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83-694: The Third Month Fair ( Bai language : salwa zix ) is one of the most important festivals celebrated by the Bai people of southwest China . It includes a street bazaar, performances, sports, and games, and takes place annually in Dali City , Yunnan . The fair lasts several days, starting on the 15th day of the third month of the Chinese calendar (in April or May of the Gregorian calendar ). In 2024, it begins on April 23. The festival

166-466: A barrier to monsoon winds, trapping moisture in the province. This gives the alpine flora in particular what one source has called a "lushness found nowhere else". This topographic range combined with a tropical moisture sustains extremely high biodiversity and high degrees of endemism , probably the richest botanically in the world's temperate regions. Perhaps 17,000 species of higher plants, of which an estimated 2,500 are endemic, can be found in

249-504: A deep hatred of Muslims after an incident in which he was stripped naked and nearly lynched by a mob of Muslims. He ordered several Muslim rebels to be slowly sliced to death . Tariq Ali wrote about the real incident in one of his novels and claimed the Muslims who had nearly lynched Shuxing'a were not Hui but belonged to another ethnicity. Nevertheless, the Manchu official blamed all Muslims for

332-555: A fisherman. The princess and the fisherman went to an annual market, held by gods and goddesses on the 15th day of the third month, that had precious stones and medicinal herbs . A version of this story says that the market was on the Moon, and the couple went to buy fishing materials but did not find any. This celestial market (or a new market inspired by it) was moved to Earth, and it became the Third Month Street Fair. The festival

415-635: A giant forest-dwelling bovine , the Indochinese tiger and the Asian elephant . Other extremely rare species are the Yunnan box turtle and the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey . It is feared that the Yunnan lar gibbon , another moribund species, has already gone extinct. Yunnan province has 11 national and regional nature reserves. In total, the covered protected area in China is about 510,000 hectares. The freshwater fish fauna

498-567: A month. The more divergent Northern dialects are spoken by about 15,000 Laemae ( lɛ21 mɛ21 , Lemei, Lama), a clan numbering about 50,000 people who are partly submerged within the Lisu . They are now designated as two languages by ISO 639-3 : Wang Feng (2012) provides the following classification for nine Bai dialects: Wang (2012) also documents a Bai dialect in Xicun, Dacun Village, Shalang Township, Kunming City (昆明市沙朗乡大村西村). The affiliation of Bai

581-583: A new kingdom called Dachanghe . Nanzhao, a once-powerful empire, disappeared. In 928, Yang Ganzhen (楊干貞) usurped the Dachanghe king and established Zhao Shanzheng, a qingpingguan as emperor of Datianxing (大天興). In 929, Yang Qianzhen abolished Zhao Shanzheng and established himself as Emperor of Dayining (大義寧). In 937, Duan Siping overthrew the Dayining Kingdom and established the Dali Kingdom . The kingdom

664-444: A rooster Ne mian e ain hain? – What's your name? Ngo mian e A Lu Gai. – My name is A Lu Gai. Ngo ze ne san se yin a biu. – I don't recognize you. Ngo ye can. – I'm eating. Ne can ye la ma? – Have you eaten? Ne ze a ma yin? – Who are you? Ne ze nge mo a bio. – You are not my mother. Ngo zei pi ne gan. – I'm taller than you. Ne nge no hha si bei. – You won't let me go. Works cited Government of Yunnan Yunnan

747-594: 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 Tai . They lived in tribal congregations, sometimes led by exiled Chinese. During the Three Kingdoms , the territory of present-day Yunnan, western Guizhou and southern Sichuan was collectively called Nanzhong . The dissolution of Chinese central authority led to increased autonomy for Yunnan and more power for

830-680: A wide range of flora and fauna, and the province has been called a natural zoological and botanical garden. Bordering Chinese provincial-level divisions are Tibet , Sichuan , Guizhou and Guangxi . Starting from the east and working clockwise, bordering countries are Vietnam ( Hà Giang , Lào Cai , Lai Châu and Điện Biên provinces), Laos ( Phongsaly , Oudomxay and Luang Namtha provinces), Myanmar (states of Shan and Kachin ). The main border crossings are: There are several major lakes in Yunnan. The province has nine lakes with areas of over 30 km (12 sq mi). They include: Yunnan

