Ruili ( zh, s=瑞丽 , t=瑞麗 , p=Ruìlì; ; ; ; ), called Möng Mao in Tai, is a

county-level city A county-level city () is a County-level divisions of China, county-level administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China. County-level cities have judiciary, judicial but no legislature, legislative rights over their own local or ...

of Dehong Prefecture, in the west of

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

province, China. It is a major border crossing between China and

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

, with the town of

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

located across the

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

Name

The city is named after the Shweli River. 瑞 ''ruì'' means "auspicious", and 丽 ''lì'' means "beautiful". An older name of Ruili is Mengmao (), derived from the

Tai Nuea language Tai Nuea or Tai Nüa (; ; , ), also called Dehong Tai (; , ) and Chinese Shan, is one of the languages spoken by the Dai people in China, especially in the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture in the southwest of Yunnan Province. It is ...

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

" (), meaning "foggy place".

Geography and climate

Ruili is on the border with

. 64% of the population of Ruili are members of five highland and lowland ethnic minorities, including Dai, Jingpo, Deang, Lisu, and

Achang The Achang ( zh, c=, p=Āchāngzú), also known as the Ngac'ang (their own name) is an ethnic group. They are one of Tibeto-Burman languages, Tibeto-Burman languages speaking people. They form one of the List of Chinese ethnic groups, 56 ethnic g ...

. It is an important location for trade with Myanmar, in both legal and illegal goods and services.

Prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

and drug trade in the city are not uncommon.Sex, Drugs and The Roll of Dice
Time Asia, September 27, 1999 Ruili has a warm

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(

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

''Cwa''), and is generally humid. Summer is long and there is virtually no "winter" as such. Instead, there is a

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

(December through April) and

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

(May through October). A drier heat prevails from February till early May before the onset of the monsoon from the Indian Ocean. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in June, while the annual mean is . Rainfall totals about annually, with nearly 70% of it occurring from June to September. Bordered by monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest, Ruili Botanical Garden is just north of the City and covers of well-preserved native vegetation.

Economy

Dehong is one of the three primary coffee cultivating regions in Yunnan. The main coffee planter and processor is Hogood Coffee, which operates a contracting scheme with local farmers. Hogood contracts farmland from

smallholder A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

s, on which it plants seedlings, and then re-contracts with farmers to purchase the coffee beans at harvest. Because of its position near the border with Myanmar, Ruili is an important hub of cross-border trade, including the new oil and gas pipeline coming up from Kyaukphyu, which is being expanded as part of the

Belt and Road Initiative The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI or B&R), known in China as the One Belt One Road and sometimes referred to as the New Silk Road, is a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the government of China in 2013 to invest in more t ...

's Maritime Silk Road.

Administrative divisions

Ruili City has 1 subdistrict, 3 towns and 2 townships. ;1 subdistrict * Mengmao Subdistrict (, ) ;3 towns * Wanding Town (, ) * Nongdao Town (, ) * Jiexiang Town (, ) ;3 townships * Huyu Township (, ) * Mengxiu Township (, )

Demography

Han Chinese The Han Chinese, alternatively the Han people, are an East Asian people, East Asian ethnic group native to Greater China. With a global population of over 1.4 billion, the Han Chinese are the list of contemporary ethnic groups, world's la ...

and Dai mostly live in the valley. In the city, Jingpo and Deang live mostly in the outskirts in the surrounding hills. There is also a sizeable community of Burmese immigrants and their descendants (mostly

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

), numbering around 50,000 in the city, with their livelihoods centred around Zhubao Street (known locally as "Myanmar Town").

Industrial parks

* Wanding Border Economic Cooperation Zone Wanding Border Economic Cooperation Zone (WTBECZ) is a Chinese State Council-approved Industrial Park based in Wanding Town of Ruili City, founded in 1992, and was established to promote Sino–Burmese trade. The zone spans and is focused on developing trading, processing, agriculture resources, and tourism. * Ruili Border Economic Cooperation Zone Ruili Border Economic Cooperation Zone (RLBECZ) is a Chinese State Council-approved Industrial Park based in Ruili, founded in 1992, and was established to promote trade between China and Myanmar. The area's import and export trade include the processing industry, local agriculture, and biological resources, which are very promising. Sino-Myanmar business is growing fast. Myanmar is now one of Yunnan's biggest foreign trade partners. In 1999, Sino-Myanmar trade accounted for 77.4% of Yunnan's foreign trade. In the same year, exports for electromechanical equipment came up to US$55.28 million. Main exports here include fiber cloth, cotton yarn, ceresin wax, mechanical equipment, fruits, rice seeds, fiber yarn, and tobacco.

Transportation

The Dali–Ruili Railway, which will connect Ruili with China's national railway network, is under construction. A feasibility study for a

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

line from

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

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

to Kyaukphyu port started in 2021.

References

External links

Ruili City Official Website

Ruili Municipal People's Government

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