Xishuangbanna Landscape

Introduction

Xishuangbanna Scenic Area is located in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southern Yunnan, 740 kilometers away from Kunming. The scenic area includes three major areas: Jinghong County Scenic Area, Menghai County Scenic Area and Mengla County Scenic Area. There are several scenic spots in each area. There are 19 scenic spots in total and more than 800 scenic spots, with a total area of ??1202.13 square kilometers. This area has a wide variety of animal and plant resources and is known as the "tropical animal" kingdom. Many of the rare, ancient, peculiar and endangered animals and plants are unique to Xishuangbanna, arousing great interest from domestic and foreign tourists and scientific researchers. The landscape is dominated by rich and charming tropical and subtropical rainforests, monsoon rainforests, valley rainforest scenery, rare animals and colorful national culture and customs. The area has unique landscape and high reputation. It was approved by the State Council in 1982 and designated as one of the first batch of national key scenic spots.

Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture is located at the southernmost tip of Yunnan Province, between 21°08′~22°36′ north latitude and 99°56′~101°50′ east longitude, south of the Tropic of Cancer, towards the Asian continent. The transition zone of the Southeast Asian peninsula. The prefecture has a total area of ??19,184.45 square kilometers and a population of 796,000. It governs Jinghong City and Menghai and Mengla counties. There are more than a dozen ethnic groups living here, including Dai, Hani, Bulang, Jinuo, Lahu, Wa, and Yao. Among them, Dai accounts for 1/3, Han accounts for 1/3, and other ethnic groups account for 1/3. It borders Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam, with a border length of 1,069 kilometers.

Transportation

Xishuangbanna is about 700 kilometers away from the provincial capital Kunming. It can be reached by car in two days or one day and night (9 hours). Banna Airport can take off and land "Boeing 737" aircraft. There are direct flights from Kunming to Xishuangbanna every day. The flight time is about 50 minutes (cost: full ticket 780 yuan/person). In addition, there are flights from Chengdu, Chongqing, Bangkok and other cities to Xishuangbanna. direct charter flights. The highways in the territory extend in all directions, which is very convenient.

Aviation

Xishuangbanna Jinghong Airport is the second largest aviation port in the province after Kunming, 5 kilometers away from Jinghong city. Since the airport was opened to navigation in 1990, it has successively opened domestic routes to major cities such as Dali, Lijiang, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Tianjin, Chengdu, and Chongqing. In 1996, international routes to Bangkok were launched. Airports have been opened from Kunming to Xishuangbanna and from Lijiang to Xishuangbanna. Naxi Jingdi Inn recommends that you first visit Lijiang Ancient Town and then go to Banna.

Highway

The expressway from Kunming to Xishuangbanna was opened on April 6, 2006. The highway mileage is 700 kilometers and can be reached in up to nine hours. It can be reached at Kunming Railway Station Buy tickets at the nearby Kunming Long-distance Bus Terminal. There are more than 20 sleeper buses and ordinary buses to Jinghong every day. The journey takes 24 hours and the fare is about 110-150 yuan. During the Spring Festival, it will go up by 15-20 yuan. Naxi Jingdi Inn recommends that you first visit Lijiang Ancient Town and then go to Banna.

Waterway

The waterway includes the Lancang River Channel. Jinghong Port is a national first-class water port and consists of three terminals: Jinghong, Lanlanba and Guanlei. Jinghong Port is a water transport port and has opened international water transport routes from Jinghong to Chiang Mai, Myanmar, Vientiane, Laos and other places.

Origin of the name

The name Xishuangbanna came from the fourth year of Longqing in the Ming Dynasty (1570), when the Xuanwei Division (the highest local chief executive) divided its jurisdiction into twelve "bannas" ("Twelve", "Xishuang" and "Banna" in Dai language~~~~ means a thousand acres, that is, a Banna, a unit for collecting taxes and levies). From then on, the Dai name "Xishuangbanna" came into being.