913-503: Is China's fourth least developed province based on disposable income per capita in 2014. Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with high elevations in the Northwest and low elevations in the Southeast. Most of the population lives in the eastern part of the province. In the west, the altitude can vary from the mountain peaks to river valleys as much as 3,000 m (9,800 ft). Yunnan

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996-581: Is a local public holiday in Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture. It was made a public holiday in 1991, with residents getting two days off. This was later expanded to three days off, from the 15th to the 17th of the third month of the Chinese calendar. In 2024, this corresponds to April 23 through 25. Bai language The origins of Bai have been obscured by intensive Chinese influence of an extended period. Different scholars have proposed that it

1079-516: Is a superficial explanation of the literal meaning. Another common theory is that the name means "south of Yun Range " ( 云岭之南 ) However, this has been disproven because the name "Yunling Mountains" first appeared in Tang dynasty (618–907) literature, but the name "Yunnan" first appeared during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). Modern research gives more conjectures. You Zhong said "Yunnan" means "south of

1162-527: Is also known as the Market of Guanyin , Guanyin being the bodhisattva of mercy in Chinese Buddhism . It is said that Guanyin came to ancient Dali on the 15th day of the third month of the Chinese calendar, so an annual temple celebration was established on that day. An alternative origin story says that the festival celebrates the marriage of a princess, from the family of the dragon king of Erhai Lake , and

1245-588: Is an early offshoot or sister language of Chinese , part of the Loloish branch or a separate group within the Sino-Tibetan family . Xu and Zhao (1984) divided Bai into three dialects, which may actually be distinct languages: Jianchuan (Central), Dali (Southern) and Bijiang (Northern). Bijiang County has since been renamed as Lushui County . Jianchuan and Dali are closely related and speakers are reported to be able to understand one another after living together for

1328-478: Is an inland province in Southwestern China . The province spans approximately 394,000 km (152,000 sq mi) and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming . The province borders the Chinese provinces of Guizhou , Sichuan , autonomous regions of Guangxi and Tibet , as well as Southeast Asian countries Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam , and Laos . Yunnan

1411-578: Is considered a time for courting. It is celebrated with a street fair held below Mount Diancang , near Dali Old Town ; the Dali area is the cultural center of the Bai people. Stalls at the fair sell a wide variety of goods, including medicinal herbs , handicrafts, Pu'er tea , traditional candy, local ham, livestock, silk, gemstones such as amber and jade , wooden sculptures, embroidery , hats, shoes, kitchenware, fishing and farming tools, and furniture. Animals sold at

1494-499: Is famous throughout the country and has become a tourist attraction, attracting sightseers from other parts of China and abroad. In modern times, government officials have lent support to the Third Month Fair, seeing it as a way to promote economic growth, especially for minority communities, and to show support for Bai culture. The festival was formally recognized by the government of Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture in 1991. In

1577-414: Is highly diverse with about 620 species, including more than 580 natives (the remaining are introduced ). This equals almost 40% of the freshwater fish species in China. Of the Yunnan natives, more than 250 are endemic to the province and many of these are threatened. Several species that are restricted to single lakes (notably Dian , Erhai , Fuxian and Yilong ) are likely already are extinct. By far,

1660-458: Is hot at the valley bottoms, but there are freezing winds at the mountaintops. The terrain is largely mountainous, especially in the north and west. A series of high mountain chains spreads across the province. There is a distinct canyon region to the west and a plateau region to the east. Yunnan's major rivers flow through the deep valleys between the mountains. The average elevation is 1,980 m (6,500 ft). The mountains are highest in

1743-424: Is obscured by over two millennia of influence from varieties of Chinese , leaving most of its lexicon related to Chinese etyma of various periods. To determine its origin, researchers must first identify and remove from consideration the various layers of loanwords and then examine the residue. In his survey of the field, Wang (2006) notes that early work was hampered by a lack of data on Bai and uncertainties in

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1826-453: Is observed by the Bai people and other ethnic groups of Yunnan. It begins on the 15th day of the third month of the Chinese calendar (in April or May of the Gregorian calendar ), and lasts several days. The Third Month Fair dates back to the Tang dynasty and began as a Buddhist temple gathering ( miaohui ). It is traditionally a time to pray for the harvest. It is also associated with love, and

