ভিতরগড়) is an archaeological site that includes the remains of an ancient fort city built in and around the 5th century AD. It is located in Panchagarh District in Rangpur Division in the northern part of Bangladesh ...
in Bangladesh
Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. The area was ruled over by the Sino-Tibetan
Sino-Tibetan, also cited as Trans-Himalayan in a few sources, is a family of more than 400 languages, second only to Indo-European in number of native speakers. The vast majority of these are the 1.3 billion native speakers of Chinese languages. ...
-speaking kingdom of Nanzhao
Nanzhao (, also spelled Nanchao, ) was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuries. It was centered on present-day Yunnan in China.
History
Origins
Nanzh ...
(738–937), followed by the Bai-ruled Dali Kingdom
The Dali Kingdom, also known as the Dali State (; Bai: Dablit Guaif), was a state situated in modern Yunnan province, China from 937 until 1253. In 1253, it was conquered by the Mongols but members of its former ruling dynasty continued to a ...
(937–1253). After the Mongol
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...
invasion of the region in the 13th century, Yunnan was conquered by the Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...
.
From the Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fift ...
onward, the area was part of a central-government sponsored population movement towards the southwestern frontier, with two major waves of migrants arriving from Han
Han may refer to:
Ethnic groups
* Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group.
** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
-majority areas in northern and southeast China. As with other parts of China's southwest, Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
occupation in the north during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
forced another migration of Han people
The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive var ...
into the region. These two waves of migration contributed to Yunnan being one of the most ethnically diverse provinces of China, with ethnic minorities accounting for about 34 percent of its total population. Major ethnic groups include Yi, Bai, Hani, Zhuang, Dai, and Miao Miao may refer to:
* Miao people, linguistically and culturally related group of people, recognized as such by the government of the People's Republic of China
* Miao script or Pollard script, writing system used for Miao languages
* Miao (Unicode ...
. Yunnan has also been identified as "the birthplace of tea ... the first area where humans figured out that eating tea leaves or brewing a cup could be pleasant", and as the region of origin of the genus ''Cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: '' Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternative ...
'' plant.
Etymology
The name "Yunnan" first referred to a place when the Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
created Yunnan County near modern Xiangyun. During the Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
, Emperor Xuanzong gave Piluoge
Piluoge (; Classical Yi script: ; Nisu: ; 697–748), posthumous name King Guiyi (), was the founder of the Nanzhao kingdom in what is now Yunnan, China. He reigned from 728 or 738 through 748.
Issue and Ancestry
Piluoge was the son of Shen ...
, the chief of Nanzhao
Nanzhao (, also spelled Nanchao, ) was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuries. It was centered on present-day Yunnan in China.
History
Origins
Nanzh ...
, the title of "King of Yunnan", because Nanzhao originated from Yunnan county. Gradually the king of Yunnan controlled more and more territory, and "Yunnan" became the common name of this area. Therefore, the Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fift ...
created the Yunnan Province after it occupied the Dali Kingdom
The Dali Kingdom, also known as the Dali State (; Bai: Dablit Guaif), was a state situated in modern Yunnan province, China from 937 until 1253. In 1253, it was conquered by the Mongols but members of its former ruling dynasty continued to a ...
.
Han dynasty literature did not record the etymology of "Yunnan", and there are many theories about its origin. One common theory states that the name means "south of colorful clouds" (). Some annals in the Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...
, for example ''Dian Lüe'' () and ''Yunnan General Annals'' (), support this. However, modern historian Tan Qixiang
Tan Qixiang (; 25 February 1911 − 28 August 1992) was a Chinese geographer and historian who is considered a founder of the field of historical geography in Modern China. His ''magnum opus'', the eight-volume ''The Historical Atlas of China'', ...
states that this theory is a superficial explanation of the literal meaning. Another common theory is that the name means "south of Yun Range The Yun Range () are a mountain range running north–south in northwestern Yunnan province, China. They were formerly romanized as the Yun Ling and tautologically as the Yun-ling Mountains. The Yun Range runs between the Lancang River (Mekong) ...
" () However, this has been disproven because the name "Yunling Mountains" first appeared in Tang dynasty (618–907) literature, but the name "Yunnan" first appeared during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). Modern research gives more conjectures. You Zhong said "Yunnan" means "south of the mountain (referring to the Cang Mountain
Cangshan or Cang Mountain () is a mountain range immediately west of Dali City in Yunnan province of Southwest China.
The highest summit, Malong, is 4,122 m, but the range includes another 18 peaks that are over 3,500 m elevation.
History
The mo ...
) with clouds". Wu Guangfan said "Yunnan" might be a Loloish
The Loloish languages, also known as Yi in China and occasionally Ngwi or Nisoic, are a family of fifty to a hundred Sino-Tibetan languages spoken primarily in the Yunnan province of China. They are most closely related to Burmese and its relat ...
or Bai name.
History
Prehistory
The Yuanmou Man
Yuanmou Man (, ''Homo erectus yuanmouensis'') is a subspecies of ''H. erectus'' which inhabited the Yuanmou Basin in the Yunnan Province, southwestern China, roughly 1.7 million years ago. It is the first fossil evidence of humans in China, tho ...
, a ''Homo erectus
''Homo erectus'' (; meaning "upright man") is an extinct species of archaic human from the Pleistocene, with its earliest occurrence about 2 million years ago. Several human species, such as '' H. heidelbergensis'' and '' H. antecessor' ...
'' fossil unearthed by railway engineers in the 1960s, has been determined to be the oldest-known hominid fossil in China. By the Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
period, there were human settlements in the area of Lake Dian
Dianchi Lake (), also known as Lake Dian and Kunming Lake (), is a large lake located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau close to Kunming, Yunnan, China. Its nickname is the "Sparkling Pearl Embedded in a Highland" () and it was the model for the Ku ...
. These people used stone tools and constructed simple wooden structures.
Dian Kingdom
Around the 3rd century BC, the central area of Yunnan around present day Kunming was known as Dian Dian may refer to:
Places
* Dian Kingdom, ancient kingdom in modern Yunnan province, China
* ''Diān'' (滇), an official abbreviation for Yunnan province
* Lake Dian, a lake in Yunnan
* Dian, Armenia, a village
*
People
* Dian (given name), a lis ...
. The Chu general () entered the region from the upper Yangtze River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...
and set himself up as "King of Dian". He and his followers brought into Yunnan an influx of Chinese influence, the start of a long history of migration and cultural expansion.
Han conquest
In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of " king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Empero ...
unified China and extended his authority south. Commanderies and counties were established in Yunnan. An existing road in Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
– the "Five Foot Way" – was extended south to around present day Qujing, in eastern Yunnan. In 109 BC, the Han dynasty
The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...
invaded Dian during its southern expeditions. Under orders from Emperor Wu, General () was sent south to Yunnan, eventually establishing the Yizhou commandery Yi Prefecture or Yizhou may refer to:
* Yizhou (Southwest China) (), a historical province of China covering Southwest China
* Yi Prefecture (Shandong) (), active between the 7th and 18th centuries
* Yi Prefecture (Guangxi) (), active between th ...
. By this time, agricultural technology in Yunnan had improved markedly. The local people used bronze tools, plows and kept a variety of livestock, including cattle, horses, sheep, goats, pigs and dogs. Anthropologists have determined that these people were related to the people now known as the Tai
Tai or TAI may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Tai (comics) a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain
*Tai Fraiser, a fictional character in the 1995 film ''Clueless''
*Tai Kamiya, a fictional character in ''Digimon''
Businesses and organisations ...
. They lived in tribal congregations, sometimes led by exiled Chinese.
During the Three Kingdoms
The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the West ...
, the territory of present-day Yunnan, western Guizhou
Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...
and southern Sichuan was collectively called Nanzhong
Nanzhong () is the ancient name for a region in southwest China that covers parts of present-day Yunnan, Guizhou and southern Sichuan provinces.
During the Three Kingdoms period (220–280) of China, the Nanzhong region was part of the territory ...
. The dissolution of Chinese central authority led to increased autonomy for Yunnan and more power for the local tribal structures. In AD 225, the famed statesman Zhuge Liang
Zhuge Liang ( zh, t=諸葛亮 / 诸葛亮) (181 – September 234), courtesy name Kongming, was a Chinese statesman and military strategist. He was chancellor and later regent of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He is ...
led three columns into Yunnan to pacify the tribes. His seven captures of Meng Huo
Meng Huo was a local leader in the Nanzhong region in the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period of China. He was popularly depicted as a local leader representing the gentries of the Nanzhong region, but some historians doubt his h ...
, a local magnate, is mythologized in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms
''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD ...
.
Cuan Kingdom
In the 4th century, northern China was largely overrun by nomadic tribes from the north. In the 320s, the Cuan () clan migrated into Yunnan. Cuan Chen () named himself king and held authority from Lake Dian
Dianchi Lake (), also known as Lake Dian and Kunming Lake (), is a large lake located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau close to Kunming, Yunnan, China. Its nickname is the "Sparkling Pearl Embedded in a Highland" () and it was the model for the Ku ...
, then known as Kunchuan. Henceforth the Cuan clan ruled eastern Yunnan for over four hundred years.
International trade flowed through Yunnan. An ancient overland pre-Tang
Tang or TANG most often refers to:
* Tang dynasty
* Tang (drink mix)
Tang or TANG may also refer to:
Chinese states and dynasties
* Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
trade route from Yunnan Province passed through Irrawaddy in Burma to reach Bengal
Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
. Yunnan was inhabited by so-called barbarians not fully under the control of the Tang government and the route, though ancient, was not used much in pre-Tang times, and Chinese attempts to control the route were disrupted by the rise of Nanzhao
Nanzhao (, also spelled Nanchao, ) was a dynastic kingdom that flourished in what is now southern China and northern Southeast Asia during the 8th and 9th centuries. It was centered on present-day Yunnan in China.
History
Origins
Nanzh ...
.
Nanzhao period
Yunnan was settled by several local tribes, clans, and cultures before the 8th century. Around Lake Erhai
Erhai or Er Lake (), is an alpine fault lake in Yunnan province, China. Erhai was also known as Yeyuze () or Kunming Lake () in ancient times.
Etymology
The character "洱" (er) does not have the same meaning as ear (耳). During the Han to Tan ...
, namely, the Dali area, there emerged six zhao: Mengzi (), Yuexi (), Langqiong (), Dengdan (), Shilling (), and Mengshe (). Zhao () was an indigenous non-Chinese language term meaning "king" or "kingdom." Among the six regimes Mengshe was located south of the other five; therefore given the new, larger context, it was called Nanzhao (Southern Kingdom).
