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The Glossary

menlou - "gateways, pathways, or narrow streets that may serve as footpaths or traveling routes for people and small vehicles."

From China Glossary

Photograph by:
Robin - Yunnan Province, China

In China, one of the best provinces to deliver "diversity" is Yunnan. From erratic terrains and elevations to varying cultures and wildlife, Yunnan seems to never fall short in giving travelers something to look forward to. Bordering this region's curving mountains and mirror-like lakes are Taiwan, Laos and Burma, as well as some of China's best regions (Guizhou, Guangxi, Tibet and Sichuan), which make the province a one-stop-hub for some of the best artworks, cuisines, and festivals these bordering places have to offer.

China's oldest hominid fossils are discovered in Yunnan, which is today a dwelling for more than half of the country's ethnic groups. Among these tribes are the elephant-riding Bulan and Dai people of Xishuangbanna on the border with Laos; the rice terraces builders of Xinjie; the sleep-loving Dai inhabitants of Menghan; and Lugu Hu's Mosu natives, the planet's last practicing matriarchal society.

Shopping and border-crossing can also be bundled together in the towns of Ruili, Shilin, and Tengchong. Shilin's Night Market is one of Taipei's biggest marketplaces offering local Taiwanese fare like oyster omelet, bubble tea, and aiyu (lemon jelly). Ruili and Tengchong are on the fringes of Myanmar (Burma), so apart from showcasing Chinese bamboo hats, tea leaves, tea oil, xuanzhi paper, rattan handicrafts, and traditional medicines, these communes also embrace Burmese silk and jade as products.

Apart from market towns, Yunnan's ethnic culture can be grasped from the festivities of ancient towns like the World Heritage-listed Lijiang, which depicts the traditions and lifestyles of the town's ethnic groups in a 500-man cultural presentation called Impression Lijiang. There is also Kunming, whose karst caves and waterfalls are natural backdrops for Worship the White Dragon Festival, which includes bullfighting, wrestling, Sanxian dancing, and rattle stick dancing.

Staggering rock art are the highlight in Mati Si, former Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist grottoes mysteriously built on the cliff face of the alpine Mount Qilian. More trekking are in store at Xi Shan, Shangri-la's World Heritage-listed Tiger Leaping Gorge and Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan, and Deqin's Meili Snow Mountain, Yunnan's highest point.

Aside from its flower-covered Cangshan Mountains, Dali is also famous among China's vacationing teachers, workers, and students for its Erhai Lake, one of Yunnan's most beautiful water wonders along with Dian Chi, Asia's biggest freshwater lake regarded as the "pearl on the Yangui Plateau."

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