1909-508: Is rich in natural resources and has the largest diversity of plant life in China. Of the approximately 30,000 species of higher plants in China, Yunnan has perhaps 17,000 or more. Yunnan's reserves of aluminium , lead , zinc and tin are the largest in China, and there are also major reserves of copper and nickel . Historically, the southwestern Silk Road to Bhitargarh in Bangladesh passed through modern Yunnan. Parts of Yunnan formed

1992-745: Is the source of two rivers, the Xi River (there known as the Nanpan and Hongshui ) and the Yuan River . The Hongshui is a principal source stream of the Xi River. Rising as the Nanpan in eastern Yunnan province, it flows south and east to form part of the boundary between Guizhou province and Guangxi autonomous region. Flowing for 345 km (214 mi), it unites with the Yu River at Guiping to form what eventually becomes

2075-613: The Bai -ruled Dali Kingdom (937–1253). After the Mongol conquest of the region in the 13th century, Yunnan was conquered and ruled by the Ming dynasty . From the Yuan dynasty onward, the area was part of a central-government sponsored population movement towards the southwestern frontier, with two major waves of migrants arriving from Han -majority areas in northern and southeast China. As with other parts of China's southwest, Japanese occupation in

2158-662: The Dian Kingdom during the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. The Han dynasty conquered the Dian Kingdom in the late 2nd century BC, establishing the Yizhou Commandery in its place. During the chaos of the Three Kingdoms period , imperial Chinese authority in Yunnan weakened, and much of the region came under the control of the Cuanman . The area was later ruled by the Sino-Tibetan -speaking kingdom of Nanzhao from (738–937), followed by

2241-630: The First Mongol invasion of Burma in the 1270s and 1280s. With the fall of the Yuan dynasty in 1368, the Ming dynasty destroyed the Yuan loyalists led by Basalawarmi and the remnants of the House of Duan in the Ming conquest of Yunnan by the early 1380s. The Ming installed Mu Ying and his family as hereditary aristocrats in Yunnan. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, large areas of Yunnan were administered under

2324-511: The Khmer peoples of Zhenla . Generally speaking, Nanzhao was then the most powerful kingdom in mainland Southeast Asia, and played an extremely active role in multistate interactions. In 859, Nanzhao captured Bozhou , and this event exacerbated the Nanzhao-Tang clashes. When the Tang governor of Annam took Bozhou back in the following year, Nanzhao, with the help of native peoples, occupied Hanoi as

2407-535: The Latin alphabet was designed in 1958, based on the speech of the urban centre of Xiaguan , even though it was not a typical Southern dialect. The idea of romanization was controversial among Bai elites and the system saw little use. In a renewed attempt in 1982, language planners used the Jianchuan dialect as a base, because it represented an area with a significant population, almost all of whom spoke Bai. The new script

2490-483: The Xi River . The province is drained by six major river systems: Yunnan is China's most diverse province, biologically as well as culturally. The province contains snow-capped mountains and true tropical environments, thus supporting an unusually full spectrum of species and vegetation types. The Yunnan camellia ( Camellia reticulata ) is the provincial emblem. During summer, the Great Plateau of Tibet acts as

2573-462: The native chieftain system . Under the Qing dynasty a war with Burma also occurred in the 1760s due to the attempted consolidation of borderlands under local chiefs by both China and Burma. Yunnan was a destination for Han Chinese during Yuan rule. Migrants moved into the area during Ming and Qing rule. During the Ming dynasty, 3 million Han Chinese mostly from Nanjing (the original Nanjing population

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2656-550: The "Five Foot Way" – was extended south to around present day Qujing , in eastern Yunnan. In 109 BC, the Han dynasty conquered Dian during its southern expeditions . Under orders from Emperor Wu , General Guo Chang  [ zh ] ( 郭昌 ) was sent south to Yunnan, eventually establishing the Yizhou commandery . By this time, agricultural technology in Yunnan had improved markedly. The local people used bronze tools, plows and kept