By the 730s Nanzhao had succeeded in bringing the Erhai Lake–area under its authority. In 738, the western Yunnan was united by Piluoge
Piluoge (; Classical Yi script: ; Nisu: ; 697–748), posthumous name King Guiyi (), was the founder of the Nanzhao kingdom in what is now Yunnan, China. He reigned from 728 or 738 through 748.
Issue and Ancestry
Piluoge was the son of Shen ...
, the fourth king of Nanzhao, who was confirmed by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
as king
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
of Yunnan. Ruling from Dali, the thirteen kings of Nanzhao ruled over more than two centuries and played a vital role in the dynamic relationship between the Tang dynasty and the Tibetan Empire
The Tibetan Empire (, ; ) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of imperial expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. The empire further expanded under the 3 ...
as a buffer state
A buffer state is a country geographically lying between two rival or potentially hostile great powers. Its existence can sometimes be thought to prevent conflict between them. A buffer state is sometimes a mutually agreed upon area lying between ...
.
By the 750s, Nanzhao had conquered Yunnan and became a potential rival to Tang China. The following period saw several conflicts between Tang China and Nanzhao. In 750, Nanzhao attacked and captured Yaozhou, the largest Tang settlement in Yunnan. In 751, Xianyu Zhongtong (), the regional commander of Jiannan (present-day Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
), led a Tang campaign against Nanzhao. The king of Nanzhao, Geluofeng, regarded the previous incident as a personal affair and wrote to Xianyu to seek peace. However, Xianyu Zhongtong detained the Nanzhao envoys and turned down the appeal. Confronted with Tang armies, Nanzhao immediately turned its allegiance to the Tibetan Empire
The Tibetan Empire (, ; ) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of imperial expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. The empire further expanded under the 3 ...
. The Tubo and Nanzhao agreed to be "fraternal states"; Geluofeng was given the titles zanpuzhong ("younger brother"). The Nanzhao-Tubo alliance ensured a disastrous defeat for Xianyu's expedition, with the Tang general's army of 80,000 men being reduced to a quarter of its original size.
Tang China did not give up after one failure. In 753, another expedition was prepared, but this was also defeated by Nanzhao. In 754, the Tang organized an army of more than 100,000 troops that advanced to the Dali plain, resulting in only another slaughter. By the end of the eighth century, Tang was no longer a major threat to Nanzhao.
Nanzhao's expansion lasted for several decades. In 829, Nanzhao suddenly plundered Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
and entered Chengdu
Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese pro ...
. When it retreated, hundreds of Sichuan people, including skilled artisans, were taken to Yunnan. In 832, the Nanzhao army captured the capital of the Pyu kingdom in modern upper Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. Nanzhao also attacked the Khmer peoples of Zhenla. Generally speaking, Nanzhao was then the most powerful kingdom in mainland Southeast Asia, and played an extremely active role in multistate interactions.
In 859, Nanzhao captured Bozhou
Bozhou () is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Anhui province, China. It borders Huaibei to the northeast, Bengbu to the southeast, Huainan to the south, Fuyang to the southwest, and Henan to the north. Its population was 4,996,844 at th ...
, and this event exacerbated the Nanzhao-Tang clashes. When the Tang governor of Annam took Bozhou back in the following year, Nanzhao, with the help of native peoples, occupied Hanoi as the Tang army moved to Bozhou. When the Tang forces returned, Nanzhao troops retreated from Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
but attacked and plundered Yongzhou
Yongzhou, formerly known as Lingling, is a prefecture-level city in the south of Hunan province, People's Republic of China, located on the southern bank of the Xiang River, which is formed by the confluence of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers, and b ...
. In the winter of 862, Nanzhao, allying with local groups, led an army of over 50,000 men to invade Annam again. It is reported that the Tang forces lost over 150,000 soldiers (either killed or captured by
Nanzhao) in the two Annam battles. The autumn of 866 saw Tang victory in Hanoi and soon all of the Nanzhao forces were driven away. But Tang China had lost its ability to attack Nanzhao.
While Nanzhao was being defeated in Annam, it still occasionally attacked Sichuan. In 869, Shilong (), the eighth king and the first empire of Nanzhao, invaded Sichuan. In 874, Nanzhao attacked Sichuan again.
In 902, Zheng Maisi, the ''Qingpingguan'' (,"Prime Minister") of Nanzhao, murdered the infant king of Nanzhao, and established a new kingdom called Dachanghe. Nanzhao, a once-powerful empire, disappeared. In 928, Yang Ganzhen (楊干貞) usurped the Dachanghe king and established Zhao Shanzheng, a qingpingguan as emperor of Datianxing (大天興). In 929, Yang Qianzhen abolished Zhao Shanzheng and established himself as Emperor of Dayining (大義寧).
Dali Kingdom
In 937, Duan Siping
Duan Siping (, IPA: ; Bai: Duainb six-pienp), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Taizu of Dali, was a Chinese monarch and politician. He was the founding emperor of the Dali Kingdom. The Dali Kingdom would last until the Mongol conque ...
overthrew the Dayining Kingdom and established the Dali Kingdom
The Dali Kingdom, also known as the Dali State (; Bai: Dablit Guaif), was a state situated in modern Yunnan province, China from 937 until 1253. In 1253, it was conquered by the Mongols but members of its former ruling dynasty continued to a ...
. The kingdom was conquered by the Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...
in 1253 after Dali King Duan Xingzhi defected to the Mongols. The Duans incorporated into the Mongol dominion as Maharaja
Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great king" or " high king".
A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Empire, a ...
s of the new province. The Mongolian prince sent to administer the region with them was killed. In 1273, Kublai Khan reformed the province and appointed the semu
Semu () is the name of a caste established by the Yuan dynasty. The 31 Semu categories referred to people who came from Central and West Asia. They had come to serve the Yuan dynasty by enfranchising under the dominant Mongol caste. The Semu were ...
Ajall Shams al-Din Omar as its governor. The Yunnan Province during the Yuan dynasty
The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fift ...
included significant portions of Upper Burma
Upper Myanmar ( my, အထက်မြန်မာပြည်, also called Upper Burma) is a geographic region of Myanmar, traditionally encompassing Mandalay and its periphery (modern Mandalay, Sagaing, Magway Regions), or more broadly speak ...
after the First Mongol invasion of Burma
The first Mongol invasions of Burma (Myanmar) (Burmese: မွန်ဂို–မြန်မာ စစ် (၁၂၇၇–၁၂၈၇); Chinese: 元緬戰爭) were a series of military conflicts between Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty, a divi ...
in the 1270s and 1280s. With the fall of the Yuan dynasty in 1368, the Ming dynasty destroyed the Yuan loyalists led by Basalawarmi
Basalawarmi ( xng, ᠪᠠᠵᠠᠯᠠᠸᠠᠷᠮᠠᠢ, , died January 6, 1382), commonly known by his hereditary noble title, the Prince of Liang, was a Yuan dynasty prince and loyalist who fought against the ascendant Ming dynasty in China p ...
and the remnants of the House of Duan in the Ming conquest of Yunnan
The Ming conquest of Yunnan was the final phase in the Ming dynasty expulsion of Mongol-led Yuan dynasty rule from China proper in the 1380s.
Background
The Hongwu Emperor had sent envoys to Yunnan in 1369, 1370, 1372, 1374, and 1375 to reque ...
by the early 1380s.
Ming and Qing dynasties
The Ming installed Mu Ying
Mu Ying (1345–1392) was a Chinese military general and politician during the Ming dynasty, and an adopted son of its founder, the Hongwu Emperor.
When the Ming dynasty emerged, the Hongwu Emperor's military officers who served under him were gi ...
and his family as hereditary aristocrats in Yunnan.
During the Ming
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...
and Qing dynasties, large areas of Yunnan were administered under the native chieftain system
''Tusi'', often translated as "headmen" or "chieftains", were hereditary tribal leaders recognized as imperial officials by the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties of China, and the Later Lê and Nguyễn dynasties of Vietnam. They ruled certain e ...
. Under the Qing dynasty a war with Burma also occurred in the 1760s due to the attempted consolidation of borderlands under local chiefs by both China and Burma.
Yunnan was a destination for Han Chinese during Yuan rule. Colonizers moved into the area during Ming and Qing rule. During the Ming dynasty, 3 million Han Chinese mostly from Nanjing
Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
(the original Nanjing population was later largely replaced by Wu-speakers), and some from Shanxi and Hebei, settled in Yunnan.
Although largely forgotten, the bloody Panthay Rebellion
The Panthay Rebellion (1856–1873), also known as the Du Wenxiu Rebellion (Tu Wen-hsiu Rebellion), was a rebellion of the Muslim Hui people and other (Muslim as well as non-Muslim) ethnic groups against the Manchu-led Qing dynasty in southwe ...
of the Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
Hui people and other local minorities against the Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
caused the deaths of up to a million people in Yunnan.[Gernet,
Jacques. ''A History of Chinese Civilization''. 2. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1996. ] The Manchu official Shuxing'a started an anti-Muslim massacre, which led to the rebellion. Shuxing'a developed a deep hatred of Muslims after an incident in which he was stripped naked and nearly lynched by a mob of Muslims. He ordered several Muslim rebels to be slowly sliced to death. Tariq Ali
Tariq Ali (; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and con ...
wrote about the real incident in one of his novels and claimed the Muslims who had nearly lynched Shuxing'a were not Hui but belonged to another ethnicity. Nevertheless, the Manchu official blamed all Muslims for the incident. A British officer testified that the Muslims did not rebel for religious reasons and that the Chinese were tolerant of different religions and were unlikely to have caused the revolt by interfering with the practice of Islam. Loyalist Muslim forces helped Qing forces crush the rebel Muslims. The Qing armies massacred only Muslims who had rebelled or supported the rebels and spared Muslims who took no part in the uprising.
In 1894, George Ernest Morrison
George Ernest Morrison (4 February 1862 – 30 May 1920) was an Australian journalist, political adviser to and representative of the government of the Republic of China during the First World War and owner of the then largest Asiatic library ...
, an Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
n correspondent for ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'', traveled from Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
to British-occupied Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
via Yunnan. His book, ''An Australian in China'', details his experiences.
The 1905 Tibetan Rebellion in which Tibetan Buddhist Lamas attacked and killed French Catholic missionaries spread to Yunnan.
