Yunnan Province

Meaning of the Name - Cloud South

Yunnan (Simplified Chinese: 云南; Traditional Chinese: 雲南; pinyin: Yúnnán; Vietnamese: Vân Nam) is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwestern corner of the country.

Major Cities:

Kunming, Dali, Jinghong, Lijiang, Yuxi

Neighboring Areas:

Sichuan, and Guizhou provinces; Tibet and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region

Government office address:

Wuhuashan, Kunming

Tel: 0871-362 1773

Website: www.yn.gov.cn

History of Yunnan

Human life has been found in Yunnan in early times. The remains of "Yuanmou Man" (元谋人), unearthed by railway engineers in the 1960s, have been determined to be the oldest in China. By the neolithic period, there were human settlements in the area of Lake Dian (滇池). These people used stone tools and constructed simple wooden structures.

Around the third century BC, the central area of Yunnan around present day Kunming was known as Dian. The Chu general Zhuang Qiao (庄跤) entered the region from the upper Yangtze River 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.

In 221 BC, Qin Shi Huang unified China and extend his authority south. Commanderies and counties were established in Yunnan. An existing road in Sichuan was extended south to around present day Qujing (曲靖), in eastern Yunnan - called the "Five Foot Way". In 109 BC, Emperor Wu sent General Guo Chang (郭昌) south to Yunnan, establishing Yizhou commandery and 24 subordinate counties. The commandery seat was at Dianchi county (present day Jinning 晋宁). Another county was called "Yunnan", probably the first use of the name. To expand the burgeoning trade with Burma and India, Emperor Wu also sent Tang Meng (唐蒙) to maintain and expand the Five Foot Way, renaming it "Southwest Barbarian Way" (西南夷道). By this time, agricultural technology in Yunnan had markedly improved. 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 Thai. They lived in tribal congregations, sometimes led by exile Chinese.

During the Three Kingdoms, the territory of present day Yunnan, Yuexi (黔西) and southern Sichuan was collectively called "Nanzhong" (南中). The disollution of Chinese central authority led to increased autonomy for Yunnan and more power for the local tribal structures. In 225 AD, the famed statesman Zhuge Liang (诸葛亮) led three columns into Yunnan to pacify the tribes. His seven captures of Meng Huo (孟获), a local magnate, is much celebrated in Chinese folklore.

In the fourth century, northern China was largely overrun by peoples from Central Asia. In the 320s, the Cuan (爨) clan migrated into Yunnan. Cuan Chen (爨琛) named himself king and held authority from Dianchi (then called Kunchuan 昆川). Henceforth the Cuan clan ruled Yunnan for over four hundred years. In 738, the kingdom of Nanzhao (南诏) was established in Yunnan by Piluoge (皮罗阁), who was confirmed by the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty as "King of Yunnan". Ruling from Dali, the thirteen kings of Nanzhao ruled over more than two centuries and played a part in the dynamic relationship between China and Tibet. In 937, Duan Siping (段思平) overthrew the Nanzhao and established the kingdom of Dali. The kingdom was conquered by the Mongol and Chinese armies of Kublai Khan.

In 1894, George Ernest Morrison, an Australian correspondent for The Times, travelled from Beijing to British-occupied Burma via Yunnan. His book An Australian in China details his experiences.

From 1916 to 1917, Roy Chapman Andrews and Yvette Borup Andrews 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.

Geography

Yunnan is the most southwestern province in China, with the Tropic of Cancer running through its southern part. The province has an area of 394,000 square km, 4.1 % of the nation's total. The province borders Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guizhou Province in the east, Sichuan Province in the north, and Tibet Autonomous Region in the northwest. It shares a border of 4,060 km with Myanmar in the west, Laos in the south, and Vietnam in the southeast.

Culture

One of Yunnan's famous products is Pu-erh tea, named after the town of Pu-erh, as well as the Yunnan Golden Needle tea.

Tourism

Tourist centres in Yunnan include

Demographics

Yunnan is known to have the greatest number of ethnic groups for any province in China, and is working hard in preserving the culture, heritage, and languages of these diverse peoples:

All of these minorities were classified by the government, however inside some groups, there exist subgroups of people that can be completely different in customs and languages compared to another subgroup in the same group.

Natural resources

Yunnan abounds in natural resources. It is known as the kingdom of plants, animals and home of non-ferrous metals and medicinal herbs.

The province not only has more plant species of tropical, subtropical, temperate, and frozen zones than any other province in the country, but also has many ancient, derivative plants, as well as species introduced from foreign countries. Among the 30,000 species of plants in China, 18,000 can be found in Yunnan.

More than 150 kinds of minerals have been discovered in the province. The potential value of the proven deposits in Yunnan is 3 trillion yuan, 40 % of which come from fuel minerals, 7.3 % from metallic minerals, and 52.7 % from nonmetallic minerals.

Yunnan has proved 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, lead, tin, cadmium, indium, thallium, and crocidolite.

Yunnan has sufficient rainfall and many rivers and lakes. The annual water flow originating in the province is 200 cubic kilometers, three times that of the Yellow River. The rivers flowing into the province from outside add 160 cubic kilometers, which means there are more than 10,000 cubic meters 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.

Yunnan is attractive with its rich tourism resources, including beautiful landscape, colorful ethnic customs, and a pleasant climate.

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