2739-620: The 1,000 mile journey to Kunming , capital of Yunnan in China's mountainous southwest. It was here that the National Southwest Associated University (commonly known as Lianda University) was established. For eight years, staff, professors and students had to survive and operate in makeshift quarters that were subject to sporadic bombing campaigns by the Japanese. There were dire shortages of food, equipment, books, clothing and other essential needs, but they managed to conduct

2822-408: The 1990s, the government invested in permanent structures for the market, including roads and hundreds of stalls. The project involved close to 4 million RMB from the local government and the Yunnan government and more than 13 million RMB from other investors. In 2008, the Third Month Fair was recognized at the national level as part of China's intangible cultural heritage . The Third Month Fair

2905-974: The 19th century by scientists of the French National Museum of Natural History , Paris, in connection with permanent settlements of missionaries of the Missions étrangères de Paris in north-west Yunnan, among them noticeably Jean-André Soulié and Felix Biet . 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. Other notable explorers include Heinrich Handel-Mazzetti ; George Forrest ; Joseph Francis Charles Rock , who from 1922 to 1949 spent most of his time studying

2988-675: The 2nd century BC, corresponding to the Western Han period. Wang argues that a few of the correspondences between his reconstructed Proto-Bai and Old Chinese cannot be explained by the Old Chinese forms, and that Chinese and Bai therefore form a Sino-Bai group. However, Gong suggests that at least some of these cases can be accounted for by refining the Proto-Bai reconstruction to take account of complementary distribution within Bai. Starostin and Zhengzhang Shangfang have separately argued that

3071-656: The 3rd century BC, the central area of Yunnan around present day Kunming was known as Dian . The Chu general Zhuang Qiao  [ zh ] ( 庄蹻 ) 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 extended his authority south. Commanderies and counties were established in Yunnan. An existing road in Sichuan  –

3154-675: The Bai vocabulary relating to pig rearing and rice agriculture. Lee and Sagart's analysis has been further discussed by List (2009). Gong (2015) suggests that the residual layer may be Qiangic , pointing out that the Bai, like the Qiang, call themselves "white", whereas the Lolo use "black". The Jianchuan dialect has the following consonants, all of which are restricted to syllable-initial position: The Gongxing and Tuolou dialects retain an older 3-way distinction for stop and affricate initials between voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated and voiced. In

3237-519: The Cuan clan ruled eastern Yunnan for over four hundred years. International trade flowed through Yunnan. An ancient overland pre- Tang trade route from Yunnan Province passed through Irrawaddy in Burma to reach Bengal . Yunnan was inhabited by so-called barbarians not fully under the control of the Tang government and the route, though ancient, was not used much in pre-Tang times, and Chinese attempts to control

3320-556: The Dali plain, resulting in only another slaughter. By the end of the eighth century, Tang was no longer a major threat to Nanzhao. Nanzhao's expansion lasted for several decades. In 829, Nanzhao suddenly plundered Sichuan and entered Chengdu . When it retreated, hundreds of Sichuan people, including skilled artisans, were taken to Yunnan. In 832, the Nanzhao army captured the capital of the Pyu kingdom in modern upper Burma . Nanzhao also attacked

3403-491: The Gongxing and Tuolou dialects have a contrast between -n and -ŋ . Jianchuan has eight tones, divided between those with modal and non-modal phonation . Some of the western varieties have fewer tones. Bai has a basic subject–verb–object ( SVO ) order. However, SOV can be found in interrogative and negative sentences. The old Bai script used modified Chinese characters , but was not widely used. A new script based on

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3486-537: The Lufeng Formation and the Lunan Group (Lumeiyi, Xiaotun, and Caijiacong formations). In this area is the noted Stone Forest or Shilin, eroded vertical pinnacles of limestone (Maokou Formation). In the eastern part the rivers generally run eastwards. The western half is characterized by mountain ranges and rivers running north and south. Yunnan has a generally mild climate with pleasant and fair weather because of

3569-542: The Nanzhao forces were driven away. But Tang China had lost its ability to attack Nanzhao. While Nanzhao was being defeated in Annam, it still occasionally attacked Sichuan. In 869, Shilong ( 世隆 ), the eighth king and the first empire of Nanzhao, invaded Sichuan. In 874, Nanzhao attacked Sichuan again. In 902, Zheng Maisi, the Qingpingguan ( 清平官 ,"Prime Minister") of Nanzhao, murdered the infant king of Nanzhao, and established

