Province · Southwest China
Yunnan
云南
South of the Clouds: from Himalayan snow peaks to tropical forest
Yunnan is China's south-westernmost province, bordering Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam, and reaching from the snow peaks of the Hengduan Mountains to the tropical forests of Xishuangbanna. Its capital is Kunming; it has the greatest ethnic and biological diversity of any Chinese province, six UNESCO World Heritage sites, and is the home of Pu'er tea.
Key facts
- Capital
- Kunming
- Abbreviation
- 云 (Yún) or 滇 (Diān)
- Area
- about 394,100 km²[1]
- Resident population
- 46.44 million(as of end of 2025)[2]
- Gross regional product
- CNY 3.28 trillion(as of 2025)[2]
- Census population
- 47.21 million(as of 2020 census)[3]
- Divisions
- 8 prefecture-level cities, 8 autonomous prefectures[1]
- Borders
- Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam
- UNESCO World Heritage sites
- 6 (1997–2023)[4]
Profile
- Chinese name
- 云南
- Abbreviation (简称)
- 云 or 滇
- Type
- Province
- Region
- Southwest China
- Capital
- Kunming
- Area
- about 394,100 km²
- Divisions
- 8 prefecture-level cities and 8 autonomous prefectures (Chuxiong Yi, Honghe Hani and Yi, Wenshan Zhuang and Miao, Xishuangbanna Dai, Dali Bai, Dehong Dai and Jingpo, Nujiang Lisu, Diqing Tibetan)
- Ethnic groups
- Han, Yi, Hani, Bai, Dai, Zhuang, Miao, Hui, Lisu, Lahu
- Languages
- Yunnanese Mandarin, Yi languages, Dai (Tai Lü and Tai Nüa), Bai, Naxi
- Borders
- Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam
Languages
Yunnanese Mandarin
云南话
Southwestern Mandarin varieties, the common language of the province; the Kunming dialect is the reference form.
Yi languages
彝语
A family of related Loloish languages spoken across central and northern Yunnan.
Dai (Tai Lü and Tai Nüa)
傣语
Tai languages of Xishuangbanna and Dehong, written in their own Brahmic-derived scripts.
Bai
白语
Language of the Bai around Dali, with many old Chinese loanwords.
Naxi
纳西语
Language of the Naxi of Lijiang, whose priests used the pictographic Dongba script.
Name and abbreviation
Yunnan means “south of the clouds”. The name first appears as a Han-dynasty county, Yunnan xian (云南县), established in the second century BCE near today's Xiangyun in western Yunnan; tradition connects it with coloured clouds seen in the south. The Yuan dynasty adopted it for the province it created in 1274. The alternative abbreviation 滇 (Dian) comes from the Dian kingdom of the Bronze Age, centred on Lake Dian (Dianchi) beside Kunming.
Historic names
滇
Bronze Age kingdom around Lake Dian, whose king received a gold seal from the Han emperor in 109 BCE.
南诏
Kingdom based around Lake Erhai that dominated the region from the eighth to the tenth century.
大理国
The Dali kingdom (937–1253), successor to Nanzhao, conquered by the Mongols.
彩云之南
“south of the coloured clouds”
Poetic name for the province, from the legend of its name.
Land and climate
Yunnan descends in steps from the north-west, where the Hengduan Mountains rise above 6,000 metres near Tibet, to the south, where the Red River valley falls to below 100 metres at the Vietnamese border. The north-west is a land of parallel ranges and deep gorges carved by the Jinsha (upper Yangtze), Lancang (Mekong) and Nu (Salween); the east and centre form the karst Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, with lake basins at Kunming and Dali; the south and south-west are hot, humid valleys and hills with tropical forest. This compression of altitudes and climates makes Yunnan one of the most biodiverse regions in the northern hemisphere.
Landforms
Hengduan Mountains
横断山脉
North–south ranges in the north-west, including the Gaoligong, Nu and Yunling mountains.
Meili Snow Mountains
梅里雪山
Range on the Tibet border whose summit Kawagebo (卡瓦格博), about 6,740 m, is the highest point of Yunnan and a sacred mountain in Tibetan Buddhism; after a fatal expedition in 1991, climbing on it was prohibited.
Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
玉龙雪山
Among the southernmost glaciated mountains in Asia, rising above Lijiang to 5,596 m.
Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau
云贵高原
The eastern plateau, with karst such as the Stone Forest and farmed lake basins known as bazi (坝子).
Stone Forest
石林
Field of limestone pillars south-east of Kunming, part of the South China Karst World Heritage site.
