Yunnan

Yunnan, province in southern China, bordering the countries of Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. Most of the inhabitants of Yunnan live on a relatively low plateau in the east, which includes Kunming the capital, largest city, and principal industrial centre of Yunnan. An inaccessible high plateau, dissected by deep gorges, dominates the western areas. Ethnic minorities, including Yi, Miao, Dai, and Tibetans, constitute about a quarter of the total population. The chief crops, restricted to small areas suitable for farming, are rice and corn. Resources include tin (at Gejiu), copper (at Dongchuan), iron ore (at Wuding), and coal (underlying much of the province). The ancient city of Lijiang, encompassing a blend of architectural styles and cultural traditions, was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. In 2003 a second site in Yunnan was inscribed on the World Heritage List—seven protected areas located within the Three Parallel Rivers National Park in the north-west of the province collectively received the designation in recognition of the region’s rich biodiversity.

After a brief period of tenuous Chinese control in Han dynasty times (206 bc-ad 220), Yunnan became the centre of the powerful Tai kingdom of Nanzhao in the 8th century. Nanzhao was conquered and incorporated into China as a province by the Mongols in the 13th century, but Chinese control remained in the hands of local officials and warlords until as late as the 1930s. The modern economic development of Yunnan began from 1937 during the war between China and Japan, when government agencies and important industrial establishments were relocated here, away from the Japanese-occupied eastern coast. Area, about 394,000 sq km (152,124 sq mi); population 43,756,000 (2003 estimate).