Survey

Geographic Situation and Administrative Area Division

Yunnan Province is located on the southwest boundary of the People's Republic of China, situating at 20°8'32"-29°15'8"north latitude and 97°31'39"-106°11'47"east longitude. The south part of Yunnan Province is on the belt of the Tropic of Cancer. The widest distance from the east to the west is 864.9 kilometers and the longest distance from north to south is 900 kilometers with a total area of 394,000 square kilometers, it accounts for 4.1% of the total area of China . In the entire province, about 84% area is mountainous region , 10% area is plateau and hilly land and 6% area is basin and valley. The average altitude of the province is around 2,000 meters above the sea level. The highest point is 6,740 meters and the lowest is 76.4 meters above the sea level.

Yunnan borders on Guizhou province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in the east, Sichuan province in the north, Tibetan Autonomous Region in the northwest, Burma in the west and Laos and Vietnam in the south. Geographically, Yunnan is connected to the rest of the Asian Continent in the north and faces the Southeast Asian Peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean in the south. Because of its geographical location, Yunnan is affected by the Southeast Monsoon and Southwest Monsoon as well as weather conditions from the Tibetan Plateau. As a result, Yunnan has a diverse favorable natural environment.

Of the 4,060 kilometers long border between Yunnan and the neighbouring countries, the Sino-Burmese section covers 1,997 kilometers, Sino-Laotian section 1,353 kilometers. Yunnan has long been a gateway from China to countries in Southeast Asia. There are over 20 roads leading to these countries. There are 15 ethnic groups in China where people of the same ethnic origin live in adjacent countries on both sides of the border.

Administrative Area Division

Altogether Yunnan Province has total 16 prefectures, among which there are 8 ethnic minority autonomous prefectures (Chuxiong Yi Nationality Autonomous Prefecture, Honghe Hani and Yi Nationality Autonomous Prefecture, Wenshan zhuang Nationality Autonomous Prefecture, Xishuangbanna Dai Nationality Autonomous Prefecture, Dali Bai Nationality Autonomous Prefecture, Dehong Dai and Jingpo Nationality Autonomous Prefecture, Nujiang Lisu Nationality Prefecture, Diqing Tibetan Nationality Autonomous Prefecture), 3 Prefectures (Simao, Lijiang and Lincang), and 5 cities directly under the jurisdiction of the provincial government (Kunming, Qujing, Yuxi, Baoshan, Zhaotong). Yunnan province has 128 cities and counties, among which there are 29 ethnic minority autonomous counties.

Population and Ethnic Groups

At the end of the year 2000, the total population in Yunnan Province reached to 42.408 millions. Yunnan has an ethnic minority population of more than 14 millions. Of the 55 minority groups in China, 51 inhabit in Yunnan. There are 25 ethnic minority groups living in compact communities and their respective population exceeds 5,000. Of these minority groups, 15 are indigenous to Yunnan, ranking the first place in China in terms of the number of indigenous ethnic minority groups, namely the Bai, the Hani, the Dai, the Lisu, the Wa, the Lahu, the Naxi, the Jingpo, the Bulang, the Pumi, the Nu, the Deang, the Dulong and the Jinuo. The people of different groups in Yunnan live and work happily and harmoniously together, ensuring ethnic unity and social stability on this frontier land.

Natural Resources

1. Weather Conditions

A plateau at low latitude, Yunnan is in a special geographical position marked by diverse topographical features. It has a low-latitude mountain monsoon climate, affected by atmospheric circulation, the dry monsoon from the continent in winter and the wet monsoon from the ocean in summer. There are seven types of climates all over Yunnan-the north tropical climate, the south subtropical climate, the middle temperate climate and the highland climate, the climate in Yunnan is characterized by distinctive features which include: Marked regional differences and vertical changes of climate.

Slight variation in annual temperature changes in contrast to dramatic temperature changes during the day and the night.

There is ample of rainfall, but the distribution is not equal. There is a sharp difference between the dry and the wet seasons.

At a high elevation, Yunnan enjoys fresh air and a high-grade light and long sunshine. With its rich solar energy resource, Yunnan is insured bright prospects for solar utilization.

