Nestled deep in the southwestern corner of China atop the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau with Tibet and the Himalayas to the northwest, Burma (Myanmar), Laos and Vietnam to the south and the mountain provinces of Sichuan and Guizhou to the east, Yunnan is unrivaled in its ecological and ethnic diversity. In a single province you'll find some of China's most impressive natural scenery: snow-capped peaks, tropical jungles, clear icy lakes, highland meadows and the headwaters of some of Asia's biggest rivers: the Mekong, Yangzi, and Salween.
Roughly the size of California, Yunnan has the greatest number of minorities in any Chinese province, with 28 recognized ethnic groups making up over a third of the population, each with its own cuisine, spoken language, festivals, belief systems and mode of dress. With all this diversity, there's plenty to do. Cycle the winding lanes of cities like Kunming, Lijiang, and Ruili, then head into the countryside to visit temples and villages. The ancient town of Dali is a laid-back place to dip into backpacker café culture while taking in lake and mountain views. And avid hikers can spend several days picking their way along on the ridge of the world's deepest canyon, Tiger Leaping Gorge, trekking through lush Xishuangbanna jungles, exploring the jagged scenery of the remote Meili Xue Shan; and rambling through in quaint Yuanyang where Hani villages rise from a layer cake of rice terraces.
The province's popularity has caused a tourism boom, resulting in a slew of new luxury hotels and resorts, so if you don't want to rough it you've got options. And if you're in the mood to take it a bit easier, you can also book tours and guides to these and other remote sights and attractions.
Yunnan's history is as wild as its landscape. Over the years, its isolation, rugged terrain and strategic location have made it difficult to govern—and an ideal place for those wishing to plot power grabs or lay low, making the province's story a scandalous one of renegades, marauding Mongols, rebellion, heroic stands and treachery. In more recent years, enterprising Yunnan residents have set up some nice coffee shops to encourage visitors to simply strike a low profile and relax rather than scheme to seize power—a move that's proving a success, as tourism in the region continues to grow.
The area's history goes back a long way. In the 1960s, geologists in Yunnan unearthed two 1.5-million-year-old human front teeth, the oldest known example of prehistoric man in China. (The poor sod likely lost them in a Stone Age bar tussle and now he is known for all of history as "Yuanmou man.") Recorded history picks up in the fourth century BC with the Dian, who, as legend has it, were ruled for a time by a renegade Chinese general, Zhuang Qiao, and who left evidence in the form of bronze models of a sophisticated culture that included gruesome human sacrificial ceremonies.
As China grew, Yunnan became a central point in the Tea Horse Road, a trade route connecting it to India and Europe. The Silk Road story includes numerous violent chapters in the region's history, including the story of an ambitious eighth-century AD Yunnanese prince, Pilogue, who admired Dali for its lucrative Silk Road location. He invited five rival princes for dinner in his tent, then, like the good host that he was, lit the tent—and his guests—on fire. Subsequently, he was able to establish the Bai Nanzhao Kingdom, which survived until Genghis Khan's grandson Kublai subdued the Bai in 1252 with the help of his Mongol hordes. Following the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, the Ming and Qing ruled Yunnan for centuries as a colony rather than as a true province of China.
The region served as a kind of Siberia—a place of exile for criminals, dissidents and officials who fell out of favor with the emperor. The banished brought with them the language, architecture and customs of north China. The style of roofs in many central Yunnanese towns, reminiscent of the imperial splendor in Beijing, bears testimony to northern influence. After a protracted Muslim uprising that started in 1856, only to end some 20 years later with the reassertion of Beijing's rule, the province was more or less left to bandits and warlords until the Japanese invasion of China in the 1930s. This indirectly boosted the province's fortunes, bringing Chinese Nationalists and Communists to Yunnan, which served as base of resistance against the Japanese. Great Britain and the United States joined the fight in Yunnan, bringing supplies into a beleaguered China via the legendary Burma Road and sending military detachments, including the famous Flying Tigers, against the Japanese.
Following the war and the Communist victory over the Nationalists in 1949, Yunnan would serve once again as a place of exile (during the Cultural Revolution) and of warfare (during China's short war against neighboring Vietnam). Today, the province's rich history and fascinating cultures combine with a stunning range of beautiful natural landscapes to make Yunnan—peaceful after so many centuries of tumult—an outstanding destination.