Post-Imperial
Yunnan was transformed by the events of the Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
, which caused many east coast refugees and industrial establishments to relocate to the province. It assumed strategic significance, particularly as the Burma Road
The Burma Road () was a road linking Burma (now known as Myanmar) with southwest China. Its terminals were Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. It was built while Burma was a British colony to convey supplies to China during the Second Sino ...
from Lashio
Lashio ( ; Shan: ) is the largest town in northern Shan State, Myanmar, about north-east of Mandalay. It is situated on a low mountain spur overlooking the valley of the Yaw River. Loi Leng, the highest mountain of the Shan Hills, is located ...
, in Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
to Kunming was a fought over supply line of vital importance to China's war effort.
University faculty and students in the east had originally decamped to Changsha
Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, an ...
, capital of Hunan
Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi to ...
. But as Japanese forces were gaining more territory they eventually bombed Changsha in February 1938. The 800 faculty and students who were left had to flee and made the 1,000 mile journey to Kunming, capital of Yunnan in China's mountainous southwest. It was here that the National Southwest Associated University
When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out between China and Japan in 1937, Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University merged to form Changsha Temporary University in Changsha and later National Southwestern Associated Univ ...
(commonly known as Lianda University) was established. For eight years, staff, professors and students had to survive and operate in makeshift quarters that were subject to sporadic bombing campaigns by the Japanese. There were dire shortages of food, equipment, books, clothing and other essential needs, but they managed to conduct the running of a modern university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
. Over those eight years of war (1937–1945), Lianda became famous nationwide for having and producing many, if not most, of China's most prominent academics, scholars, scientists and intellectuals. Both of China's only Nobel laureates in physics studied at Lianda in Kunming.
Naturalists
Thousands of plant, insect and mammal species were described in the 19th century by scientists of the French National Museum of Natural History, Paris, in connection with permanent settlements of missionaries of the in north-west Yunnan, among them noticeably Jean-André Soulié Jean-André is a French masculine given name. It may refer to:
* Jean-André Cuoq (1821–1898), French philologist
* Jean-André Deluc (1727–1817), Swiss geologist and meteorologist
* Jean-André Mongez (1750–1788), French priest and mineral ...
and Felix Biet. From 1916 to 1917, Roy Chapman Andrews
Roy Chapman Andrews (January 26, 1884 – March 11, 1960) was an American explorer, adventurer and naturalist who became the director of the American Museum of Natural History. He led a series of expeditions through the politically disturbed ...
and Yvette Borup Andrews
Yvette Borup Andrews (February 28, 1891 – April 12, 1959) was an American photographer associated with the American Museum of Natural History. With the museum's director, Roy Chapman Andrews, she traveled to Central Asia twice during 1916-18 f ...
led the Asiatic Zoological Expedition of the American Museum of Natural History through much of western and southern Yunnan, as well as other provinces of China. The book, '' Camps and Trails in China'', records their experiences. Other notable explorers include Heinrich Handel-Mazzetti; George Forrest; Joseph Francis Charles Rock
Joseph Francis Charles Rock (1884 – 1962) was an Austrian-American botanist, explorer, geographer, linguist, ethnographer and photographer.
Life
Josef Franz Karl Rock was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of a steward of a Polish count. As a ...
, who from 1922 to 1949 spent most of his time studying the flora, peoples and languages of southwest China, mainly in Yunnan; and Peter Goullart, a White Russian who studied Naxi culture and lived in Lijiang
Lijiang (), also known as Likiang, is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Yunnan Province, China. It has an area of and had a population of 1,253,878 at the 2020 census whom 288,787 lived in the built-up area (metro) made of Gucheng ...
from 1940 to 1949.
Geography
Yunnan is the most southwestern province in China, with the Tropic of Cancer
The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward ...
running through its southern part. The province has an area of , 4.1% of the nation's total. The northern part of the province forms part of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau
The Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau or Yungui Plateau () is a highland region located in southwest China. The region is primarily spread over the provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou. In the southwest, the Yungui is a true plateau with relatively flatter ...
. The province borders Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
and Guizhou
Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...
in the east, Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
in the north, and the Tibet Autonomous Region
The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of ...
in the northwest. It shares a border of with Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
( Kachin and Shan State
Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...
s) in the west, Laos (Luang Namtha
Luang Namtha (''Luang Nam Tha'') ( Lao: ມ. ຫລວງນໍ້າທາ) is a district as well as the capital of Luang Namtha Province in northern Laos. The city lies on the Tha River (''Nam Tha'').
Luang Namtha is a popular tourist dest ...
, Oudomxay
Oudomxay (alternates: Oudômxai or Moung Xai; lo, ອຸດົມໄຊ) is a province of Laos, located in the northwest of the country. Its capital is Muang Xai.
It covers an area of . It borders China to the north, Phongsali province to the ...
, and Phongsaly Province
Phongsaly province ( Lao ຜົ້ງສາລີ), also spelled ''Phôngsali'', is a province of Laos in the extreme north of the country. The capital of the province is the city of Phôngsali. Phongsaly is between Yunnan (China), and Đi ...
s) in the south and Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
(Hà Giang
Hà Giang () is a city located on the banks of the Lô River in the Northeast region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Hà Giang Province. The city has an area of 135.33 km2 and a population of 55 559 inhabitants. The population is compose ...
, Lào Cai
Lào Cai () is a city in the Northwest region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Lào Cai Province. The city borders Bảo Thắng District, Bát Xát District, Sa Pa and the city of Hekou Yao Autonomous County, in Yunnan province of southwes ...
, Lai Châu, and Điện Biên Provinces) in the southeast.
For practical purposes, all of Yunnan province falls within the Zomia
The term Southeast Asian Massif was proposed in 1997 by anthropologist Jean Michaud to discuss the human societies inhabiting the lands above approximately in the southeastern portion of the Asian landmass, thus not merely in the uplands of conven ...
region of Asia.
Geology
Yunnan is at the far eastern edge of the Himalayan uplift, and was pushed up in the Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...
, primarily in the Middle Pleistocene
The Chibanian, widely known by its previous designation of Middle Pleistocene, is an age in the international geologic timescale or a stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocene Epoch within the ongoing Quaternary Period. The ...
, although the uplift continues into the present. The eastern part of the province is a limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...
with karst topography and unnavigable rivers flowing through deep mountain gorges. The main surface formations of the plateau are the Lower Permian
The Cisuralian is the first series/epoch of the Permian. The Cisuralian was preceded by the Pennsylvanian and followed by the Guadalupian. The Cisuralian Epoch is named after the western slopes of the Ural Mountains in Russia and Kazakhstan an ...
Maokou Formation, characterized by thick limestone deposits, the Lower Permian Qixia Formation, characterised by dolomitic limestones and dolomite Dolomite may refer to:
*Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral
*Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock
*Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community
*Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...
s, the Upper Permian
The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleoz ...
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the surface of a rocky planet or moon. More than 90 ...
s of the Ermeishan Formation (formerly Omeishan plateau basalts), and the red sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
s, mudstones, siltstones, and conglomerates of the Mesozoic
The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretace ...
– Paleogene, including the Lufeng Formation and the Lunan Group (Lumeiyi, Xiaotun, and Caijiacong formations). In this area is the noted Stone Forest
The Stone Forest or Shilin () is a notable set of limestone formations about 500 km2 located in Shilin Yi Autonomous County, Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China, near Shilin approximately from the provincial capital Kunming.
The t ...
or Shilin, eroded vertical pinnacles of limestone (Maokou Formation). In the eastern part the rivers generally run eastwards. The western half is characterized by mountain ranges and rivers running north and south.
Paleontology
*Yunnanozoon
''Yunnanozoon lividum'' (Yunnan + Greek ζῷον ''zôion'', ''lividum''; "livid animal of Yunnan") is an extinct species of possible vertebrate or chordate from the Lower Cambrian, Chengjiang biota of Yunnan province, China. It is thought o ...
– Lower Cambrian
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ago ( ...
possible chordate
A chordate () is an animal of the phylum Chordata (). All chordates possess, at some point during their larval or adult stages, five synapomorphies, or primary physical characteristics, that distinguish them from all the other taxa. These fi ...
*Jingshanosaurus
''Jingshanosaurus'' (meaning "Jingshan lizard") is a genus of sauropodomorph dinosaurs from the early Jurassic period 201.3 million years ago that went extinct 199.3 million years ago in the Hettangian Age.
Its maximum weight was around 4.3 t ...
– Early Jurassic
The Early Jurassic Epoch (geology), Epoch (in chronostratigraphy corresponding to the Lower Jurassic series (stratigraphy), Series) is the earliest of three epochs of the Jurassic Period. The Early Jurassic starts immediately after the Triassic-J ...
long-neck prosauropod
Sauropodomorpha ( ; from Greek, meaning "lizard-footed forms") is an extinct clade of long-necked, herbivorous, saurischian dinosaurs that includes the sauropods and their ancestral relatives. Sauropods generally grew to very large sizes, had l ...
dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...
Climate
Yunnan has a generally mild climate with pleasant and fair weather because of the province's location on south-facing mountain slopes, receiving the influence of both the Pacific and Indian oceans, and although the growing period is long, the rugged terrain provides little arable land
Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for th ...
. See '' Agriculture in Yunnan''. Under the Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
, much of the province lies within the subtropical highland (Köppen ''Cwb'') or humid subtropical
A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
zone (''Cwa''), with mild to warm winters, and temperate summers, except in the almost tropical to truly tropical south, where temperatures regularly exceed in the warmer half of the year. ''In general'', January average temperatures range from ; July averages vary from . Average annual rainfall ranges from , with over half the rain occurring between June and August. The plateau region has moderate temperatures. The western canyon region is hot at the valley bottoms, but there are freezing winds at the mountaintops.
Topography
The terrain is largely mountainous, especially in the north and west. A series of high mountain chains spreads across the province. There is a distinct canyon region to the west and a plateau
In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...
region to the east. Yunnan's major rivers flow through the deep valleys between the mountains.
The average elevation is . The mountains are highest in the north where they reach more than ; in the south they rise no higher than . The highest point in the north is the Kawagebo Peak in Deqin County on the Diqing Plateau, which is about ; and the lowest is in the Red River Valley in Hekou County
The Hekou Yao Autonomous County () is an autonomous county in the southern part of the Yunnan province of China. It is part of the Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture and borders the northern Vietnamese city of Lào Cai. It was apparently kn ...
, near the Vietnamese border, with an elevation of .
