了解云南

Into Yunnan

Yunnan is situated on a plateau in southwest China formed with the rising of the Himalayas from the ancient sea. In the northwest it borders on the eastern section of the Himalayas,thus it seems to be the last step to Tibet,the "roof of the world"."Yunnan"in Chinese means "south of the clouds". Various colors and shapes of the clouds over this plateau give yunnan its full name "South of the Colorful Clouds".These beautiful rosy clouds always appear in the south, which is thought to be an auspicious sign. Yunnan people, therefore, are proud of living on this blessed land.
Yunnan is called "Yun" or "Dian" for short.It is a vast land with towering mountains and plentiful rivers as well as abundant natural resources. The land area is 394,000 square km, the eighth largest province in China. By comparison with other countries, it is slightly larger than Japan and Italy and about the same size as Zimbabwe. The province has a total population of 41 million people, with 16 prefectures, autonomous prefectures and cities within its jurisdiction. Yunnan borders on Guizhou Province and Guangxi Zhuang Ethnic Minority Autonomous Region to the east, Chongqing and Sichuan to the north and Tibet Autonomous Region to the northwest. To its west is Myanmar and to its south are Laos and Vietnam. The boundary line of China stretches 4,060 kms in Yunnan. About 94 per cent of the province is mountainous area. In short, Yunnan is a mountainous frontier province with many ethnic groups.
	The special topographical feature and climate of Yunnan 　　　 At the same latitude on the earth, there are the vast expanse of the scorching Sahara Desert, the tropical Hawaiian Islands and the Indian Plain. The complex geographical conditions give Yunnan a very varied climate. The province descends like a ladder from north to south,a distance of about 900 km as the
crow flies. The highest point in the north is the Kagebo Peak in Deqin County on the Deqin Plateau, which is about 6,740 meters high; and the lowest is in the Honghe River Valley in Hekou County, with an elevation of 76.4 meters. The terrain descends six meters every kilometer towards the south. The temperature difference between eight latitude degrees is the same as that from southern Hainan Island to northeastern Changchun in China. Therefore, we find not only glaciers and snow-capped mountains with alpine vegetation at the lowest latitude, but also sub-tropical basins, blazing hot valleys and lush tropical vegetation at the highest. It is hard to believe that ascending one kilometer vertically means a climatic change by travelling 1,400 to 2,500 kilometers from the south to the north of China. While the mountain peaks are always covered with ice and snow, half way up you will enjoy pleasant weather, and at the bottom of the valley the weather is very hot. On one mountain, you can enjoy natural scenery and colorful folk customs from alpine to tropical zones. People like to call Yunnan the province of "perpetual spring". 　　　If you do not come to Yunnan yourself, however, you will never know what we mean by "four seasons on one mountain and a changing climate within a small area". Because of its abundant natural resources, Yunnan enjoys the reputation of the "kingdom of flora and fauna", "Kingdom of nonferrous metals", "kingdom of medicinal herbs", "natural garden", "hometown of perfumes" and it is a popular area for tourism.
Yunnan is one of the birth places of mankind. 　　　 Between 10 and 15 million years ago, a kind of ape man came down from the trees to the ground, leaving traces from Yuanmou in central Yunnan to Kaiyuan in southern Yunnan. Between 1956 to 1957, fossils of "Lama Ape Man" were discovered in the coal layers at Xiaolongtan,Kaiyuan. They are the earliest example of man in the Chinese geologic age. Later, scientists found a fossil of "Yuanmou Xiaohe Ancient Ape", which has more characteristics of

modern man. In May 1965, paleoanthropologists discovered the fossil of "Yuanmou Ape Man",the ancestor of the Chinese people, who lived more than 1.7 million years ago.