| Located
in the southwest part of China, covering an area of 394,00 square
km, Yunnan Province is averagely 2000 meters above sea level and
has a population of 40million. Three countries are its close
neighbors: Burma to its west, Laos and Vietnam to its southwest.
There are 17 prefectures and cities. Kunming is its capital city.
The southern Silk Road linked China with her Southeast and South
Asian neighbours.
For
Westerners, Yunnan and Kunming are possibly better associated with
the Flying Tigers daring pilots who flew "over the hump"
from Bengal to help China during the Second World War. Yunnan
actually has plenty of other claims to fame. Known as the kindom
of flora and fauna, Yunnan province shows not only picturesque
landscape, but also a rich and intense ethic folk customs.
Travelling
in Yunnan province you'll get a chance to find the colorful
plateau culture and the rich ancient human civilization. Yunnan is
a cradle of mankind. The Yuanmou Ape Man lived and multiplied in
Yunnan as early as 1.7 million years ago. Dinosaur fossils and 200
dinosaurs footprints left in the Jurassic
Period were found in Lufeng County in central Yunnan.
In ancient
time, caravans ran through Yunnan along the Southern Silk Road
into Burman and India. Today Yunnan boasts the country's most
diverse population of cllorful minority peoples and such natural
wonders as the Stone Forest, Xishuangbanna, Dali, etc.
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