Resources

Xishuangbanna is one of the 44 key scenic spots in the country. It has more than 3 million acres of nature reserves, of which 700,000 acres are well-protected virgin forests, accounting for 100% of the total. The state has a total area of ??nearly 60 square meters. It is full of green mountains, green waters and lush green waters. It is famous for its beauty and richness.

There are more than 20,000 kinds of plants in Xishuangbanna, including more than 5,000 tropical plants, more than 10,000 edible plants, more than 50 kinds of wild fruits, and more than 40 kinds of fast-growing precious timber trees. Many plants are precious materials or have special uses, such as the anti-cancer drugs maytank and Gloriosa; rauwolfia to treat high blood pressure; areca nut to strengthen stomach insects; and the seed oil of Fengchuan is an important ingredient for tanks, car engines and oil drilling in alpine areas. Special lubricants with viscosity-lowering and condensation-lowering dual-effect additives; tung oil can replace diesel; ylang-ylang, known as the "King of Flowers", can be made into high-grade spices; there are ancient tea trees more than 1,700 years ago; there are natural "kettles", "Umbrella"; grass that can smell music, dance, and eat mosquitoes...

The vast and dense forest provides an ideal habitat for various wild animals. Currently, there are 429 known species of birds. Accounting for 2/3 of the total number of birds in the country, there are 67 species of mammals, accounting for 16 of the total number of mammals in the country. The number of species of birds and beasts in Xishuangbanna is unmatched by other places in the country. Among them, Asian elephants, vultures, Indochinese tigers, leopards, etc. are listed as world protected animals; there are 13 species of national first-level protected animals such as bison, antelopes, and lorises, as well as many second- and third-level protected animals.

As a "flagship species", the Asian elephant is of extraordinary significance to the ecological environment. In 1977, my country declared the Asian elephant an endangered species and established a wild elephant nature reserve in Xishuangbanna. Now the living environment of Asian elephants has been significantly improved. Their number has also grown from more than 80 in the 1980s to about 300 now. my country's Asian elephants are mainly distributed in Xishuangbanna, with a few also distributed in the nearby Simao area.

Xishuangbanna is also rich in rubber. It is the second largest rubber area in the country and the rubber yield ranks first in the country. It is also rich in rice, various tropical fruits and precious medicinal materials such as amomum villosum. It is a veritable "Kingdom of Plants" , "Animal Kingdom", "Green Kingdom", "Southern Medicine Kingdom".

When traveling to Banna, you can sometimes see beautiful peacocks, white pheasants, and hornbills flying in the forest; sometimes you can see elephants walking on the road; sometimes you can see antelopes, wild deer, and hares walking in the forest. Running...that love scene is so joyful. This is a spectacle and fun that is unimaginable in other places!

Main tourist attractions in Xishuangbanna: Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Xishuangbanna Dai Garden, Xishuangbanna Primitive Forest Park, Yexiang Valley Ethnic Customs Garden, Zhenoctagonal Pavilion, a single tree forest, Daluo Port

Climate

Xishuangbanna has a tropical rainforest climate, with abundant sunshine and rainfall. There are dry and wet seasons throughout the year, and the average annual temperature is 21°C. The dry season is from November to April of the following year, and the warm season is from May to October. There is no frost or snow all year round. There are 108-146 foggy days every year. The extreme maximum temperature in Jinghong area reaches 41.1℃ and the extreme minimum temperature is 2.7℃, making it suitable for tourism all year round.

Culture

The Dai people have a long history and have created a splendid culture in their long life. They are especially famous for their Dai calendar, Dai language and colorful folk literature and art. . As early as more than a thousand years ago, the ancestors of the Dai people wrote many beautiful and moving myths, legends, fables, novels, poems, etc. on bay leaves and tissue paper. There are more than 550 long poems written in Dai language alone. . "Zhaoshutun and Nanmunona" and "Calabash Letter" are his representative works, which have been adapted into movies, dramas, etc. and are deeply loved by the masses. The dance of the Dai people has a high artistic level and distinctive national characteristics. The movements are often analogous to and beautify the behavior of animals, such as the widely popular "Peacock Dance" and "Elephant Foot Dance".