3652-486: The Tang army moved to Bozhou. When the Tang forces returned, Nanzhao troops retreated from Hanoi but attacked and plundered Yongzhou . In the winter of 862, Nanzhao, allying with local groups, led an army of over 50,000 men to invade Annam again. It is reported that the Tang forces lost over 150,000 soldiers (either killed or captured by Nanzhao) in the two Annam battles. The autumn of 866 saw Tang victory in Hanoi and soon all of

3735-582: The common name of this area. Therefore, the Yuan dynasty created the Yunnan Province after it occupied the Dali Kingdom . Han dynasty literature did not record the etymology of "Yunnan", and there are many theories about its origin. One common theory states that the name means "south of colorful clouds" ( 彩云之南 ; cǎiyún zhī nán ). Some annals in the Ming dynasty , for example Dian Lüe ( 滇略 ) and Yunnan General Annals ( 云南通志 ), support this. However, modern historian Tan Qixiang states that this theory

3818-446: The comparison with Loloish is less persuasive when considering other Bai varieties than the Jianchuan dialect used by Lee and Sagart, and that it is safer to consider Bai as an independent branch of Sino-Tibetan, though perhaps close to the neighbouring Loloish. Lee and Sagart (2008) refined their analysis, presenting the residue as a non-Chinese form of Sino-Tibetan, though not necessarily Loloish. They also note that this residue includes

3901-515: The core eastern group, including the standard form of Dali, the voiced initials have become voiceless unaspirated, while other dialects show partial loss of voicing, conditioned by tone in different ways. Some varieties also have an additional uvular nasal [ɴ] that contrasts phonemically with [ŋ] . Jianchuan finals comprise: All but u , ɑo and iɑo have contrasting nasalized variants. Dali Bai lacks nasal vowels. Some other varieties retain nasal codas instead of nasalization, though only

3984-478: The first centuries AD. The oldest layer of Bai vocabulary with Chinese cognates, of which Wang lists some 250 words, includes common Bai words that were also common in Classical Chinese , but are not used in modern varieties of Chinese . Its features have been compared with current ideas on Old Chinese phonology : Sergei Starostin suggests that these facts indicate a split from mainstream Chinese around

4067-513: The flora, peoples and languages of southwest China, mainly in Yunnan; and Peter Goullart , a White Russian who studied Naxi culture and lived in Lijiang from 1940 to 1949. Yunnan is the most southwestern province in China, with the Tropic of Cancer running through its southern part. The province has an area of 394,100 km (152,200 sq mi), 4.1% of the nation's total. The northern part of

4150-710: The former to be used for Jianchuan Bai and the latter for Dali Bai. In Jianchuan, all vowels but ao , iao , uo , ou and iou have nasalized counterparts, denoted by a suffixed n . Dali Bai lacks nasalized vowels. Suffixed letters indicate tone contours and modal or non-modal phonation. This was the most radical aspect of the 1993 revision: Bowen script ( Chinese : 僰文 ; pinyin : bówén ), also known as Square Bai Script ( Chinese : 方块白文 ), Hanzi Bai Script ( simplified Chinese : 汉字白文 ; traditional Chinese : 漢字白文 ), Hanzi-style Bai Script ( simplified Chinese : 汉字型白文 ; traditional Chinese : 漢字型白文 ), or Ancient Bai Script ( Chinese : 古白文 ),

4233-427: The incident. A British officer testified that the Muslims did not rebel for religious reasons and that the Chinese were tolerant of different religions and were unlikely to have caused the revolt by interfering with the practice of Islam. Loyalist Muslim forces helped Qing forces crush the rebel Muslims. The Qing armies massacred only Muslims who had rebelled or supported the rebels and spared Muslims who took no part in

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4316-604: The local tribal structures. In AD 225, the famed statesman Zhuge Liang led three columns into Yunnan to pacify the tribes. His seven captures of Meng Huo , a local magnate, is mythologized in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms . In the 4th century, northern China was largely overrun by nomadic tribes from the north. In the 320s, the Cuan ( 爨 ) clan migrated into Yunnan. Cuan Chen ( 爨琛 ) named himself king and held authority from Lake Dian , then known as Kunchuan . Henceforth