2. Biological Resources

Yunnan is rich in its various biological resources and it is also the most important treasure-house of China's biological resources. Yunnan is well known as “the Kingdom of plants", “the Kingdom of Animals", “the Home of Flowers ", “the Home of Medicinal Herbs" and “the Gene Reserves of the Biological Resources". Because of its unique climate and geographical environment, Yunnan owns the biggest varieties of plants in China. Almost all the species of plants that grow in tropical, subtropical, temperate and even frigid zones can be found in Yunnan. Of the approximately 30,000 species of higher plants in the whole country, Yunnan claims 17,000 species. Among which approximately 10,000 are tropical and subtropical plants, 2,000 are medicinal herbs and 400 are species from 69 families. In addition, there are 2,100 species of ornamental plants of which over 1,500 are rare flowers and plants. Yunnan is the ideal home to a wide variety of wild animals including 1,737 species of vertebrates. Among the vertebrates, there are 300 species of beasts, 793 species of birds, 143 species of reptiles, fish category, 5 families, 40 genera and 249 species are indigenous to Yunnan. For the animals and birds, 46 species are listed as first grade state protected and 154 species as under second grade protection.

3. Mineral Resources

Known as “the Kingdom of Non-ferrous Metals" in China, Yunnan has huge reserves of various minerals with high economic value. Until now, the reserved of 92 kinds have been proved. The reserves of 54 minerals are listed among China's top ten biggest reserves. Yunnan's superiority of minerals stands on the reserves of non-ferrous metals. The reserves of aluminum, zinc and tin are the biggest in China, the reserves of copper and nickel are in the third place. As for the noble metals and rare metals, the reserves of indium, thallium and cadmium are in the first place in China; its reserves of silver germanium and platinum are in the second place in the whole country. As for energy resources, its coal reserves are in the ninth place in China. And for the chemicals industries, it is tenth in the country in reserves of phosphorus, salt mirabilite, solvate, iron pyrite, calcium carbide and serpentine. Based on the nonferrous metals, mining industry in Yunnan flourishes with substantial development in mining, ore dressing and smelting industries, making Yunnan an important production base of tin, copper, and phosphorus in China.

4. Power Resources

Yunnan has over 600 revers which provide and annual water supply of 222.2 billion cubic meters and an estimated hybropower reserve of 103.64 million kilowatts with an exploitable capacity of 90 million kilowatts. In the development of its hydropower resource, Yunnan has many advantages, including :a) there are high possibilities of setting up large sized as well as giant hydropower stations; b) it is easy to implement the hydropower project since the distribution of the water resources is comparatively concentrate and the target for developing is unified; there is a high rate of success in identifying projects since there is an amply room for selections as well; c) The construction scale of reservoirs are relatively small with limited inundation areas resulting in higher technological and economical indicators. The reserve of coal resources is abundant. The total reserve of coal in the province is equal to 67.904 billion tons and the confirmed reserve is equal to 23.2 billion tons. Yunnan is one of the most important coal producers in south of China. In addition, Yunnan also boasts great prospects for the development and utilization of light energy, heat energy, wind power and geo-thermal energy.

5. Tourism Resources

Yunnan has owned high quality tourism resources. It has almost all the kinds of tourism resources except the marine resources. The beautiful natural landscape, the colorful ethnic diversity, the long history and splendid cultures contribute to more than 60 scenery sites in Yunnan, among which Dayan Old Town has been listed in the World Cultural Heritage. Lunan Stone Forest Park, Dali, Xishuangbannan, the three paralleled running River, Kunming Dianchi Lake, Lijiang Jade and Dragon Snow Covered Mountain, Tengchong terrestrial heat volcano, Ruili River—Daying River, Yiliang Jiuxiang and Jianshui etc. are graded as the 10 national key scenery sites in Yunnan Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Jianshui, Weishan are graded as the 5 national historic and cultural cities. Tengchong, Weixing, Baoshan, Huize are graded as the provincial historical cities. Yunnan has already constructed more than 100 natural protection regions with the total area of 1.926 million hectares. Ther are 22 national and provincial forest parks with the total area of 85,500 hectares. Yunnan province attaches great importance to the development of tourism. Apart from that, the site of ' 99 Kunming International Horticutural Exposition-Kunming World Horticultural Garden is very famous now in the world. Since 1990's, there have been concerted efforts to develop the tourism industry and to strength the construction of tourism infrastructure. As a result, tourism facilities and services have been substantially improved and a number of colorful, interestion and high quality tour routes have been introduced to the public. In 2000, as many as 1 million overseas tourists and 38.41 million domestic tourists toured Yunnan. The total income of tourism reached 21.14 billion yuan RMB, earning 339 millions USD foreign exchanges. Tourism has become a flourishing industry in Yunnan.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 [Origin:Yunnan Government Website]