The eastern half of the province is a limestone plateau with karst scenery and unnavigable rivers flowing through deep mountain gorges; the western half is characterised by mountain ranges and rivers running north and south. These include the Nu Jiang (Salween
, ''Mae Nam Salawin'' (
, name_etymology =
, image = Sweet_View_of_Salween_River_in_Tang_Yan_Township,_Shan_State,_Myanmar.jpg
, image_size =
, image_caption = Salween River in Shan State, Myanmar
, map ...
), the Lancang (Mekong
The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...
), and the Jinsha (Yangtze
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
), which flow in close proximity in the Three Parallel Rivers
The Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas () is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Yunnan province, China. It lies within the drainage basins of the upper reaches of the Jinsha (Yangtze), Lancang (Mekong) and Nujiang (Salween) rivers, in t ...
protected area. The rugged, vertical terrain produces a wide range of flora and fauna, and the province has been called a natural zoological and botanical garden.
Borders
Bordering Chinese provincial-level divisions are Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
, Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
, Guizhou
Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...
and Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
. Starting from the east and working clockwise, bordering countries are Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
(Hà Giang
Hà Giang () is a city located on the banks of the Lô River in the Northeast region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Hà Giang Province. The city has an area of 135.33 km2 and a population of 55 559 inhabitants. The population is compose ...
, Lào Cai
Lào Cai () is a city in the Northwest region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Lào Cai Province. The city borders Bảo Thắng District, Bát Xát District, Sa Pa and the city of Hekou Yao Autonomous County, in Yunnan province of southwes ...
, Lai Châu and Điện Biên provinces), Laos (Phongsaly
Phongsali or Phongsaly ( lo, ຜົ້ງສາລີ) is the capital of Phongsaly Province, Laos. It is the northernmost provincial capital in Laos, opposite Attapeu in the south. The town has about 8,000 inhabitants. It lies at approximately 1,4 ...
, Oudomxay
Oudomxay (alternates: Oudômxai or Moung Xai; lo, ອຸດົມໄຊ) is a province of Laos, located in the northwest of the country. Its capital is Muang Xai.
It covers an area of . It borders China to the north, Phongsali province to the ...
and Luang Namtha
Luang Namtha (''Luang Nam Tha'') ( Lao: ມ. ຫລວງນໍ້າທາ) is a district as well as the capital of Luang Namtha Province in northern Laos. The city lies on the Tha River (''Nam Tha'').
Luang Namtha is a popular tourist dest ...
provinces), Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
(states of Shan and Kachin). The main border crossings are:
* Hekou–Lào Cai
Lào Cai () is a city in the Northwest region of Vietnam. It is the capital of Lào Cai Province. The city borders Bảo Thắng District, Bát Xát District, Sa Pa and the city of Hekou Yao Autonomous County, in Yunnan province of southwes ...
, by road and rail, is the only Sino-Vietnamese land border crossing open to non-Chinese/non-Vietnamese.
*Sino-Laotian at Boten
Boten is a town in Laos in Luang Namtha Province. Boten is on the China–Laos border. It is opposite the Chinese town Mohan. While Boten is part of Laos, most of its inhabitants speak Mandarin Chinese as their native language. The main curren ...
*Ruili
Ruili (; tdd, ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥣᥝᥰ; shn, မိူင်းမၢဝ်း; th, เมืองมาว; my, ရွှေလီ) is a county-level city of Dehong Prefecture, in the west of Yunnan province, People's Republic of China. It ...
–Muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...
is the only Sino-Burmese border crossing open to non-Chinese/non-Burmese.
Lakes
There are several major lakes in Yunnan. The province has nine lakes with areas of over . They include:
* Dianchi Lake, near Kunming
*Fuxian Lake
Fuxian Lake () stretches out through Chengjiang, Jiangchuan and Huaning Counties in Yunnan Province, spanning an area of 212 square kilometers. The lake is ranked third-largest in Yunnan, after Dian Lake and Erhai Lake. Also the deepest lake ...
, in Yuxi
Yuxi () is a prefecture-level city in the central part of Yunnan province of the People's Republic of China. The administrative center of Yuxi is Hongta District. Yuxi is approximately south of Kunming.
Geography
Yuxi is located in the center ...
, the second deepest lake in China
* Xingyun Lake, directly south of Fuxian Lake and connected with it by a short river
*Qilu Lake
Qilu Lake () is a plateau lake in Yunnan Province, in southwestern China. The lake has a total area of about 36.86 square kilometers. The average depth is 4.03 m, with an elevation of 1796.75 m. the water storage capacity is about 1.486×108m3.
...
, south of Fuxian and Xingyun Lakes, separated from them by mountains, in Tonghai County
Tonghai County () is located in Yuxi Prefecture-level City, Yunnan Province, China.
Geography
Tonghai County occupies the fertile valley of Qilu Lake, surrounded on all sides by mountains. The county seat is located on the south side of the lak ...
*Erhai Lake
Erhai or Er Lake (), is an alpine fault lake in Yunnan province, China. Erhai was also known as Yeyuze () or Kunming Lake () in ancient times.
Etymology
The character "洱" (er) does not have the same meaning as ear (耳). During the Han to Tan ...
, near Dali City
Dali City () is the county-level seat of the Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in northwestern Yunnan. Dali City is administered through 12 township-level districts, two of which are also commonly referred to as Dali.
Xiaguan () formerly ...
*Lugu Lake
Lugu Lake () is located in the northwest of the Yunnan plateau, with the middle of the lake forming the border between the Ninglang County of Yunnan Province and the Yanyuan County of Sichuan Province. The formation of the lake is thought to have ...
, in Ninglang
Ninglang Yi Autonomous County (; ii, ꆀꆿꆈꌠꊨꏦꏱꅉꑤ nip lat nuo su zyt jie jux dde xiep) is located in the northwest of Yunnan province, China, bordering Sichuan province to the northeast. It is under the administration of Lijiang C ...
near the border with Sichuan
*Yangzong Lake
Yangzonghai Lake () (given on some maps as Yangzong Sea, though it is fresh water) is located between Yiliang County, Chenggong District and Chengjiang County, 45 kilometers east of Kunming City in Yunnan Province, China. About 30,000 people rely ...
, in Yiliang County
*Yilong Lake
Yilong Lake () is a large freshwater lake located in Shiping County, Honghe Prefecture, Yunnan province, southwestern China. The lake has a surface area of approximately and is particularly notable for its scenery, including the colorful lotus fl ...
Rivers
Yunnan is the source of two rivers, the Xi River
The Xi River (; ) or Si-Kiang is the western tributary of the Pearl River in southern China. It is formed by the confluence of the Gui and Xun Rivers in Wuzhou, Guangxi. It originates from the eastern foot of the Maxiong Mountain in Qujin ...
(there known as the Nanpan and Hongshui
The Hongshui River is a major river in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in Southern China. It is one of the main rivers in the basin of the Xi River, which in its turn is one of the main tributaries of the Pearl River. Because it flows thr ...
) and the Yuan River
The Yuan River, also known by its Chinese name as the Yuanjiang, is one of the four largest rivers in Hunan province in southeast-central China. It is a tributary of Yangtze River. It is long and rises in Guizhou province in the Miao Mountains ...
. The Hongshui is a principal source stream of the Xi River. Rising as the Nanpan in eastern Yunnan province, it flows south and east to form part of the boundary between Guizhou
Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...
province and Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
autonomous region. Flowing for , it unites with the Yu River at Guiping
Guiping () is a county-level city in eastern Guangxi, China. It is under the administration of Guigang City, located at the confluence of the Qian River, Qian and Yu River (China), Yu rivers, which are the Xi River's primary north and south tri ...
to form what eventually becomes the Xi River
The Xi River (; ) or Si-Kiang is the western tributary of the Pearl River in southern China. It is formed by the confluence of the Gui and Xun Rivers in Wuzhou, Guangxi. It originates from the eastern foot of the Maxiong Mountain in Qujin ...
.
The province is drained by six major river systems:
*the Yangtze River
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest list of rivers of Asia, river in Asia, the list of rivers by length, third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in th ...
, here known as the Jinsha Jiang
The Jinsha River (, Tibetan: Dri Chu, འབྲི་ཆུ) is the Chinese name for the upper stretches of the Yangtze River. It flows through the provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan in western China. The river passes through Tiger ...
(River of Golden Sands), drains the province's north.
*the Pearl River
The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-a ...
, with its source near Qujing, collects the waters from the east.
*the Mekong
The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...
(Lancang), which flows from Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
into the South China Sea
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...
forming the boundaries between Laos and Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, between Laos and Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
and through Laos, Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...
and Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
*the Red River (Yuan or Honghe) has its source in the mountains south of Dali, Yunnan, Dali and enters the South China Sea through Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
, Vietnam
*the Salween
, ''Mae Nam Salawin'' (
, name_etymology =
, image = Sweet_View_of_Salween_River_in_Tang_Yan_Township,_Shan_State,_Myanmar.jpg
, image_size =
, image_caption = Salween River in Shan State, Myanmar
, map ...
(Nujiang), which flows into the Gulf of Martaban and the Andaman Sea through Burma
*the Irrawaddy River, Irrawaddy, which arises from the confluence of two rivers in Kachin State in Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, has a few small tributaries in Yunnan's far west, such as the Dulongjiang and Taping River, and rivers in the prefecture of Dehong.
Biodiversity
Yunnan is China's most diverse province, biologically as well as culturally. The province contains snow-capped mountains and true tropical environments, thus supporting an unusually full spectrum of species and vegetation types. The Yunnan camellia (''Camellia reticulata'') is the provincial emblem.
During summer, the Great Plateau of Tibet acts as a barrier to monsoon winds, trapping moisture in the province. This gives the alpine plant, alpine flora in particular what one source has called a "lushness found nowhere else".
This topographic range combined with a tropical moisture sustains extremely high biodiversity and high degrees of endemism, probably the richest botanically in the world's temperate regions. Perhaps 17,000 species of higher plants, of which an estimated 2,500 are endemic, can be found in the province. The province is said to have "as much flowering plant diversity as the rest of the Northern Hemisphere put together".[David Paterson, Kunming Institute of Botany’s honorary senior horticulturalist and former director of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, Scotland.]
Yunnan has less than 4% of the land of China, yet the province harbors around 42.6% of all protected plant species and 72.5% of all protected wild animals in the country, of which 15% are strictly endemic to Yunnan. Yunnan is home to, most notably, the southeast Asian gaur, a giant forest-dwelling Bovinae, bovine, the Indochinese tiger and the Asian elephant.[Smith, A. T.; and Xie, Y. (2008). ''A Guide to the Mammals of China.'' New Jersey: Princeton University Press. .] Other extremely rare species are the Yunnan box turtle and the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey. It is feared that the Yunnan lar gibbon, another moribund species, has already gone extinct. Yunnan province has 11 national and regional nature reserves. In total, the covered protected area in China is about 510,000 hectares.
