Colorful Yunnan

Use Colorful paradise to describe this piece of land-Yunnan is the most suitable. In this magical land, there are 25 ethnic minority groups，including Yi, Miao, Bai, Hani, Dai, Zanu, Naxi, Yao, Jingpo, Bouyei, and Dulong. Into Yunnan, you can explore the mysterious and exotic Naxi Dongba culture, Dali Bai culture, and Beima culture. Kunming, Lijiang, Shangri-La, Dali and Kawagebo mountain，they all have attracted the attention of the world. And you must go there.

Unique frontier style, plateau lakes, karst wonders, tropical rainforests, snow-capped mountains and valleys, coupled with the numerous historical and cultural relics, a variety of climate, colorful ethnic customs, strange and delicious foods, all of them are where the charm of Yunnan.

Yunnan Overview

Yunnan is a province in southwestern China with an area of 390,000 square kilometers, accounting for 4.11% of the total area of the country, ranking the 8th among all provincial administrative regions in the country. The total population of 45.96 million (2010), accounting for 3.35% of the total population, population ranked 12th. Under the jurisdiction, there are eight cities and eight ethnic autonomous prefectures.

Yunnan has the most ethnic groups. Apart from the Han ethnic group, there are 25 ethnic minorities living with a population of over 6,000. Ethnic minorities make up 33.37% of the total population（2010）.

Chinese name	云南 （Yúnnán）	Climatic conditions	Subtropical monsoon climate, tropical monsoon climate
English name	Yunnan Province	famous attractions	Shilin, Old Town of Lijiang, Dali
Nickname in China	云（Yún）, 滇 （diān）	Capital city	Kunming 昆明（kūnmíng）
Geographic location	China’s most south-west	Tourism Cities	Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La, Jinghong，Luoping and so much more

 Suitable Travel Time-all year around

Yunnan has complex landscapes and diverse climate. You can start your trip all year round. The most suitable time to visit different regions is varied. Kunming and Xishuangbanna have the best springtime. It is appropriate to visit Lijiang and Dali in spring and autumn. In autumn, Shangri-La area is most colorful, just like a fairyland.

Highlight Holidays and Special Events

Yunnan is the province with the largest number of ethnic minorities in China, and the festivals of all ethnic groups are also very colorful and diverse. The main holidays are:

1.      拉祜扩节(Lāhù kuò jié) Lahu Kuo Festival

Time: mainly the first day of lunar month to the third day of the first lunar month

Location: Lahu clan region

Lahu national holiday is the same as the Han Chinese Spring Festival for Lahu ethnic group. Every household kills pigs and makes rice cakes. And use their rice cakes to worship scissors, ax, hoe, plow, sickle in order to thank their help of cultivation. They also worship the gods of the mountain and hunting with shotguns, and crossbows for giving them a good harvest of animals. Each village will hold a grand dance party, and invite all ethnic groups in neighboring villages to participate. They dance and celebrate till the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar year.

2.      花山节（Huāshān jié）Huashan Festival

Time: the second day of first lunar month to the sixth day of the first lunar month

Location: Honghe Miao communities

Huashan Festival of Miao ethnic group was a celebration of the sacrificial ritual to worship the ancestors. It later evolved into the grandest annual festival. The traditional Huashan Festival usually start from the second day of lunar January to the sixth (in some places will be extended for a longer period of time). So the same time with the Spring Festival. On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the Miao people are all dressed in festive costumes. They all gather to watch the bullfighting and celebrate their holidays with singing folk songs and dancing. During the Huashan Festival, merchants and Miao people gathered from all over the world to celebrate and trade goods.

3.      刀杆节(Dāo gān jié) Daogan Festival

Time: the eighth day of first lunar month

Location: Lisu clan region along Mashan Mountain in Yunnan Province

The Daogan Festival is an annual traditional festival of the Lisu people along Mashan Mountain in Yunnan Province. It has a history of hundreds of years. On this day of the year, Lisu people all wear festive costumes and come to the venue to watch the activities of 上刀山下火海 Shàng dāo shānxià huǒhǎi (climbing knife mountain, jumping into fire sea). On the festival day, all the Lisu people, dressed in festive costumes, gathered from all directions to the “knife mountain field” to sing and dance along the bonfire. When the bonfire burned out, it formed a bright red fire pond. At this moment, some strong young men went barefoot into the fire pond. This is the famous 下火海(jumping into fire sea). They were naked, barefooted, imitating all kinds of beasts, stepping on a pile of red-hot charcoal, jumping back and forth from time to time. This ritual means the elimination of all kinds of disasters for the Lisu people in the new year.

