Shangri La, China: Old West in the Far East

CC Liu, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly; Syyhedaas (highflyer261/flickr.com); Wikipedia edit

Colorful wooden temple interior depicting Vajrayana scenes (Syydehaas/flickr.com)

YUNNAN (雲南) is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately 152,000 sq. mi (394,000 sq. km) with a population of 45.7 million (2009). 

 

The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Buddhist countries of Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.

 

It 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.

 

Tibetan devotees on pilgrimage, prostrating along the way (Syydehaas/flickr.com)

Golden angelic avian (garuda) uses dragon (naga) as a mount (Syydehass)

In the west, the relative height from mountain peaks to river valleys can be as much as 9,800 ft. (3,000 m). It 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. Its reserves of aluminum, lead, zinc, and tin are the largest in China, and there are also major reserves of copper and nickel.

 

Yunnan became part of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) during 2nd century BCE. It became the seat of a Tibeto-Burman speaking kingdom known as the Kingdom of Nanzhao in the 8th century AD. 

 

Nanzhao was multi-ethnic, but the elite most likely spoke a northern dialect of Yi, which became established as the prestige dialect of the Nuosu language. The Mongols conquered the region in the 13th century, with local control exercised by warlords until the 1930s.

 

As with other parts of China's southwest, Japanese occupation in the north during World War II forced a migration of majority Han [just as Tibet] into the region. Ethnic minorities in Yunnan account for about 34 percent of its total population. Major ethnic groups include Yi, Bai, Hani, Zhuang, Dai, and Miao.

 

Ancient cowboys, Dian bronze, 3rd cent. BCE

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 the 3rd century BC, the central area of Yunnan around present day Kunming was known as Dian. The Chu general Zhuang Qiao (庄跤) 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. More (More photos)

Animal Realm Grows: Thousand Species

Naga: handout released 12/15/08 by the World Wildlife Fund Greater Mekong Programme shows a Gumprechts green pitviper found in Thailand (AFP/WWF).

More than 1,000 species discovered in Mekong: WWF

BANGKOK (AFP) – The Animal Realm continues to grow in number due to karma and rebirth and in diversity. Scientists have discovered more than 1,000 species in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong region in the past decade, including a spider as big as a dinner plate, the World Wildlife Fund said Monday.

A rat thought to have become extinct 11 million years ago and a cyanide-laced, shocking pink millipede were among creatures found in what the group called a "biological treasure trove."

The species were all found in the rainforests and wetlands along the Mekong River, which flows through Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan.

"It doesn't get any better than this," Stuart Chapman, director of WWF's Greater Mekong Programme, was quoted as saying in a statement by the group.

"We thought discoveries of this scale were confined to the history books."

The WWF report, "First Contact in the Greater Mekong," said that "between 1997 and 2007, at least 1,068 have been officially described by science as being newly discovered species."

These included the world's largest huntsman spider, with a leg span of 30 centimetres (11.8 inches), and the "startlingly" coloured "dragon millipede," which produces the deadly compound cyanide.

Not all species were found hiding in remote jungles -- the Laotian rock rat, which the study said was thought to be extinct about 11 million years ago, was first encountered by scientists in a local food market in 2005, it said.

One species of pitviper was first noted by scientists after it was found in the rafters of a restaurant at the headquarters of Thailand's Khao Yai national park in 2001.

"This region is like what I read about as a child in the stories of Charles Darwin," said Dr Thomas Ziegler, curator at the Cologne Zoo, who was involved in the research.

"It is a great feeling being in an unexplored area and to document its biodiversity for the first time both enigmatic and beautiful," he said.

The new species highlighted in the report include 519 plants, 279 fish, 88 frogs, 88 spiders, 46 lizards, 22 snakes, 15 mammals, four birds, four turtles, two salamanders, and a toad -- an average of two previously undiscovered species a week for the past 10 years.

The report warned, however, that many of the species could be at risk from development and called for a cross-border agreement between the countries in the Greater Mekong area to protect it.

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