The freshwater fish fauna is highly diverse with about 620 species, including more than 580 natives (the remaining are Introduced species, introduced). This equals almost 40% of the freshwater fish species in China. Of the Yunnan natives, more than 250 are endemic to the province and many of these are threatened.[ Several species that are restricted to single lakes (notably Dian Lake, Dian, Erhai Lake, Erhai, Fuxian Lake, Fuxian and Yilong Lake, Yilong) are likely already are extinct. By far, the most diverse order in Yunnan are Cypriniformes, both in total species number and number of endemics.][
The unique ''Sinopyrophorus'' bioluminescent beetles were described from Yunnan in 2019.]
Designation
Yunnan has been designated:
*"Center of Plant Diversity" (IUCN/WWF: Davis et al. 1995)
*"Global 200 List Priority Ecoregion" for biodiversity conservation (WWF: Olsen and Dinerstein 1998)
*"Endemic Bird Area" (Birdlife International: Bibby, C. et al. 1992) and
*"Global Biodiversity Hotspot", as a part of the Hengduan Mountain Ecosystem (Conservation International: Mittermeier and Mittermeier 1997)
Natural resources
A main source of wealth lies in its vast mineral resources; indeed, mining is the leading industry in Yunnan. Yunnan has proven deposits of 86 kinds of minerals in 2,700 places. Some 13% of the proved deposits of minerals are the largest of their kind in China, and two-thirds of the deposits are among the largest of their kind in the Yangtze River valley and in south China. Yunnan ranks first in the country in deposits of zinc
Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...
, lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
, tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
, cadmium, indium, thallium and crocidolite. Other deposits include iron, coal, copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
, gold, mercury (element), mercury, silver, antimony and sulfur. More than 150 kinds of minerals have been discovered in the province. The potential value of the proven deposits in Yunnan is 3 trillion Chinese yuan, yuan, 40% of which come from fuel minerals, 7.3% from metallic minerals and 52.7% from nonmetallic minerals.
Yunnan has sufficient rainfall and many rivers and lakes. The annual water flow originating in the province is 200 cubic kilometres, three times that of the Yellow River. The rivers flowing into the province from outside add 160 cubic kilometres, which means there are more than ten thousand cubic metres of water for each person in the province. This is four times the average in the country. The rich water resources offer abundant hydro-energy. China is constructing a series of dams on the Mekong to develop it as a waterway and source of power; the first was completed at Manwan Dam, Manwan in 1993.
Scenic areas
National parks
*Pudacuo National Park, opened in 2007, in Shangri-La County
*Laojunshan National Park (), in Lijiang
Lijiang (), also known as Likiang, is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Yunnan Province, China. It has an area of and had a population of 1,253,878 at the 2020 census whom 288,787 lived in the built-up area (metro) made of Gucheng ...
, ''pending approval''
UNESCO World Heritage Sites
*Old Town of Lijiang, accepted in 1997 as a cultural site
*Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas, accepted in 2003 as a natural site
*South China Karst, accepted in 2007 as a natural site
*Maotianshan Shales, accepted in 2012 as a natural site
*Yuanyang County, Yunnan, Cultural Landscape of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces, accepted in 2013 as a cultural site
Governance
Administrative divisions
Yunnan consists of sixteen Administrative divisions of China#Prefectural level, prefecture-level divisions: eight Prefecture-level city, prefecture-level cities and eight autonomous prefectures:
These 16 prefecture-level divisions are in turn subdivided into 129 county-level divisions (17 District of China, districts, 18 county-level cities, 65 County (People's Republic of China), counties, and 29 Autonomous counties of the People's Republic of China, autonomous counties). At the end of the year 2021, the total population is 48.01 millio
Urban areas
Politics
Secretaries of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Yunnan Committee: The Chinese Communist Party Committee Secretary, Secretary of the CCP is the highest ranking and most important position in Yunnan.[
# Song Renqiong (): 1950–1952
# Xie Fuzhi (): July 1952 – August 1959
# Yan Hongyan (): August 1959 – January 1967
# Zhou Xing (PRC), Zhou Xing (): June 1971 – October 1975
# Jia Qiyun (): October 1975 – February 1977
# An Pingsheng (): February 1977 – July 1985
# Pu Chaozhu (): July 1985 – June 1995
# Gao Yan (politician), Gao Yan (): June 1995 – August 1997
# Linghu An (): August 1997 – October 2001
# Bai Enpei (): October 2001 – August 2011][
# Qin Guangrong (): August 2011 – October 2014
# Li Jiheng (): October 2014 – August 2016
# Chen Hao (politician), Chen Hao (): August 2016 – November 2020
# Ruan Chengfa (): November 2020 - October 2021
# Wang Ning (politician, born 1961), Wang Ning (): October 2021 - present
Governors of Yunnan: The Governor (China), Governor is the second highest office in Yunnan, after the Secretary of the CCP Yunnan Committee.][ The Governor, who is elected by the Yunnan Provincial People's Congress, is responsible for all economic, Environmental policy, environmental, political, personnel and Foreign policy, foreign affairs issues concerning Yunnan.][
# Chen Geng (): March 1950 – February 1955
# Guo Yingqiu (): February 1955 – November 1958
# Ding Yichuan (): November 1958 – January 1965
# Zhou Xing (PRC), Zhou Xing (): January 1965 – 1966
# Tan Furen (): August 1968 – October 1970
# Zhou Xing: October 1970 – October 1975
# Jia Qiyun (): October 1975 – February 1977
# An Pingsheng (): February 1977 – December 1979
# Liu Minghui (): December 1979 – April 1983
# Pu Chaozhu (): April 1983 – August 1985
# He Zhiqiang (): August 1985 – January 1998
# Li Jiating (): January 1998 – June 2001
# Xu Rongkai (): June 2001 – November 2006
# Qin Guangrong (): January 2007 – August 2011]
# Li Jiheng (): August 2011 – October 2014
# Chen Hao (politician), Chen Hao (): October 2014 – December 2016
# Ruan Chengfa (): December 2016 - November 2020
# Wang Yubo (): November 2020 - present
Demographics
According to Yunnan government statistics, there are approximately 2.5 million overseas Chinese whose ancestral homeland is Yunnan province.
Ethnicity
Yunnan is noted for a very high level of ethnic diversity. It has the highest number of ethnic groups among the provinces and autonomous regions in China. Among the country's Ethnic minorities in China, 56 recognised ethnic groups, twenty-five are found in Yunnan. Some 38% of the province population are members of ethnic minorities, including the Yi, Bai, Hani, Tai
Tai or TAI may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*Tai (comics) a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain
*Tai Fraiser, a fictional character in the 1995 film ''Clueless''
*Tai Kamiya, a fictional character in ''Digimon''
Businesses and organisations ...
, Dai, Miao Miao may refer to:
* Miao people, linguistically and culturally related group of people, recognized as such by the government of the People's Republic of China
* Miao script or Pollard script, writing system used for Miao languages
* Miao (Unicode ...
, Lisu people, Lisu, Hui people, Hui, Lahu people, Lahu, Wa people, Wa, Nakhi people, Nakhi, Yao people, Yao, Tibetan people, Tibetans, Jingpo people, Jingpo, Blang people, Blang, Pumi people, Pumi, Nu people, Nu, Achang people, Achang, Jino people, Jinuo, Yunnan Mongols, Mongols, Derung, Manchu people, Manchus, Sui people, Sui, and Bouyei people, Buyei. Several other groups are represented, but they live neither in compact settlements nor do they reach the required threshold of five thousand to be awarded the official status of being present in the province. Some groups, such as the Mosuo, who are officially recognised as part of the Naxi people, Naxi, have in the past claimed official status as a national minority, and are now recognised with the status of Mosuo people.
Ethnic groups are widely distributed in the province. Some twenty-five minorities live in compact communities, each of which has a population of more than five thousand. Ten ethnic minorities living in border areas and river valleys include the Hui people, Hui, Manchu people, Manchus, Bai, Naxi people, Naxi, Mongols, Zhuang, Dai, Achang, Buyei and Shui people, Shui, with a combined population of 4.5 million; those in low mountainous areas are the Hani, Yao people, Yao, Lahu people, Lahu, Va people, Va, Jingpo people, Jingpo, Blang people, Blang and Jino, with a combined population of 5 million; and those in high mountainous areas are Miao Miao may refer to:
* Miao people, linguistically and culturally related group of people, recognized as such by the government of the People's Republic of China
* Miao script or Pollard script, writing system used for Miao languages
* Miao (Unicode ...
, Lisu people, Lisu, Tibetan people, Tibetan, Pumi people, Pumi and Derung, Drung, with a total population of four million.
Languages
Most Dialect, dialects of the Chinese language spoken in Yunnan belong to the southwestern Mandarin, southwestern subdivision of the Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin group, and are therefore very similar to the dialects of neighboring Sichuan
Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...
and Guizhou
Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...
provinces. Notable features found in many Yunnan dialects include the partial or complete loss of distinction between finals and , as well as the lack of . In addition to the local dialects, most people also speak Standard Chinese (''Putonghua'', commonly called "Mandarin"), which is used in the media, by the government, and as the language of instruction in education.
Yunnan's ethnic diversity is reflected in its linguistic diversity. Languages spoken in Yunnan include Tibeto-Burman languages such as Bai, Yi language, Yi, Standard Tibetan, Tibetan, Hani language, Hani, Jingpo language, Jingpo, Lisu language, Lisu, Lahu language, Lahu, Naxi language, Naxi; Tai languages like Zhuang languages, Zhuang, Bouyei language, Bouyei, Dong language (China), Dong, Shui language, Shui, Tai Lü language, Tai Lü and Tai Nüa language, Tai Nüa; as well as Hmong–Mien languages.
The Naxi language, Naxi, in particular, use the Dongba script, which is the only pictographic writing system in use in the world today. The Dongba script was mainly used to provide the Dongba priests with instructions on how to carry out their rituals: today the Dongba script features more as a tourist attraction. Perhaps the best known Western Dongba scholar was Joseph Rock.
Literacy
By the end of 1998, among the province's population, 419,800 had received college education or above, 2.11 million senior middle school education, 8.3 million junior middle school education, 18.25 million primary school education, and 8.25 million aged 15 or above were illiterate or semi-literate.