In the middle of the place, there are two large wooden poles about 15-20 meters in height. There are 36 sharp long knives tied to the wooden poles, and the knife edge is upward, forming a horrifying knife ladder.

Several young people who had experienced the fire sea climbed to the top one by one barefooted. Thousands of people watched all this burst into applause. This is the famous 上刀山(climbing knife mountain).The whole celebration fully demonstrated the braveness of Lisu people.

4.      三月街（Sān yuè jiē） March Street Trading Festival

Time: Every year in March

Location: Bai ethnic group neighborhoods in Dali

三月街, also known as 观音市（guānyīn shì）, is a grand festival of Bai people. It holds every year in March along the foot of Cang Moutain. Initially, it was a religious activity. Later it gradually became a grand exchange of materials. At this time of year, people come together to show and sell the products of their own from all over the world. The scene was magnificent and lively.

5.      泼水节（Pōshuǐjié）Songkran Festival also called Water-splashing Festival

Time: mid-April

Location: Dai ethnic group neighborhoods

The Songkran Festival is the most solemn festival of the Dai people and also the festival with the largest participating number of ethnic minorities in Yunnan. Songkran is Dai people’s New Year, which lasts for 3 to 7 days. The Songkran Festival is a traditional festival for the Dai people as well as the Thai and Southeast Asia. On the very day, people in Thailand, Laos, Burma, and Cambodia bathed in the early morning and started celebrating for several days. During this time, people use pure water to splash each other and pray to wash away the bad luck of the past year.

Songkran Festival is the best opportunity to understand the Dai culture, including their music and dance culture, food culture, clothing culture, and traditions. The artistic performances of the Songkran Festival help to understand the ethnic identity of the Dai people, who are gentle and quiet.

6.      火把节（Huǒbǎ jié）Torch Festival

Time: Lunar June twenty-fourth to twenty-sixth

Location: Yi, Bai, Naxi communities

Torch Festival is the most important festival among Yi, Bai and Naxi ethnic groups. The torch festival lasts for three days. People enjoy wrestling, bullfighting, singing and dancing, beauty pageant, and enlightening torches, with excitement.

Torch Festival among Yi people generally lasts three days and nights and divided into three stages.

The first day of the Torch Festival is called 祭火Jì huǒ (worship the fire). On this day everyone will slaughter cattle and share together. They also prepare meat to worship their ancestors. As night falls, people set up altars at selected places and hit the stone in a traditional way in order to make a fire. Then every adults and children’s torch will be ignited from by their Bimo(the Yi priest).

The Torch Festival Day 2 is called 传火Chuán huǒ（passing fire）. On this day, everyone gathers under the torch of the altar to hold a wide variety of traditional festival activities such as horse racing, wrestling, singing, bullfighting, sheep fighting, and cocks fighting. The girls dance in beautiful clothes. The most important activity of the day is the beauty pageant. Elderly people choose the annual beauty queen and king according to the traditional criteria. Some people also call the Yi Torch Festival Oriental Valentine’s Day because young people date each other in the evening that day.

The third day of the Torch Festival is called 送火Sòng huǒ(sending fire). This is the climax of the entire Torch Festival. When the night falls, everyone will hold a torch and compete on the run. In the end, people gathered all the torches to form piles of bonfires. Then the happy people gather together to sing and dance around the bonfires.

The marvelous Torch Festival which is also named the “Carnival of the East” really worth to experience.

Map of Yunnan

Under the jurisdiction，there are Kunming, Qujing, Yuxi, Baoshan, Zhaotong, Lijiang, Pu’er City, Lincang 8 cities and Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao Autonomous Prefecture , Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Dehong Dai Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture, Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture 8 autonomous prefectures.

Main Attractions

In Kunming, you can go to Cuihu Park and play with black-headed gulls, you can go to the ethnic village feel the ethnic customs, you can go to Dongchuan to take photos of colorful red land.

