Yunnan

Dali

Lying at the foot of Cangshan Mountains, Dali is the capital of the Bai Autonomous Prefecture. Dali is a pivot of the south Yunna Province with the Yunnan-Burma Highway and the Yunnan-Tibet Highway crossing it. Dali was proclaimed as one of the first batch of 24 cultural and historical cities by the State Council. Dali is one of the 44 places of interest at the national level, the national open city and the excellent tourist city of China.

Dali is an ancient city with a history of more than a thousand years. Both the Kingdom of Nanshao in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and the Kingdom of Dali in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) designated Dali as their capital. The long history and splendid culture endowed Dali a rich reserve of relics. Facing the Erhai Lake and backing against on to Cangshan Mountains, Dali maintains its traditional crisscross network of thoroughfares and the two gate towers in both north and south of the city. The four Chinese characters that mean "the City of Documents" on the top of the tower are the most noticeable. Long time ago, there were gate towers in north, south, east and west. Two of them were destroyed later. Houses in the city are covered with black tiles and surrounded by stonewalls. All the doors and windows are carved with dragons and phoenixes, plain but elegant. Each household has a small garden. Flowers can be seen all the time throughout the year. Streams from Cangshan Mountains flow in front of the residential houses. That explains why some people say Dali is a city with streams and flowers in every household. Relics in this city add wonder to the city. The most famous ones are the Chongsheng Three Pagodas in the northwest of the city, the Hongsheng Pagoda in the northwest of the city, the stone steles at the foot of Xiangshan Hill recording how Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) claimed Yunnan.

As a famous place inhabited by the Bai people, Dali takes on traditional characteristics. The March Street Festival and the Shibao Mountain Singing Gatherings are celebrated here. People enjoy the unique "three-course tea" etiquette. There are no other places in the entire Yunnan Province as Dali that has such strong and unique Bai flavors.

Kunming

Covering an area of 15,561square kilometers, Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province, is the center of politics, economy, culture, transportation and communication in the province. Endowed with the many historical relics, Kunming is an international tourist city in the Southeast Asia as well as the South Asia.

Lying in the central part of Yannan Province, Kunming administrates 4 districts, namely Panlong, Wuhua, Guandu and Xishan; one city, namely Anning City; 7 counties, namely Chenggong, Jinning, Fumin, Yiliang, Songming, Lunan, and Luquan. Situated in the north of the Dianchi Basin, Kunming stands at an altitude of 1,891 meters with an annual average temperature of 15.1℃. The northern part of Kunming is higher than the southern part. It has 2,400 hours of sunshine and 950mm of precipitation yearly on the average. Renowned for its perennially pleasant weather, intriguing highland scenes and sights, and venerated history, Kunming got the sobriquet of the "Spring City".

Kunming abounds in natural resources. Major mineral products are phosphorus, salt, iron, titanium, bauxite, silica, among which, phosphorus, salt and titanium have the largest production. The storage of phosphorus in Kunming ranks the first of the country. The total reserve of salt here is more than 10 billion tons. What's more, titanium and bauxite are both have high reserves here.

Kunming is one of the ten key tourist cities of China. The most famous scenic spots are the Stone Forest, and the Dianchi Pool. As one of the birthplaces of the southwest civilization, Kunming has a lot of historical relics, such as the Grand View Mansion and the Temple of the Buddha's Warrior Attendants.

In recent years, the rapid growth of the tourist industry in Kunming made great contribution to the all-round development of Yunnan Province. The success of the 1999 International Horticultural Exposition gained Kunming an international fame and made itself a hot spot of Kunming's tourist industry.

Special industries with Kunming characteristics have further developed. For example, Kunming has such manufacturing industries as precision numerical controlled machine tools, jig boring machines, wires and cables, optical instruments, Yunnan White-Drug-Powder, Yunnan chess, rice-flour noodles, rose cabbage, and various cakes and candies. Some of them have exported to Europe, the USA, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan and other countries and regions.

Lijiang

Located in the northwest of Yunnan Province and the middle reaches of the Jinsha River, Lijiang got its name because of the beautiful Jinsha River. On the junction of the Tibetan Plateau and the Yungui Plateau, Lijiang has under its jurisdiction the Naxi Autonomous Prefecture, Yongsheng County, Huaping County and the Ninglang Yi Autonomous Prefecture.

Endowed with plenty of hills, basins and valleys, Lijiang has a rich reserve of land, forest, minerals and tourist resources. The scenery in Lijiang is a wonder of the world. The Yulong Snow Mountain is the glacial of modern times in the southernmost of the Northern Hemisphere, enjoying the fame of the Glacial Museum and the Kingdom of Flora. Laojun Mountain, also called the Kingdom of Azalea, is the treasury of the botany genes of the mountain cross-section. There is also the Chibi Scenery, where one can see the sunrises and sunsets three times one day, and the camellia tree with ten thousand camellia flowers.

Lijiang has a unique culture and a long history of over 800 years. It is called the Oriental Venice and Gusu of the Plateau. Lijiang has the only pictographic writing still in use -- the Dongba characters; the relics of the stone city, where people lived in stone caves; the Baisha Mural under the national protection and the Naxi Music which is called the living fossil with the flavor of the poems of the Tang and Song dynasties.

Lijiang is a complex community with several ethic groups. The hospitable people of Lijiang are ready to welcome guests from all over the world. Lijiang is also among the few cities listed as a cultural heritage of the world.

Jianshui

Jianshui, located in the northwest of the Red River Hani Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, was the center of culture, religion, politics, economy, military and education in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. It was approved as a national level historical and cultural city in 1994. The construction of the city moat started in the 15th year of the Hongwu reign in the Ming Dynasty, and the moat was 2.3 zhang (1 zhang = 3.3 m) high and 2 zhang wide, and took 60 years to complete. Dozens of buildings built in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China are well preserved at the Jianxin Street. Tourists from home and abroad can visit residential houses to have a nice chat and appreciate the residential architectural art of southern Yunnan Province.

The Jianshui City was originally an earthen city constructed in the Nanzhao reign, and expanded to a brick city in the 20th year (1387) of the Hongwu reign in the Ming Dynasty. When Li Dingguo took Lin'an City by storm, the south, north and west city gate towers were destructed in wars. They were restored in the fourth year of the Kangxi reign, but were damaged again later. Only the Chaoyang Gate Town at the east gate still stands there intact after several wars and earthquakes, and has a history of 600 years.

In the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), Jianshui Prefecture was established, and the Ming Dynasty kept the institution without any change. In the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty Jianshui Prefecture was renamed Jianshui County. In the first year of the Republic of China (1911) it was given the name Lin'an County, and was changed back to Jianshui County again the next year. The Qing court set up four academies, namely Chongzheng, Huanwen, Chongwen and Qujiang, in succession in Jianshui.

In 1994, Jianshui was proclaimed by the State Council as one of the third-grade historical and cultural cities in China.

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