Religion
According to a demographic analysis of religions in Yunnan, almost 90% of the population belonged to ethnic minorities; however, as of 2005 the province had around 4 million believers of the religion in China, five government-sanctioned organised religious doctrines of China. Of these:
*2.6 million or about 6% of the total population are Buddhism, Buddhists;
*620,000 or 1.4% are Islam, Muslims;
*530,000 or 1.2% are Protestantism, Protestants;
*240,000 or 0.5% are Taoism, Taoists (note that "Taoist" traditionally only includes Taoist priest, priests);
*66,000 or 0.1% are Catholicism, Catholics.
According to surveys conducted in 2004 and 2007, in those years approximately 32.22% of the province's population was involved in Chinese ancestral religion, worship of ancestors and 2.75% declared a Christian identity.[China General Social Survey 2004, Chinese Spiritual Life Survey 2007. Report by]
Xiuhua Wang (2015, p. 15)
Most of the population of the province practices traditional indigenous religions including the Chinese folk religion among the Han Chinese, Bimoism among the Yi peoples and Benzhuism among the Bai people. The Dai people are one of the few ethnic minorities of China that traditionally follow the Theravada branch of Buddhism, making Yunnan the only province in China where all three major Buddhist schools are widely practiced. Most of the Hui people of the region are Muslims. Christianity is dominant among the Lisu people, Lisu, the Jingpo people, Jingpo and the Derung people, Derung ethnic groups.
Image gallery
File:Yunnan xingjiao temple.jpg, Xinjiao Temple in Shaxi, Yunnan, Shaxi.
File:Huating Temple 04.JPG, Huating Buddhist Temple in the Western Mountains (Xishan) of Kunming.
File:Guishan Temple.jpg, Guishan Buddhist Temple of the Tibetan Buddhism, Tibetan tradition.
File:昆明太和宫金殿.JPG, Hall of the Golden Taoist Temple in Kunming.
File:拖姑清真寺_-_panoramio_-_hilloo_(50).jpg, Tuogu Mosque in Ludian County.
Image:Weihan_Manduan_Temple_Menghai.jpg, Dai Theravada Buddhist temple in Menghai County, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Xishuangbanna.
File:Anning lianran wenmiao.JPG, Anning Confucian Memorial
File:Zhongdian-sumtseling-gompa-c05.jpg, Zhongdian Ganden Sumtseling Monastery, Sumzênling goinba
File:云南丙中洛重丁教堂3.JPG, Bingzhongluo Church, Gongshan County
File:Kunming - Beijing Lu - Church - P1340598.JPG, Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Kunming
Agriculture
The region maintains a strong agricultural focus. Agriculture is restricted to the few upland plains, open valleys, and terraced hillsides. Level land for agriculture is extremely scarce and only about 5 percent of the province is under cultivation. Rice is the main crop; Maize, corn, barley, wheat, rapeseed, sweet potatoes, soybeans (as a food crop), Yunnan tea, tea, sugarcane, tobacco, and cotton are also grown. On the steep slopes in the west livestock is raised and timber, a valuable resource, is cut (teak in the southwest).
Yunnan produces most of coffee grown in China (although there are also much smaller plantations in Fujian and Hainan). Large-scale coffee cultivation started in Yunnan in 1988. The most commonly grown List of coffee varieties, variety in the province is catimor.
Tobacco is the main (export) product and makes up a big part of the provincial GDP. Furthermore, Yunnan has a strong competitive potential in the fruit and vegetable industries, especially in low value-added commodities such as fresh and dried vegetables and fresh apples.
Yunnan is one of the regions in the world with the most abundant resources of wild edible mushrooms. In China, there are 938 kinds of edible mushrooms, and over 800 varieties can be found in Yunnan. In 2004, around 7,744 tons of wild edible mushrooms were exported, making up for 70% of the total export of this product in China. The so-called 'pine mushroom' is the main product in Yunnan and is exported to Japan in large quantities.
Due to China's growing consumption of dairy products, Yunnan's dairy industry is also developing very rapidly and is also aiming to export to its ASEAN neighbors.
The flower industry in Yunnan province started to develop towards the end of the 1980s. Yunnan province accounts for 50% of China's total cut flower production. The size of the planting area for cut flowers in Yunnan province amounts to 4000 hectares. In 2003, the output totaled 2.3 billion stems. In 2002 the flower industry in Yunnan had a total output of RMB 3.4 billion. Export amounted to US$18 million. Apart from sales on the domestic market, Yunnan also exports to a number of foreign countries and regions such as Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Singapore.
Economy
As of the mid-19th century, Yunnan exported birds, brass, tin, gemstones, musk, nuts, and peafowl, peacock feathers mainly to stores in Guangzhou. They imported silk, wool, and cotton cloth, tobacco and books.
Yunnan is one of China's relatively undeveloped provinces with more poverty-stricken County (People's Republic of China), counties than the other provinces. In 1994, about 7 million people lived below the poverty line of less than an annual average income of 300 Chinese yuan, yuan per capita. They were distributed in the province's 73 counties mainly and financially supported by the central government. With an input of 3.15 billion yuan in 2002, the absolutely poor rural population in the province has been reduced from 4.05 million in 2000 to 2.86 million. The poverty alleviation plan includes five large projects aimed at improving infrastructure facilities. They involve planned attempts at soil improvement, water conservation, electric power, roads, and "green belt" building. Upon the completion of the projects, the province hopes this will alleviate the shortages of grain, water, electric power and roads.
Yunnan lags behind the east coast of China in relation to socio-economic development. However, because of its geographic location the province has comparative advantages in regional and border trade with Southeast Asian countries. The Lancang River (upper reaches of Mekong River) is the waterway to southeast Asia. In recent years land transportation has been improved to strengthen economic and trade co-operation among countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion. Yunnan's abundance in resources determines that the province's pillar Industry (economics), industries are: agriculture, tobacco, mining, hydro-Electric power industry in China, electric power, and tourism. In general, the province still depends on the natural resources. The secondary sector is currently the largest industrial tier in Yunnan, contributing more than 45 percent of GDP. The tertiary sector contributes 40 percent and agriculture 15 percent. Investment is the key driver of Yunnan's economic growth, especially in construction.
The main challenge that Yunnan faces is its lack of major development economics, development. Its low productivity and Competition (companies), competitiveness restrict the rapid development of the province. The province also faces great challenges in social issues such as environmental protection, poverty elimination, illegal immigration, illegal migration, drug trafficking and HIV/AIDS in Yunnan, HIV/AIDS.
Yunnan's four pillar industries include tobacco, agriculture/biology, mining, and tourism. The main manufacturing industries are iron and steel production and copper-smelting, commercial vehicles, chemicals, fertilizers, textiles, and optical instruments. Yunnan has trade contacts with more than seventy countries and regions in the world. Yunnan established the Muse (Shan State), Muse border trade zone (located in Ruili
Ruili (; tdd, ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥣᥝᥰ; shn, မိူင်းမၢဝ်း; th, เมืองมาว; my, ရွှေလီ) is a county-level city of Dehong Prefecture, in the west of Yunnan province, People's Republic of China. It ...
) along its border with Burma. Yunnan mainly exports tobacco, machinery and electrical equipment, chemical and agricultural products, and non-ferrous metals. In 2008, its total two-way trade (imports and exports) reached US$9.6 billion. The province signed foreign direct investment contracts involving US$1.69 billion, of which US$777 million were actually utilized during the year.
Yunnan's employment rate remind stable. The total number of newly-entered-employee were 49.35 thousand people. The Unemployment, unemployment rate at the end of 2020 was 3.92%. Yunnan's nominal GDP in 2020 was 24521.9 billion Yuan( US$3850.92 billion), an annual growth rate of 4.0%. Its per capita GDP was 50,299 Yuan ( US$ 7,898.96). The share of GDP of Yunnan's Primary sector of the economy, primary, Secondary sector of the economy, secondary and Tertiary sector of the economy, tertiary industries were 3598.91 billion Yuan, 8287.54 billion Yuan, and 12635.45 billion Yuan respectively.
Yunnan is one of the major production bases of copper, lead, zinc, tin and aluminum in China. Gejiu is well known as "the Kingdom of Zinc" with the reserves ranked first in the country. The Yunxi brand refined tin is one of the main products in Gejiu, which is registered on the London Metal Exchange (LME). Besides, reserves of germanium, indium, zirconium, platinum, rock salt, sylvite, nickel, phosphate, mirabilite, arsenic and blue asbestos are also high. Significant copper deposits are found at Dongchuan District, Dongchuan, iron ore at Wuding, and coal at Xuanwei and Kaiyuan City, Honghe, Yunnan, Kaiyuan. Economic policy to locate new industry in interior areas with substantial mineral wealth, led to major industrial development in Yunnan, especially in the Kunming, Kunming area.
The electricity industry is another important economic pillar of Yunnan, which plays a key role in the "West-East Electricity Transmission Project". The electricity produced in Yunnan is mainly transported to Guangdong.
Economic and Technological Development Zones
*Kunming Economic and Technological Development Zone
First established in 1992, Kunming Economic & Technology Development Zone is a national-level zone approved by the State Council. Kunming is located in east-central Yunnan province with preferential location. After several years' development, the zone has formed its pillar industries, which include tobacco processing, machinery manufacturing, electronic information, and biotechnology.
*
The Kunming High-tech Industrial Development Zone (KMHNZ), is a state-level high-tech industrial zone established in 1992 in Northwest Kunming. It is administratively under Kunming Prefecture. It has covers an area of . KMHNZ is located in the northwest part of Kunming city, 4 kilometers from Kunming Railway Station, 5 kilometers from Kunming International Airport.
* Kunming Dianchi Tourism & Vacation Zone
*Kunming Airport Economic Zone
*Ruili
Ruili (; tdd, ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥣᥝᥰ; shn, မိူင်းမၢဝ်း; th, เมืองมาว; my, ရွှေလီ) is a county-level city of Dehong Prefecture, in the west of Yunnan province, People's Republic of China. It ...
Ruili Border Economic Cooperation Zone, Border Trade Economic Cooperation Zone
Ruili Border Economic Cooperation Zone (RLBECZ) is a Chinese State Council-approved Industrial Park based in Ruili, Dehong Prefecture, founded in 1992 and was established to promote trade between China and Burma. The area's import and export trade include the processing industry, local agriculture and biological resources are very promising. Sino-Burmese business is growing fast. Burma is now one of Yunnan's biggest foreign trade partners. In 1999, Sino-Burmese trade accounted for 77.4% of Yunnan's foreign trade. In the same year, exports for electromechanical equipments came up to US$55.28 million. Main exports here include fiber cloth, cotton yarn, ceresin wax, mechanical equipments, fruits, rice seeds, fiber yarn and tobacco.