In the quiet and leisurely ancient city of Dali, you can find romantic scenes everywhere. The wind of Xiaguan, flowers of Shangguan, snow of Cangshan, and the moon of Erhai is must experience.

In the old town of Lijiang, Yulong Snow Mountain, Shuhe, Baisha and other ancient towns are the soul of this gentle place.

In Shangri-La, Dukezong ancient city, Meili Snow Mountain and Tiger Leaping Gorge, Pudacuo National Forest Park, and Songzanlin Temple are all the longings for tourists and must go.

In Xishuangbanna, there are full of rich Southeast Asian Buddhist style.

In addition, you can also go to Qujing’s Luoping to see the canola sea and Luliang colorful Shalin. You may go to Honghe Prefecture to see the ornamental Yuanyang terraces; to Tengchong to see volcanic hot springs, feel Heshun ancient towns simple folk.

Highlights

Trekking Tiger Leaping Gorge

Tiger Leaping Gorge lies between Haba Snow Mountain in Shangri-La County and Yulong Snow Mountain in Lijiang City. Although it is subdivided into Diqing by administrative divisions, tourists usually choose to go to Tiger Leaping Gorge from Lijiang, because of more convenient transportations. Trekking Tiger Leaping Gorge means starting from Hutiaoxia town (the bridgehead), take the mountain trail across the canyon and eventually arrived in Lijiang Dachang, the whole journey of walking.

In the 1980s, some foreign backpackers began to walk mountain trails through the canyons. Slowly, some small pubs were built for walkers, offering simple meals. Now 20 years later, the main road runs through the entire canyon and the walking trails are getting better and better. Along the way, the hotels contain more and more facilities. Now Tiger Leaping Gorge is a very comfortable journey for Chinese and foreign backpackers.

Hiking in Yubeng, Pilgrimage at Kawagebo

Meili Snow Mountain, also known as the Taizi Snow-capped Mountain, is the head of the eight Tibetan mountains. The main peak Kawagebo has a height of 6740 meters, is the highest peak in Yunnan Province. The famous ” Rizhao Jinshan 日照金山” is a lot of backpackers’ dream of a rare sight.

Yubeng is a small Tibetan village at the foot of Meili Snow Mountain. It divided into up and down two parts, about 1 km away from each other. Because it is surrounded by mountains, away from the town, without convenient transportation, it is also known as the epitome of real Shangri-La.

The holy waterfall of the mountain next Yubeng has always been a holy site for Tibetan Buddhists pilgrimage. In recent years, hiking in Yubeng in order to pilgrimage the holy mountain has become keen for backpackers.

Play with Black-headed Gulls at Cuihu Park

Cuihu Park is located in Kunming City, just in front of Yunnan University. Although the lake is not very large, it is quite unique. It was originally a part of Dianchi Lake and later became an independent lake due to the falling water level. Because of the beautiful sight, people call Cuihu “an emerald in the city of Kunming.”

Every November, thousands of northern black-headed gulls fly over Cuihu Lake to spend their winter. Thousands of red-headed gull gather, and fly over the lake for food and fun is a Kunming spring landscape. Visiting Cuihu seagulls has become a big fun for people in Kunming tourists all over the world. This scene lasts from November to March or April every year.

Airports

There are 12 civilian airports in Yunnan Province, which are located in various cities in the province, namely: Kunming Changshui Airport, Lijiang Sanyi Airport, Dali Airport, Xishuangbanna Gasa International Airport, Dehong Mangshi Airport, Tengchong Airport, Diqing Shangri-La Airport, Zhaotong Airport, Wenshan Puzhehei Airport, Baoshan Airport, Lincang Airport and Simao Airport. However, except for Kunming Changshui Airport and Lijiang Sanyi Airport, there are not many foreign flights. Tourists usually only take their flights at Kunming and Lijiang airports.

Kunming Changshui Airport

Located in Kunming Guandu District, 24 km from the downtown area.

Airport Customer Service Tel: 0891-96566

From the airport to the city, taxi fare is about 100 yuan (about 16 USD).

There are three Airport Express Bus to and from the urban area, the fare is 25 yuan (about 4 USD) per person.

Lijiang Sanyi Airport

Located in the southwest of Lijiang, 28 km from the urban area.

