"Jinghong of Yunnan" a Jinghong Travel Page by l_joo

The way they dress
Yunnan province of China is the source of Malaysian History according to historian, as a Malaysian, this is no doubt very important as a study of culture, ethnology, foods and etc. Jinghong is one of the main city where visitors can still see traditional costumes on the street, they are colorful, they belong to tropical climate and they just look similar. Apart from history, the local Dai peoples' foods are one of the best I have eaten.

12000 rice fields
About 5000 to 10000 years ago, a group of peoples began their migration south to Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, etc. The group that finally landed on Malaysian soil known by anthropologists, as Proto-Malay. As a tourist, I find this place quite easy to explore, comfortable whether, nice peoples, beautiful women, delicious foods and low budget cheap cheap.

...the Thais attempted to extend their control into the south of the Chinese empire, but eventually were conquered and made a Chinese province under Kublai Khan in 1253 AD. Many Thais still live in an area of southern Yunnan known as ‘Sipsong Panna’.... taken partly from the history of ChiangMai Thailand.

"Anthropologists trace the home of the Malay race to the northwestern part of Yunnan in China. These tribal proto-Malays, or Jakun, were a seafaring people...." from Sabri Zain's Malaysia history website.

"Its origins can be traced back to Yunnan China through the Proto-Malays and Deutero-Malays, which belong to the broader-based Malayo-Polynesian group of races. These early aboriginal groups first reached the peninsula around 2000BC. " taken from website http://allmalaysia.info

The origin of rice-eating civilization
I have been to Jinghong of Yunnan twice in 02, 04 and I'm very sure I will visit again. The history of Sipsong-Panna or Xishuangbanna or 12000 rice fields is a place where peoples live with the culture of rice eating. I am one of the rice eater but never in my life had I question the origin of this culture. To eat rice for a city boy like me is very easy to walk into a restaurant with a wallet, but who started cultivating rice is very important, why not the Eskimo eat rice, why not the Africans, Arabians, etc. To have rice grow in a huge paddy fields is not a fluke by somebody, it must be of certain reason why they chosen rice.