Rivers and lakes
Jinsha River
金沙江
The upper Yangtze, which turns sharply at Shigu and cuts Tiger Leaping Gorge before forming the border with Sichuan.
Lancang River (Mekong)
澜沧江
Flows south through Xishuangbanna into Laos and Myanmar.
Nu River (Salween)
怒江
Flows through a deep gorge between the Gaoligong and Biluo mountains into Myanmar.
Yuan River (Red River)
元江
Flows south-east into Vietnam, past the Hani rice terraces of Honghe.
Nanpan River
南盘江
Rises in eastern Yunnan as the head of the Pearl River system.
Plateau lakes
滇池·洱海·抚仙湖
Lake Dian at Kunming, Erhai at Dali and the deep, clear Fuxian Lake are the largest of the province's lakes.
Climate
Yunnan's climate depends more on altitude than on latitude. The central plateau around Kunming has mild temperatures all year — hence Kunming's name “City of Eternal Spring” — with a dry season from November to April and a monsoon wet season from May to October. The south is tropical, with hot, humid summers; the north-west is alpine, with snow on the passes in winter. Within a single gorge, climates can range from subtropical valley floor to glaciated summit.
History
Some of the earliest human fossils in China come from Yuanmou in northern Yunnan. In the first millennium BCE the Dian culture around Lake Dian produced distinctive bronze drums and cowrie containers, and the Han dynasty drew it into a tributary relationship. From the eighth to the thirteenth century the region was ruled by independent kingdoms, Nanzhao and Dali, centred on Lake Erhai, which fought and traded with Tang China and Tibet. The Mongols conquered Dali in 1253 and created the province of Yunnan in 1274; the Ming, conquering it in 1382, settled large numbers of Han soldiers and migrants. Yunnan was the base of Wu Sangui's revolt in the 1670s and of the Hui rebellion under Du Wenxiu in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century it launched the campaign against Yuan Shikai's monarchy in 1915, and during the war against Japan it became China's back door, with the Burma Road, the airlift over the Hump and the wartime university in Kunming.
c. 1.7 million years ago
Yuanmou Man
Hominin teeth found at Yuanmou in 1965 are among the oldest human fossils in China; their dating is still debated.
109 BCE
Han grants the King of Dian a gold seal
The seal, found in 1956 in the royal cemetery at Shizhaishan near Lake Dian, confirms the account in the Records of the Grand Historian.
225
Zhuge Liang's southern campaign
The Shu Han chancellor pacified the south, an episode popularly remembered in the story of the seven captures of Meng Huo.
738
Nanzhao unites the Erhai basin
King Piluoge, recognised by the Tang, created a state that later fought Tang armies and allied at times with Tibet.
937
Founding of the Dali kingdom
Duan Siping established a Buddhist kingdom that ruled the region for more than three centuries.
1253
Mongol conquest of Dali
Kublai led the campaign that brought the region under Mongol rule; in 1274 Sayyid Ajall Shams al-Din became the first governor of the new province and moved its centre to Kunming.
1382
Ming conquest and settlement
Garrison colonies and migration from central and eastern China made the Han the majority in the basins.
1856–1873
Du Wenxiu's rebellion
A Hui-led uprising held Dali as the seat of a separate state for sixteen years; the Qing suppression was extremely bloody.
1910
Yunnan–Vietnam railway completed
The French-built metre-gauge line linked Kunming with Haiphong and opened the province to trade.
25 December 1915
National Protection War
Cai E and Tang Jiyao declared Yunnan's opposition to Yuan Shikai's attempt to become emperor, starting the campaign that ended his monarchy.
1938–1946
Burma Road and the wartime university
The road to Lashio in Burma opened in 1938; the National Southwestern Associated University taught in Kunming until 1946, and after 1942 supplies came by air over the Hump.
2021
China–Laos Railway opens
Linked Kunming with Vientiane by rail through Xishuangbanna and the Mohan–Boten border crossing.
World heritage
World Heritage sites
Cultural · inscribed 1997
丽江古城
Naxi market town of canals, bridges and courtyard houses, with the villages of Baisha and Shuhe.
Natural · inscribed 2003
Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas
三江并流
Eight protected areas where the upper Yangtze, Mekong and Salween run side by side through gorges up to 3,000 m deep.
Natural · inscribed 2007 · shared
中国南方喀斯特
The Shilin Stone Forest is one of the original components, shared with sites in Guizhou, Chongqing and Guangxi.
Natural · inscribed 2012
澄江化石地
Exceptionally preserved Cambrian marine fossils, about 525 million years old, that record the early diversification of animal life.