4399-432: The market include Magnolia biondii , Crataegus pinnatifida , and Glycyrrhiza uralensis . The festival involves singing and dancing performances as well as competitions, including horse racing , dragon boat races , ball games, board games, archery , wrestling, and martial arts . People dress up in traditional festive attire, and the old town is extensively decorated, including with lanterns and flowers. The fair

4482-479: The market include cattle, horses, mules, and Inner Mongolian camels. One of the fair's most well-known products is traditional medicine , and the Third Month Fair is said to have the most extensive array of medicinal products for sale anywhere in western Yunnan. A survey of the 2012 fair found hundreds of types of traditional medicine for sale, including some from other parts of China and from India, Myanmar, and Thailand. The most popular traditional medicines sold at

4565-423: The most diverse order in Yunnan are Cypriniformes , both in total species number and number of endemics. The unique Sinopyrophorus bioluminescent beetles were described from Yunnan in 2019. Yunnan has been designated: A main source of wealth lies in its vast mineral resources ; indeed, mining is the leading industry in Yunnan. Yunnan has proven deposits of 86 kinds of minerals in 2,700 places. Some 13% of

4648-556: The mountain (referring to the Cang Mountain ) with clouds". Wu Guangfan said "Yunnan" might be a Loloish or Bai name. The Yuanmou Man , a Homo erectus fossil unearthed by railway engineers in the 1960s, has been determined to be the oldest-known hominid fossil in China. By the Neolithic period, there were human settlements in the area of Lake Dian . These people used stone tools and constructed simple wooden structures. Around

4731-429: The north during World War II forced another migration of Han people into the region. These two waves of migration contributed to Yunnan being one of the most ethnically diverse provinces of China, with ethnic minorities accounting for about 34 percent of its total population. Major ethnic groups include Yi , Bai , Hani , Zhuang , Dai , and Miao . Yunnan has also been identified as the birthplace of tea , and as

4814-769: The north where they reach more than 5,000 m (16,000 ft); in the south they rise no higher than 3,000 m (9,800 ft). The highest point in the north is the Kawagebo Peak in Deqin County on the Diqing Plateau , which is about 6,740 m (22,110 ft); and the lowest is in the Red River Valley in Hekou County , near the Vietnamese border, with an elevation of 76.4 m (251 ft). The eastern half of

4897-515: The oldest Chinese layer accounts for all but an insignificant residue of Bai vocabulary, and that Bai is therefore an early branching from Chinese. On the other hand, Lee and Sagart (1998) argued that the various layers of Chinese vocabulary are loans, and that when they are removed, a significant non-Chinese residue remains, including 15 entries from the 100-word Swadesh list of basic vocabulary. They suggest that this residue shows similarities with Proto-Loloish . James Matisoff (2001) argued that

4980-711: The plateau are the Lower Permian Maokou Formation, characterized by thick limestone deposits, the Lower Permian Qixia Formation, characterised by dolomitic limestones and dolomites , the Upper Permian basalts of the Ermeishan Formation (formerly Omeishan plateau basalts), and the red sandstones , mudstones , siltstones , and conglomerates of the Mesozoic – Paleogene , including

5063-468: 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 . Other deposits include iron , coal , copper , gold , mercury , silver , antimony and sulfur . More than 150 kinds of minerals have been discovered in

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5146-455: The province forms part of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau . The province borders Guangxi and Guizhou in the east, Sichuan in the north, and the Tibet Autonomous Region in the northwest. It shares a border of 4,060 km (2,520 mi) with Myanmar ( Kachin and Shan States ) in the west, Laos ( Luang Namtha , Oudomxay , and Phongsaly Provinces ) in the south and Vietnam ( Hà Giang , Lào Cai , Lai Châu , and Điện Biên Provinces ) in

5229-411: The province is a limestone plateau with karst scenery and unnavigable rivers flowing through deep mountain gorges; the western half is characterised by mountain ranges and rivers running north and south. These include the Nu Jiang ( Salween ), the Lancang ( Mekong ), and the Jinsha ( Yangtze ), which flow in close proximity in the Three Parallel Rivers protected area. The rugged, vertical terrain produces

