Geography Of Yunnan

- Located the most southwestern province in China.
- Is a boarder province of China
- Has a mild climate with balmy and fair weather, but although the growing period is long, there is little arable land. Agriculture is restricted to the few upland plains, open valleys, and terraced hillsides.

Area: 394,100 km² (152,200 sq mi)

Population: 45,710,000

Largest City: Kunming

Capital:  Kunming

Temperature: Jan - 8°C to 17°C

                        July - 21°C to 27°C

Annual Rainfall: 600 mm to 2,300 mm

Local Time: GMT +8

Currency: Chinese Renminbi (RMB) is the medium of exchange. The basic unit of RMB is yuan, in denominations of 100, 50, 10, 5, 2 and 1. The yuan is divided into 10 jiao, which is further divided into 10 fen.

Rivers:  Xi River and the Yuan River

History Of Yunnan 

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 third century BC, the Chu general entered the region from the upper Yangtze River and set himself up as "King of Dian" and start the long history of migration and cultural expansion. Qin Shi Huang unified China and extended his authority south. Commanders and counties were established in Yunnan. In AD 225, the famed statesman Zhuge Liang led three columns into Yunnan to pacify the tribes.  In the fourth century, northern China was largely overrun by nomadic tribes from the north. In 738, the kingdom of Nanzhao was established in Yunnan by Piluoge (皮罗阁), who was confirmed by the imperial court of the Tang Dynasty as king of Yunnan. Ruling from Dali, the thirteen kings of Nanzhao ruled over more than two centuries and played a part in the dynamic relationship between China and Tibet. In 937, Duan Siping (段思平) overthrew the Nanzhao and established the Kingdom of Dali. The kingdom was conquered by the Mongol Empire in 1253. During the Yuan Dynasty Kublai Khan appointed the first governor, Turkmen Sayid Ajall, in Yunnan during 1273. Before that, the area had been ruled by a local king and a Mongol prince under the Great Khan. Yunnan and Hunan were main bases for Mongol military operations in Indo-China. The Ming Dynasty destroyed the Yuan loyalists in 1381. Yunnan was transformed enormously by the events of the war against Japan, which caused many east coast refugees and industrial establishments to relocate to the province. It assumed great strategic significance, particularly as the Burma Road was constructed from Kunming to Lashio in Burma during this time.