Cultural · inscribed 2013
Cultural Landscape of Honghe Hani Rice Terraces
红河哈尼梯田
Terraces cut into the slopes of the Ailao Mountains in Yuanyang, watered by channels from the forested summits.
Cultural · inscribed 2023
Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of the Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er
普洱景迈山古茶林
Tea grown for centuries under forest cover by Blang and Dai villages — the first World Heritage site devoted to tea.
Culture
Twenty-five ethnic groups with populations of more than 5,000 live in Yunnan, and fifteen of them are found mainly or only in this province. Each has its own festivals, dress and architecture: Dai bamboo houses and Theravada monasteries in the south, Bai whitewashed courtyards around Dali, Naxi wooden towns in Lijiang, Tibetan farmhouses in Diqing. Han Yunnan, too, has its own traditions, from the Ming garrison towns to the Qing merchant houses of Jianshui and Tuanshan.
Opera, music and dance
Naxi ancient music
纳西古乐
Ensemble music preserved in Lijiang, combining Daoist ritual music with melodies believed to date back to the Tang, Song and Yuan.
Peacock dance
孔雀舞
Dai dance imitating the movements of the peacock, a symbol of good fortune.
Dian opera
滇剧
Regional opera of Kunming and central Yunnan.
Yunnan lantern opera
云南花灯
Folk song-and-dance drama performed around the Spring Festival.
Crafts
Dongba script
东巴文
Pictographic script used by Naxi priests for ritual texts, written on handmade Dongba paper.
Bai tie-dye
扎染
Indigo tie-dyed cloth from Zhoucheng near Dali.
Jianshui purple pottery
建水紫陶
Burnished, inlaid stoneware from Jianshui, fired from local purple clay.
Heqing silverware
鹤庆银器
Hand-hammered silver and copper work from the village of Xinhua in Heqing county.
Festivals and customs
Water-Splashing Festival
泼水节
The Dai New Year in mid-April, celebrated in Xishuangbanna and Dehong with water splashing, dragon-boat races and fireworks.
Torch Festival
火把节
Festival of the Yi, Bai and other groups on the 24th day of the sixth lunar month.
Third Month Fair
三月街
Market fair and festival at Dali in the third lunar month, with a history of more than a thousand years.
Bai three-course tea
三道茶
A bitter, a sweet and an aftertaste tea served in turn to guests, symbolising the stages of life.
Cuisine
Yunnan cooking (滇菜) draws on the province's range of climates: wild mushrooms, flowers, herbs and cured ham from the plateau; sour, herbal and grilled dishes of the Dai in the south; dairy products of the Bai and Tibetans. Rice noodles are the staple of breakfast, and in the rainy season markets fill with dozens of kinds of wild fungi, which must be thoroughly cooked.
Signature dishes
Crossing-the-bridge noodles
过桥米线
A bowl of very hot chicken broth into which raw meat, vegetables and rice noodles are added at the table; associated with Mengzi.
Steam-pot chicken
汽锅鸡
Chicken cooked by steam in a Jianshui clay pot with a central chimney, producing a clear broth.
Wild mushroom hotpot
野生菌火锅
A summer dish of porcini, matsutake, termite mushrooms and other fungi.
Xuanwei ham
宣威火腿
Dry-cured ham from north-eastern Yunnan, used in many dishes and in ham mooncakes.
Milk fan
乳扇
Thin sheets of dried cow's-milk cheese from Dali, grilled or fried.
Dai pineapple rice
菠萝饭
Sticky rice steamed in a hollowed pineapple, a dish of Xishuangbanna.
Specialities
Pu'er tea
普洱茶
Tea from the large-leaf tea trees of southern Yunnan, pressed into cakes and aged; named after the market town of Pu'er.
Dianhong black tea
滇红
Malty black tea from Fengqing and Lincang, produced since 1939.
Yunnan Baiyao
云南白药
Haemostatic powder devised by Qu Huanzhang in 1902, with a formula kept as a state secret.
Yunnan coffee
云南咖啡
Arabica grown in Pu'er, Baoshan and Dehong, where most of China's coffee comes from.
Cut flowers
斗南花卉
Yunnan grows most of China's cut flowers, traded at the Dounan flower market in Kunming.
Flower cakes
鲜花饼
Pastries filled with edible rose petals.
Notable people
Zheng He (1371–1433)
郑和
Muslim admiral born in Kunyang on Lake Dian, who led seven Ming voyages to South-East Asia, India, Arabia and East Africa.