From the airport to the city, taxi fare is about 90 yuan (about 14 USD) plus 10 yuan (about 1.6 USD) fixed toll.

There is one Airport Express to and from the urban area, the fare is 20 yuan (about 3.5 USD) per person.

Lijiang Airport Customer Service Tel: 0888-5173081

Trains

Due to the mountainous territory, the train speed is slow. The trains coming in and out of Yunnan mainly pass the three lines of Cheng-Kun(成昆线), Nan-Kun（南昆线） and Gui-Kun（贵昆线） lines, which make Kunming been connected with Chengdu, Nanning and Guiyang, and integrated into the national railway network. Kunming Railway Station is an important traffic gateway in Yunnan Province. Kunming Railway Station has access to Lijiang, Dali, Shilin and other important sites.

Kunming Railway Station

Kunming Railway Station Tel: 0871-3511534

Address: Guandu District, South Beijing Road

Transportation: Take bus 2, 23, 68, 80 can reach the train station.

Long-distance Bus Transportation

Kunming is the main transport hub of Yunnan Province, which has east, south, west, north and northwest five long-distance bus terminals.

·         East Terminal: mainly shuttle to the Shilin, Yiliang, Wenshan, Luoping directions.

·         Southern Bus Terminal: mainly shuttle to the Pu’er, Xishuangbanna, Yuxi, Honghe, Jianshui and Yuanyang directions.

·         West Bus Terminal: mainly shuttle to the Lincang, Dehong, Nujiang, Diqing, Lijiang, Chuxiong and Dali directions.

·         North Terminal: mainly shuttle to the Qujing, Zhaotong, Dongchuan, Luquan and other northeast directions.

·         Northwest Bus Terminal: mainly shuttle to the Wuding, Yuanmou, Huaping, Fumin, Luquan, Anning, Lufeng and Panzhihua.

Travel Tips

Climate and Health Protection Tips

·         Yunnan is located on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, which has a strong outdoor UV exposure. Sunscreen is always needed in outdoor. The temperature of day and night are quite different in northwestern Yunnan, thick and thin clothes are all needed in order to prevent colds.

·         Shangri-La area has a high altitude, remember to have some rest in case of having an alpine reaction.

·         Xishuangbanna region is located in the subtropical, hot and humid area, do remember to carry rain gear.

·         Many Yunnan foods are very greasy and spicy. In addition, due to the high altitude, it is difficult to reach the boiling point of water while cooking. The dishes may be cold and the rice or other staple food may be still half raw. If you don’t have a very strong stomach, do remember to bring some medicines with you.

Taboos

Yunnan is a multi-ethnic province with the largest number of ethnic groups in the country. Each ethnic group has its own unique customs and taboos. You must be careful when you travel in Yunnan.

·         Dining at restaurants, you must remember not to call waitress 小姐（Xiǎojiě）, though it is the word for waitress in many other places of China. This is the most important taboo! You can simply call them 小妹(Xiǎo mèi).

·         Naxi people are prohibited from throwing rubbish, waste, or spit into the water source and the rivers. Washing dirty clothes in the water source and the rivers are also prohibited. It is forbidden to destroy or block the water source or cut the trees along the rivers or ponds. People could not say dirty words in front of elders. One cannot sit on the threshold. Pregnant women cannot enter the newlyweds’ room. People cannot spit into the fire.

·         Yi people do not allow pregnant women attend the weddings. One could not use pretty, chubby and other praise languages to call children. Yi people do not eat horses, mules, dogs, cats, and monkeys.

·         Dai people avoid outsiders riding into the village. In Jingpo ethnic village people cannot touch or investigate the hanging skulls.

·         Do not wear shorts in Tibetan areas, or even into Tibetan houses. People cannot step on the threshold, nor spit in front of others, not to mention hurting livestock in the Tibetan areas.

Kunming Commonly used telephone numbers (Local Area Code：86-0871)

·         Yunnan Scenic Area Weather Forecast: 16800122

·         Yunnan Province weather forecast: 16800123

·         Consumer complaints: 12315

·         Weather forecast: 121

·         Yunnan tourist complaints hotline: 96,927

·         Ambulance: 120

·         Fire: 119

·         Plice：110