5312-456: The province's location on south-facing mountain slopes, receiving the influence of both the Pacific and Indian oceans, and although the growing period is long, the rugged terrain provides little arable land . See Agriculture in Yunnan . Under the Köppen climate classification , much of the province lies within the subtropical highland (Köppen Cwb ) or humid subtropical zone ( Cwa ), with cool to warm winters, and temperate summers, except in

5395-464: The province. It assumed strategic significance, particularly as the Burma Road from Lashio , in Burma to Kunming was a fought over supply line of vital importance to China's war effort. University faculty and students in the east had originally decamped to Changsha , capital of Hunan . But as Japanese forces were gaining more territory they eventually bombed Changsha in February 1938. The 800 faculty and students who were left had to flee and made

5478-528: 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 sufficient rainfall and many rivers and lakes. The annual water flow originating in the province is 200 cubic kilometres, three times that of the Yellow River . The rivers flowing into the province from outside add 160 cubic kilometres, which means there are more than ten thousand cubic metres of water for each person in

5561-413: The province. The province is said to have "as much flowering plant diversity as the rest of the Northern Hemisphere put together". Yunnan has less than 4% of the land of China, yet the province harbors around 42.6% of all protected plant species and 72.5% of all protected wild animals in the country, of which 15% are strictly endemic to Yunnan. Yunnan is home to, most notably, the southeast Asian gaur ,

5644-575: The province. This is four times the average in the country. The rich water resources offer abundant hydro-energy. China is constructing a series of dams on the Mekong to develop it as a waterway and source of power; the first was completed at Manwan in 1993. Yunnan consists of sixteen prefecture-level divisions : eight prefecture-level cities and eight autonomous prefectures : These 16 prefecture-level divisions are in turn subdivided into 129 county-level divisions (17 districts , 18 county-level cities , 65 counties , and 29 autonomous counties ). At

5727-450: The reconstruction of early forms of Chinese. Recent authors have suggested that Bai is an early offshoot from Chinese, a sister language to Chinese, or more distantly related (though usually still Sino-Tibetan ). There are different tonal correspondences in the various layers. Many words can be identified as later Chinese loans because they display Chinese sound changes from the last two millennia: Some of these changes date back to

5810-421: The region of origin of the plant genus Cannabis . The name "Yunnan" first referred to a place when the Han dynasty created Yunnan County near modern Xiangyun . During the Tang dynasty , Emperor Xuanzong gave Piluoge , the chief of Nanzhao , the title of "King of Yunnan", because Nanzhao originated from Yunnan county. Gradually the king of Yunnan controlled more and more territory, and "Yunnan" became

5893-457: The regional commander of Jiannan (present-day Sichuan ), led a Tang campaign against Nanzhao. The king of Nanzhao, Geluofeng, regarded the previous incident as a personal affair and wrote to Xianyu to seek peace. However, Xianyu Zhongtong detained the Nanzhao envoys and turned down the appeal. Confronted with Tang armies, Nanzhao immediately turned its allegiance to the Tibetan Empire . The Tubo and Nanzhao agreed to be "fraternal states"; Geluofeng

5976-458: The route were disrupted by the rise of Nanzhao . Yunnan was settled by several local tribes, clans, and cultures before the 8th century. Around Lake Erhai , namely, the Dali area, there emerged six zhao : Mengzi ( 蒙巂 ), Yuexi ( 越析 ), Langqiong ( 浪穹 ), Dengdan ( 邆赕 ), Shilling ( 施浪 ), and Mengshe ( 蒙舍 ). Zhao ( 诏 ) was an indigenous non-Chinese language term meaning "king" or "kingdom." Among

6059-468: The running of a modern university . Over those eight years of war (1937–1945), Lianda became famous nationwide for having and producing many, if not most, of China's most prominent academics, scholars, scientists and intellectuals. Both of China's only Nobel laureates in physics Yang Chen-Ning & Tsung-Dao Lee studied at Lianda in Kunming. Thousands of plant, insect and mammal species were described in