Lan Mao (1397–1476)
兰茂
Physician and scholar from Songming, author of the pharmacopoeia Materia Medica of Southern Yunnan (滇南本草).
Long Yun (1884–1962)
龙云
Yi governor of Yunnan from Zhaotong who ruled the province from 1927 to 1945 and supported the wartime university.
Ai Siqi (1910–1966)
艾思奇
Philosopher from Tengchong whose book Philosophy for the Masses popularised Marxism in China.
Nie Er (1912–1935)
聂耳
Composer born in Kunming who wrote the music of the March of the Volunteers, now the national anthem.
Economy
Yunnan's economy grew on tobacco, mining and hydropower, and on agriculture made possible by its climate: tea, coffee, flowers, sugar cane, rubber and fruit. The rivers of the north-west make it, with Sichuan, one of China's two largest hydropower producers, which in turn has drawn energy-intensive industries such as aluminium and silicon. Tourism to Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La and Xishuangbanna is a major sector. Policy treats Yunnan as China's gateway to South and South-East Asia, a role strengthened by the China–Laos Railway.
Main industries
- Tobacco (Yuxi and Kunming)
- Hydropower and power transmission to Guangdong
- Non-ferrous metals: tin (Gejiu), copper, lead and zinc; aluminium and silicon
- Tea, coffee, flowers, rubber and fruit
- Biomedicine and traditional medicine
- Tourism
- Cross-border trade and logistics
Zones, ports and hubs
Central Yunnan New Area
滇中新区
National-level new area east and west of Kunming, approved in 2015.
China (Yunnan) Pilot Free Trade Zone
中国（云南）自由贸易试验区
Established in 2019 with areas in Kunming, at Honghe on the Vietnamese border and at Dehong on the Myanmar border.
Border ports
磨憨·瑞丽·河口口岸
Mohan on the Lao border, Ruili on the Myanmar border and Hekou on the Vietnamese border are the main land crossings.
Cities
- Kunming昆明Capital · Cultural centreThe City of Eternal Spring on Lake Dian
- Dali大理Historic city · Cultural centre · Scenic areaCapital of Nanzhao and the Dali kingdom between the Cang Mountains and Erhai
- Lijiang丽江Historic city · Cultural centre · Scenic areaNaxi old town beneath Jade Dragon Snow Mountain
- Jinghong景洪Cultural centre · Scenic areaDai city on the Mekong and capital of Xishuangbanna
- Shangri-La香格里拉Cultural centre · Scenic areaTibetan highland town of Gyalthang in north-western Yunnan
Mountains and nature
- Lake · 4,122 mErhai Lake and Cangshan洱海The highland lake and nineteen-peak range of the Bai homeland
- Mountain · 5,596 mJade Dragon Snow Mountain玉龙雪山The glaciated massif above Lijiang, sacred to the Naxi
- Sacred mountain · 6,740 mMeili Snow Mountains (Kawagebo)梅里雪山Kawagebo, Yunnan's highest and unclimbed sacred peak
- National parkPotatso (Pudacuo) National Park普达措国家公园Alpine lakes, meadows and fir forest east of Shangri-La
- Karst landscapeStone Forest (Shilin)石林Limestone pillars of the Yunnan plateau, home of the Sani Yi
- GorgeTiger Leaping Gorge虎跳峡The Jinsha river between two snow mountains
- ForestXishuangbanna Tropical Rainforest西双版纳热带雨林China's largest tropical rainforest, home of wild Asian elephants
Getting there
- Kunming Changshui International Airport, opened in 2012, is one of the main airports of south-west China, with routes to South and South-East Asia; Lijiang, Dali, Xishuangbanna, Shangri-La (Diqing) and other cities have their own airports.
- High-speed lines link Kunming with Shanghai via Guiyang and Changsha and with Nanning and Guangzhou; a railway runs west to Dali and Lijiang and on to Shangri-La.
- The China–Laos Railway runs from Kunming via Pu'er and Xishuangbanna to Vientiane.
Entry rules for foreign visitors are on the visa and entry pages.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Yunnan Provincial People's Government — Yunnan Provincial People's Government (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- 云南省2025年国民经济和社会发展统计公报 (Statistical Communiqué of Yunnan on the 2025 National Economic and Social Development) — Yunnan Provincial Bureau of Statistics (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Seventh National Population Census communiqués — National Bureau of Statistics of China (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- World Heritage List: China — UNESCO World Heritage Centre (retrieved 27 September 2026)
- Yunnan — Encyclopaedia Britannica (retrieved 27 September 2026)
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