*Wanding Border Economic Cooperation Zone
Wanding Border Economic Cooperation Zone (WTBECZ) is a Chinese State Council-approved Industrial Park based in Wanding Town, Ruili, Dehong, founded in 1992 and was established to promote trade between China and Burma. The zone spans and is focused on developing trading, processing, agriculture resources and tourism.
* Qujing Economic and Technological Development Zone
Qujing Economic and Technological Development Zone (QETDZ) is a provincial development zone approved by Yunnan Provincial Government in August 1992. It is located in the east of urban Qujing, the second largest city in Yunnan in terms of economic strengths. The location of the development zone is the economic, political and cultural center of Qujing. As an agency under Qujing municipal Party committee and municipal government, the administrative commission of QETDZ functions as an economy supervising body at the prefecture level and an administration body at the county level. It has under its jurisdiction. It shoulders the task of building a new 40-square-kilometer city area and providing service for a population of 400,000 in the upcoming 10 years.
*Yuxi
Yuxi () is a prefecture-level city in the central part of Yunnan province of the People's Republic of China. The administrative center of Yuxi is Hongta District. Yuxi is approximately south of Kunming.
Geography
Yuxi is located in the center ...
Economic and Technological Development Zone
*Dali City, Yunnan, Dali Economic and Technological Development Zone
*Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Chuxiong Economic and Technological Development Zone
Chuxiong Economic Development Zone is an important zone in Yunnan. Now the zone has attracted a number of investment projects. It is an important industry for the development of new-type industry platform. The zone covers an area of , composed of four parks.
*Songming Yanglin Experimental Zone for County & Township Industries
* Hekou Border Economic Cooperation Zone
First established in 1992, Hekou Border Economic Cooperation Zone is a border zone approved by State Council to promote Sino-Vietnamese trade. It has a planned area of . The zone implemented several policies to serve its clients in China from various industries and sectors including investment, trade, finance, taxation, immigration, etc.
Jiegao
Border Trade Economic Zone
*Old Town of Lijiang, Lijiang Yulong Snow Mountain Tourism Zone
*Cang Mountain
Cangshan or Cang Mountain () is a mountain range immediately west of Dali City in Yunnan province of Southwest China.
The highest summit, Malong, is 4,122 m, but the range includes another 18 peaks that are over 3,500 m elevation.
History
The mo ...
& Erhai Lake
Erhai or Er Lake (), is an alpine fault lake in Yunnan province, China. Erhai was also known as Yeyuze () or Kunming Lake () in ancient times.
Etymology
The character "洱" (er) does not have the same meaning as ear (耳). During the Han to Tan ...
Tourism and Vacation Zone at Dali
*Xishuangbanna Tourism and Vacation Zone
*Tengchong Tourism and Vacation Zone
*Yangzonghai Lake Tourism and Vacation Zone
*Fuxian Lake
Fuxian Lake () stretches out through Chengjiang, Jiangchuan and Huaning Counties in Yunnan Province, spanning an area of 212 square kilometers. The lake is ranked third-largest in Yunnan, after Dian Lake and Erhai Lake. Also the deepest lake ...
Tourism and Vacation Zone
Education
Since the 1960s, improvements have been achieved in the overall educational level, which can be seen in the increase in average years of regular education received. The development of part-time school education, schools have brought adult education, adult, distance education, distance and continuing education to farms, factories, offices, and other places. Evening, time off work / study leave classes allow people to receive education without leaving their jobs. Policies to upgrade adult education have begun to complement the campaign against illiteracy. A basic Chinese vocabulary in Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Stroke order, strokes is taught to millions of illiterate people in short, intensive courses. Despite progress made, Yunnan's List of Chinese administrative divisions by illiteracy rate, illiteracy rate remains one of the highest in China mainly due to insufficient education among minority peoples.
In Higher education in China, higher education, Yunnan has one "National Key University"—Yunnan University in Kunming. There is also a growing number of technical schools, among which the most prominent are the Yunnan Normal University, the Southwest Forestry University, Yunnan Agricultural University
Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Kunming Medical University, Yunnan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Kunming University of Science and Technology. Other notable establishments of learning are the Template:CAS Kunming, Kunming branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Yunnan Astronomical Observatory, and the Yunnan Provincial Library. As of 2000, there were 24 institutions of higher learning in Yunnan, with an enrollment of over 90,400 students and a faculty of 9,237; 2,562 secondary schools with an enrollment of more than 2,137,400 students and 120,461 teachers; and 22,151 primary schools with an enrollment of 4,720,600 pupils and a faculty of 210,507. The gross enrollment rate of school-age children was 99.02%.
''See also'': List of universities and colleges in Yunnan
Health
Yunnan Province is responsible for about 50% of officially reported malaria cases in China.
It is presently considered to be the main source of Plague (disease), plague in China.[Zhang Z, Hai R, Song Z, Xia L, Liang Y, Cai H, Liang Y, Shen X, Zhang E, Xu J, Yu D, Yu XJ. (2009) Spatial variation of ''Yersinia pestis'' from Yunnan Province of China. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 81(4):714-717]
HIV-AIDS
*HIV/AIDS in Yunnan
Transport
Railways
The first railway in Yunnan was the narrow gauge Yunnan–Vietnam Railway built by France from 1904 to 1910 to connect Kunming with Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, then a French colony. In Yunnan, the Chinese section of this railway is known as the Yunnan-Hekou Railway and the line gave Yunnan access to the seaport at Haiphong. During the Second World War, Britain and the United States began building a Yunnan–Burma Railway, railway from Yunnan to Burma but abandoned the effort due to Japanese advance.
Due in part to difficult terrain both locally and in surrounding provinces and the shortage of capital for rail construction, Yunnan remained outside of China's domestic rail network until 1966 when the Shanghai–Kunming Railway, Guiyang–Kunming Railway was completed. The line would not enter into operation until 1970, the same year that the Chengdu–Kunming Railway, Chengdu-Kunming was completed. The Nanning–Kunming Railway to Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
was completed in 1997, followed by the Neijiang–Kunming Railway in 2001. The Pan County West Railway, Panxi Railway, originally built in 1975 to draw coal from neighboring Guizhou, was electrified in 2001 and adds to eastern Yunnan's outbound rail transport capacity.
Within the province, the Kunming–Yuxi Railway, Kunming–Yuxi, opened in 1993, and the Guangtong–Dali Railway, Guangtong–Dali, opened in 1998, expanded the rail network to southern and western Yunnan, respectively. The Dali–Lijiang Railway, opened in 2010, brought rail service to northwestern Yunnan. That line is planned to be Lijiang–Xamgyi'nyilha Railway, extended further north to Xamgyi'nyilha County.
The province is extending the railway network to neighboring countries in Southeast Asia. From Yuxi
Yuxi () is a prefecture-level city in the central part of Yunnan province of the People's Republic of China. The administrative center of Yuxi is Hongta District. Yuxi is approximately south of Kunming.
Geography
Yuxi is located in the center ...
, the Yuxi–Mengzi Railway, built from 2005 to 2013, and the Mengzi–Hekou Railway, under construction since 2008, will form a standard gauge railway connection with Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. The Dali–Ruili Railway, under construction since May 2011, will bring rail service to the border with Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
. Also under planning is a rail line from Yuxi to Mohan, in Xishuangbana Prefecture, on the border with Laos. This line could be extended further south to Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, Malaysia and Singapore.
Burma Road
The Burma Road
The Burma Road () was a road linking Burma (now known as Myanmar) with southwest China. Its terminals were Kunming, Yunnan, and Lashio, Burma. It was built while Burma was a British colony to convey supplies to China during the Second Sino ...
was a highway extending about through mountainous terrain from Lashio
Lashio ( ; Shan: ) is the largest town in northern Shan State, Myanmar, about north-east of Mandalay. It is situated on a low mountain spur overlooking the valley of the Yaw River. Loi Leng, the highest mountain of the Shan Hills, is located ...
, northeast Burma northeastward to Kunming, China. Undertaken by the Chinese after the start of the Sino-Japanese War in 1937 and completed in 1938, it was a vital transportation route for wartime supplies to the Chinese government from Rangoon and shipped by railroad to Lashio from 1938 to 1946. An extension runs east through China from Kunming, then north to Chongqing. This traffic increased in importance to China after the Japanese took effective control of the Chinese coast and of Indochina. It was seized by the Japanese in 1942 and reopened when it was connected to the Stilwell Road from India. The Ledo Road (later called the Stilwell Road) from Ledo, Assam, Ledo, India, into Burma was begun in December 1942. In 1944 the Ledo Road reached Myitkyina and was joined to the Burma Road. Both roads have lost their former importance and are in a state of disrepair. The Burma Road's importance diminished after World War II, but it has remained a link in a 3,400-km road system from Yangon, Burma
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
, to Chongqing.
Highways
Road construction in Yunnan continues unabated: over the last years the province has added more new roads than any other province. Today expressways link Kunming through Dali to Baoshan, Kunming to Mojiang (on the way to Jinghong), Kunming to Qujing, Kunming to Shilin (Stone Forest). The official plan is to connect all major towns and neighbouring capitals with expressways by 2010, and to complete a high-speed road network by 2020.
All county towns are now accessible by paved, all-weather roads from Kunming, all townships have a road connection (the last to be connected was Yangla, in the far north, but Dulongjiang remains cut off for about six months every year), and about half of all villages have road access.
Second-level national highways stretch , third-level highways, and fourth-level highways, . The province has formed a network of communication lines radiating from Kunming to Sichuan and Guizhou provinces and Guangxi and Tibet autonomous regions, and further on to Burma, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand.
National highways running through Yunnan province are:
*China National Highway 108
*China National Highway 213
*China National Highway 214
*China National Highway 320
*China National Highway 323
*China National Highway 324
*China National Highway 326
Expressways
After the opening of the Suolongsi to Pingyuanjie section, Luofu expressway, the first between Yunnan and Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...
Province, opened in October 2007. It has made material and passenger transportation between the two provinces much more convenient. Moreover, Luofu Expressway has also become the main road from Yunnan to Guangxi and the coastal ports. Luofu Expressway begins from the crossroads of Luo Village between Yunnan and Guangxi Provinces and ends at Funing County, Yunnan, Funing County of Wenshan State. The total length of the expressway is 79.3 kilometers which has shortened the commuting, commute between Yunnan and Guangxi from the previous 3 and half hours to just 50 minutes.
