| Page Views: 3,993 Last Visit to Yunnan Sheng: May, 2004 | Mountains and Minorities by XenoHumph - last update: Mar 4, 2005 |
Not typical China | Sunset on Ailao Shan Mountains, Yunnan |
Yunnan is not very typical of China. This comes mainly from the fact that most of its population is made up by a mosaic of minorities, i.e. people of non "Han" Chinese origin. These minorities are related mainly to Tibetan populations in the North and West and to Vietnamese, Burmanese or Laotian in the South. Second, its history is different from that of China as Yunnan or part of it have been independant or semi-independant for several centuries in a row (for example the Nanzhao kingdom centered in Dali from the 8 to 13th century AD). So, although Yunnan seems now perfectly integrated into China as it does not seem to display the struggle of the Tibetans or the Uighurs for example, travelling through this province makes you encounter many customs, languages and art forms which are varied and not Chinese. |
A typical sight in Yunnan: a woman carrying a wicker basket on her back dressed in a minority costume (in this case probably Yi).
Your wanderings in Yunnan will probably make you meet several minorities, from the Dai in the Southern Xishuangbanna region to the few Mosu in the North around lake Lugu. Here is a glimpse of a few among the hundreds!
The Naxi, of tibeto-burman origin, live around Lijiang and have a matriarchal society and their own ancient writing made of pictograms.
The Bai, a sino-tibetan people live around Dali with their white dominated costumes, their earthquake proof traditional buildings and their thousands of years of agriculture practice.
The Sani, part of the tibeto-burman Yi minority serve as guides in the Stone Forest and make pretty embroided cloths. The Yi make the biggest minority (more than 4 million people) and are now found in many parts of Yunnan. |  | | Woman of the Ailao Shan Mountains, Yunnan, China |
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| Location of Yunnan, China |
| | Yunnan is located in the Southern part of China. It is bordered by Burma, Laos and Vietnam, therefore having heavy jungle, hot and humid climate on its Southern part. But it is also at the Eastern edge of the Himalayas, right next to Tibet, and therefore is mainly characterized by a very mountainous terrain and a nice mild and pleasant "spring like" climate. |
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| Pros: | "Beautiful mountains, pretty villages, colorful minority costumes, great weather, good food" | | Cons: | "road construction, red dust, cigarette smoke, polluted lakes and rivers, earthquakes" | | In A Nutshell: | "Northwestern Yunnan, edge of the Himalayas, is my favorite" |
XenoHumph's Yunnan Sheng Travel Tips
 XenoHumph's Yunnan Sheng Travelogues | | | |
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 Comments for XenoHumph about Yunnan Sheng | | | | |
kidfree Sun Feb 22, 2009 18:23 UTC
Great page, superb photos. I wish I`d taken the sunset myself. | tremendopunto Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:05 UTC
Amazing Yunnan page! You really got an eye for the right scenes - great pics! Your detailed tips complete this wonderful page. Im still sad for missing this part on my china travels, though....there is always a next time ;-) | elpariente Tue Jun 19, 2007 17:30 UTC
Your great pages will help me to prepair my China travel They are very intersting !!!! | y_lyn Fri Sep 8, 2006 14:46 UTC
Wow! What great pages you have! Nice photos... make me want to go Yunnan by this year :) |
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Yunnan Sheng Hotels
- Dali Hotels
- Lan Lin Ge Hotel Dali
96 Yu Er Road, The Ancient Town Of Dali, DALI, 671, Dali
- Dali Feng Huang Wen Quan Hotel
Tangzhipu Xiaguan Town, DALI, 671000, CN, Dali
- San Ta Yuan Hotel Dali
Three Pagoda Park, Dali
- Da Li Phoenix Spa Resort
Tang Zi Pu, Xia Guan Town, Dali
- Dali Huai Ren Hotel
No 3 Yinping Street, Development Zone, Dali
- Jinghong Hotels
- Golden Banna
Xishuangbanna Resort, Jinghong, CN, Jinghong
- Crown
Jinghong Resort, Jinghong
- Da Lian
Jing Hong Resort, Jinghong, CN, Jinghong
- Jin Du
Jing Hong Resort, Jinghong, CN, Jinghong
- Sightseeing
Xishuangbanna Resort, Jinghong
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