6142-475: The six regimes Mengshe was located south of the other five; therefore given the new, larger context, it was called Nanzhao (Southern Kingdom). By the 730s Nanzhao had succeeded in bringing the Erhai Lake–area under its authority. In 738, the western Yunnan was united by Piluoge , the fourth king of Nanzhao, who was confirmed by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty as king of Yunnan. Ruling from Dali ,

6225-679: The southeast. For practical purposes, all of Yunnan province falls within the Zomia region of Asia. Yunnan is at the far eastern edge of the Himalayan uplift , and was pushed up in the Pleistocene , primarily in the Middle Pleistocene , although the uplift continues into the present. The eastern part of the province is a limestone plateau with karst topography and unnavigable rivers flowing through deep mountain gorges. The main surface formations of

6308-529: The thirteen kings of Nanzhao ruled over more than two centuries and played a vital role in the dynamic relationship between the Tang dynasty and the Tibetan Empire as a buffer state . By the 750s, Nanzhao had conquered Yunnan and became a potential rival to Tang China. The following period saw several conflicts between Tang China and Nanzhao. In 750, Nanzhao attacked and captured Yaozhou, the largest Tang settlement in Yunnan. In 751, Xianyu Zhongtong ( 鮮于仲通 ),

6391-479: The truly tropical south, where temperatures regularly exceed 30 °C (86 °F) in the warmer half of the year. In general , January average temperatures range from 8 to 17 °C (46 to 63 °F); July averages vary from 21 to 27 °C (70 to 81 °F). Average annual rainfall ranges from 600 to 2,300 mm (24 to 91 in), with over half the rain occurring between June and August. The plateau region has moderate temperatures. The western canyon region

6474-579: The uprising. In 1894, George Ernest Morrison , an Australian correspondent for The Times , traveled from Beijing to British-occupied Burma via Yunnan. His book, An Australian in China , details his experiences. The 1905 Tibetan Rebellion in which Tibetan Buddhist Lamas attacked and killed French Catholic missionaries spread to Yunnan. Yunnan was transformed by the events of the Second Sino-Japanese War , which caused many east coast refugees and industrial establishments to relocate to

6557-505: Was a logographic script formerly used by the Bai people , adapted from Hanzi to fit the Bai language. The script was used from the Nanzhao period to the beginning of the Ming dynasty . The Shanhua tablet ( 山花碑 ), from Dali Town in Yunnan , contains a poem written using Bowen text from the Ming dynasty by the Bai poet Yang Fu ( 杨黼 ), 《詞記山花·詠蒼洱境》. Nge, no – I Ne, no – you Cai ho – red flower Gei bo – rooster A de gei bo –

6640-669: Was conquered by the Mongol Empire in 1253 after Dali King Duan Xingzhi defected to the Mongols. The Duans incorporated into the Mongol dominion as Maharajas of the new province. The Mongolian prince sent to administer the region with them was killed. In 1273, Kublai Khan reformed the province and appointed the semu Ajall Shams al-Din Omar as its governor. The Yunnan Province during the Yuan dynasty included significant portions of Upper Burma after

6723-432: Was given the titles zanpuzhong ("younger brother"). The Nanzhao-Tubo alliance ensured a disastrous defeat for Xianyu's expedition, with the Tang general's army of 80,000 men being reduced to a quarter of its original size. Tang China did not give up after one failure. In 753, another expedition was prepared, but this was also defeated by Nanzhao. In 754, the Tang organized an army of more than 100,000 troops that advanced to

6806-574: Was later largely replaced by Wu-speakers), and some from Shanxi and Hebei, settled in Yunnan. Although largely forgotten, the bloody Panthay Rebellion of the Muslim Hui people and other local minorities against the Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty caused the deaths of up to a million people in Yunnan. The Manchu official Shuxing'a started an anti-Muslim massacre, which led to the rebellion. Shuxing'a developed

6889-560: Was popular in the Jianchuan area, but was rejected in the more economically advanced area of Dali, which also had the largest number of speakers, albeit living alongside a large number of speakers of Chinese. The script was revised extensively in 1993 to define two variants, representing Jianchuan and Dali respectively and has since been more widely used. The retroflex initials zh , ch , sh and r are used only in recent loanwords from Standard Chinese or for other Bai varieties. The 1993 revision introduced variants ai / er etc, with

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