Expressways running through Yunnan province are:
*Kunming–Bangkok Expressway (G8511 Kunming–Mohan Expressway, G8511 Kunmo Expressway)
*G5611 Dali–Lijiang Expressway, G5611 Dali Expressway from Dali, Yunnan, Dali to Lijiang
Lijiang (), also known as Likiang, is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Yunnan Province, China. It has an area of and had a population of 1,253,878 at the 2020 census whom 288,787 lived in the built-up area (metro) made of Gucheng ...
*G78 Shantou–Kunming Expressway, G78 Shankun Expressway from Shantou to Kunming
*G80 Guangzhou–Kunming Expressway, G80 Guangkun Expressway from Guangzhou to Kunming
*G8011 Kaiyuan–Hekou Expressway, G8011 Kaihe Expressway from Kaiyuan City, Honghe, Yunnan, Kaiyuan to Hekou on the Vietnamese border
Waterways
Generally, rivers are obstacles to transport in Yunnan. Only very small parts of Yunnan's river systems are navigable. However, China is constructing a series of dams on the Mekong
The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...
to develop it as a waterway and source of power; the first was completed at Manwan Dam, Manwan in 1993.
In 1995, the province put an investment of 171 million yuan to add another of navigation lines. It built two wharfs with an annual handling capacity of 300,000 to 400,000 tons each and four wharfs with an annual handling capacity of 100,000 tons each. The annual volume of goods transported was two million tons and that of passengers transported, two million.
Airports
The province has twenty domestic air routes from Kunming to Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu
Chengdu (, ; simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), alternatively romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which serves as the capital of the Chinese pro ...
, Haikou, Chongqing, Shenyang, Harbin, Wuhan, Xi'an, Lanzhou, Hangzhou, Xiamen, Nanning, Shenzhen, Guiyang, Changsha
Changsha (; ; ; Changshanese pronunciation: (), Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is the capital and the largest city of Hunan Province of China. Changsha is the 17th most populous city in China with a population of over 10 million, an ...
, Guilin, Lhasa and Hong Kong; eleven provincial air routes from Kunming to Jinghong, Mangshi, Lincang, Tengchong, Lijiang City, Lijiang, Dali, Yunnan, Dali, Shangri-la, Xamgyi'nyilha, Zhaotong, Baoshan, Yunnan, Baoshan, Pu'er City, Simao, and Ninglang Luguhu Airport, Ninglang Luguhu; and ten international air routes from Kunming to Bangkok, Kolkata, Chiang mai, Chiang Mai, Yangon, Singapore, Seoul, Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur and Vientiane.
Replacing Kunming Wujiaba International Airport is Kunming Changshui International Airport, which opened June 28, 2012.
Bridges
Bridge-building in Yunnan date back at least 1,300 years when the Tibetan Empire
The Tibetan Empire (, ; ) was an empire centered on the Tibetan Plateau, formed as a result of imperial expansion under the Yarlung dynasty heralded by its 33rd king, Songtsen Gampo, in the 7th century. The empire further expanded under the 3 ...
built an iron chain bridge over the Yangtze
The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...
to the neighboring Nanzhao Kingdom at what is today Weixi Lisu Autonomous County during the Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...
. Iron chain bridges are still found across high river valleys of Yunnan. The Jinlong Bridge on the Jinsha River in Lijiang remains the oldest bridge over the Yangtze. With the expansion of the highway and railway network in Yunnan, numerous large-scale bridges have been built across the region's myriad of rivers, including the Yangtze River bridges and tunnels, Yangtze which has dozens of crossings in Yunnan.
Metro
Kunming Rail Transit, Kunming is the only city in Yunnan that has a metro system. As of August 2021, it has 5 lines in operation.
Culture
Yunnan's cultural life is one of remarkable diversity. Archaeological findings have unearthed sacred burial structures holding elegant bronzes in Jinning, south of Kunming. In northeastern Yunnan, frescoes of the Jin dynasty (266–420) have been discovered in the city of Zhaotong, Zhatong. Many Chinese cultural relics have been discovered in later periods. The lineage of tribal way of life of the indigenous peoples persisted uninfluenced by modernity until the mid-20th century. Tribal traditions, such as Yi slavery, slaveholding and Wa people, Wa headhunting, have since been abolished. After the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), in which several minority cultural and religious practices were suppressed, Yunnan has come to celebrate its cultural diversity and subsequently many local customs and festivals have flourished.
Eighteen Oddities of Yunnan
Cuisine
Tea
Yunnan has several different tea growing regions. One of Yunnan's best known products is Pu-erh tea (or Puer), named after the old tea trading town of Pu-erh Yunnan, Pu-erh (Puer). The province is also known for its Golden Needle tea, Yunnan Gold and other Dian hong tea, Dianhong teas, developed in the 20th century.
Music
Chinese medicine
Yunnan is host to more than 19,000 species of plants, including 60 percent of the plants used in traditional Chinese medicine.
*Yunnan Baiyao
Tourism
Yunnan Province, due to its landscapes, mild climate and cultural diversity, is one of China's major tourist destinations. Most visitors are Chinese tourists, although trips to Yunnan are organized by an increasing number of foreign travel agencies as well. Mainland tourists travel by the masses; 2.75 million Chinese visited Yunnan last October during National Holiday. Also a different trend is slowly developing; small scale and environmentally friendly ecotourism. At the moment projects in this field are often being set up with help of NGO's.
In 2004, tourism revenues amounted to 37 billion RMB, and thus accounting for 12.6% of the provincial GDP. Another fact indicating the importance of tourism in Yunnan Province is capital Kunming hosting the China International Travel Mart every two years. This tourism trade fair is the largest of its kind in Asia and serves as an important platform for professionals in the sector. More than 80 countries and regions were present during the 2005 edition.
Tourism is expected to grow further. In 2010, the province welcomed over 2.3 million overseas tourists and the Yunnan Provincial Tourism Bureau aims to draw 4.3 million overseas arrivals under the 12th Five-Year Tourism Development Plan. Kunming city is expected to add 11 new mid- to high-end hotels with an inventory of under 4,000 rooms between 2012 and 2016.
The Nature Conservancy and the Chinese government came together to form a partnership and explore the possibility of bringing adventure tourism onto the rivers of Southwest China.
two-month white-water expedition
explored from the Mekong River's Moon Gorge to Yangze River's Great Bend. The expedition provided valuable information to the partnership, encouraging them to take into account the safety, culture, economics, and conservation of the Yunnan Province. Creating an adventure tourism sector would bring valuable economic resources to the economically struggling population, who had once relied on logging as income prior to it being banned due to deforestation.
Tourist centres in Yunnan include:
*Dali, Yunnan, Dali, the historic center of the Kingdom of Nanzhao, Nanzhao and Kingdom of Dali, Dali kingdoms.
*Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Chuxiong, the first stop on the way to Dali and Lijiang. Home of the Yi ethnic minority and their respective ancient town.
*Jinghong, the center and prefectural capital of the Xishuangbanna Dai minority autonomous prefecture.
*Lijiang City, Lijiang, a Naxi people, Naxi minority city. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.
*Shangri-La County, Xamgyi'nyilha County (also known as Shangri-La and formerly Zhongdian), an ethnic Tibetan people, Tibetan township and county set high in Yunnan's northwestern mountains.
*Shilin (Stone Forest), a series of karst outcrops east of Kunming.
*Yuanyang County, Yunnan, Yuanyang, a Hani minority settlement with vast rice-terraced mountains.
*Xishuangbanna, a national scenic resort, noted for its natural and cultural attractions.
Places of interest
*Black Dragon Pool
*Baishuitai
*Cang Mountain, Cangshan
*Erhai Lake
Erhai or Er Lake (), is an alpine fault lake in Yunnan province, China. Erhai was also known as Yeyuze () or Kunming Lake () in ancient times.
Etymology
The character "洱" (er) does not have the same meaning as ear (耳). During the Han to Tan ...
*Ganlan Basin
*Green Lake (Kunming), Green Lake Park
*Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
*Lancang River (Mekong River)
*Manting Park (Chunhuan Park) in Jinghong
*Meili Snow Mountain in Deqin
*Pujian Temple
*Sanchahe Nature Reserve in Jinghong
*ShaPing Market, Dali
*Shaxi, Yunnan, Shaxi
*Shilin (Stone Forest), Stone Forest
*Three Pagodas
*Tengchong (hot springs)
*Tiger Leaping Gorge
*Visitor Center for Nature and Culture in Northwest Yunnan
*Wase markets, near Dali
Xishuangbanna Tropical Flower & Plant Garden
*Yuantong Temple
*Yunnan Provincial Museum
Sport
Professional sporting teams in Yunnan have included the now defunct Yunnan Bulls in the Chinese Basketball Association and Yunnan Hongta F.C., Yunnan Hongta in the Chinese Jia-A League. The Yunnan Lijiang Dongba football team currently competes in China League Two.
Notes
References
Further reading
; Books
*
*Forbes, Andrew ; Henley, David (2011). ''Traders of the Golden Triangle''. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B006GMID5K
*Forbes, Andrew ; Henley, David (2011). ''China's Ancient Tea Horse Road''. Chiang Mai: Cognoscenti Books. ASIN: B005DQV7Q2
*
*Jim Goodman (2002). ''The Exploration of Yunnan''. .
*Stephen Mansfield (2007). ''China: Yunnan Province''. (Bradt Travel Guide China: Yunnan Province) .
*Ann Helen Unger and Walter Unger. (2007) ''Yunnan: China's Most Beautiful Province''. (Orchid Press) .
*Damien Harper (2007). ''China's Southwest''. (Lonely Planet Country & Regional Guides) .
*Patrick R. Booz (1998). ''Yunnan''. (Odyssey Passport: McGraw-Hill Contemporary) .
*Susan K. McCarthy (2009). ''Communist Multiculturalism: Ethnic Revival in Southwest China'' (University of Washington Press) .
*Tim Summers (2013), "Yunnan - A Chinese Bridgehead to Asia: A case study of China's political and economic relations with its neighbours" (Chandos) .
;Web
Population Profile of Yunnan
– United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
Economic Profile of Yunnan
– Hong Kong Trade Development Council
Economic Integration of Yunnan with the Greater Mekong Subregion
''Asian Economic Journal'' Volume 20 Issue 3, Pages 303–317
External links
Yunnan Province
e-Government website
Yunnan Statistical Yearbook
{{Authority control
Yunnan,
Populated places on the Mekong River
Provinces of the People's Republic of China
South China
Western China