The music of the Dai people is pleasant to the ear. In addition to accompaniment to dance, it is often combined with poetry. Sculpture and painting also have distinctive features. The Dai people believe in Theravada Buddhism. In the Dai area, pagodas and Buddhist temples can be seen everywhere. The Bamboo House, a Dai folk house, is the most typical stilt-style building existing in my country. It has an elegant and unique shape, and it is cool and comfortable to live inside. Dai men have the custom of having tattoos, which symbolize bravery, beauty, and can also attract the love of the opposite sex.

Souvenirs

Distinctive tourist souvenirs include: Dai bags, Dai brocade (embroidered quilts, pillows, tube skirts), ceramic water bottles, bamboo lunch boxes, silver belts, tube bags , various ethnic costumes, flower bags, embroidered waist bags, wood carvings, pebble crafts, etc. As for the unique Dai cuisine, every tourist must try it. Before leaving, don’t forget to buy a few boxes of red beans (also called acacia seeds) and give them to your wife, lover or friends. They are the most special and romantic gifts! Therefore, the ancients have long had a poem saying: "Red beans grow in the south. When spring comes, a few branches will appear. I hope you will pick more. This is the most loved thing."

Attractions

Famous attractions include: Jinghong , Manfeilong Pagoda, Lancang Riverside, Mange Buddhist Temple, Manjinglan Tourist Village, Yilan Resort, Menglun Botanical Garden, Ethnic Customs Garden, Wild Elephant Valley, Tropical Crops Research Institute, Dai flavor cuisine, Dai Garden, Jinghong Original Forest Park, Hongqi Reservoir, Daluo Primitive Forest Park, animal wonders, plant wonders, tropical rainforest, Dai Water Splashing Festival

Well-known schools

Well-known schools include: Yunnan Tropical Agricultural Engineering School (The former Yunnan Provincial Agricultural Reclamation Management School and the former Simao Tropical Crop Research School merged to run the school). It is a large-scale professional school with a comprehensive range of subjects in my country that studies tropical economic crops.

Specialty Catering

Dai cuisine enjoys a unique reputation among Yunnan cuisines. The residents of Xishuangbanna are mainly Dai people. Dai cuisine consists of glutinous rice, sour and baked meats, and aquatic products. Mainly, wild cultivated plants are used as spices, which has a unique ethnic flavor.

Among the Banna delicacies, the most representative are: "Nanmi", Bulang cuisine, Hani cuisine, barbecue, moss, boiled fish (chicken) with sour bamboo shoots, grilled fish with lemongrass, and fragrant bamboo meal. Most of the names are ones that tourists have never heard of, so they are worth trying.

Banna delicacies are all available at the night market. In addition to the above-mentioned specialties, there are also herb-roasted chicken, bamboo tube rice, roasted bamboo rat, steamed moss eggs, cooked chopped chicken, duck feet, bamboo worms, fried beef skin, oil Fried pork rinds, fried pork rinds, and other ethnic food are all available, which are most in line with the tastes of southerners. At night, tourists can enjoy the night view of Jinghong City while tasting delicious food. The colorful lights will make you forget to leave. The local fragrant bamboo glutinous rice can be eaten at a stall for only 2-5 yuan.

If you dare to taste insects, you might as well consider the insect feast. In addition to grasshoppers and scorpions, there are also wriggling bamboo insects, bee larvae, etc. A meal costs about 120 yuan and can be enjoyed by 8 people.

Features

The characteristics of the tourist area: more green, more foggy, more Dai folk customs, warm and harmonious, original ecology, which is qualitatively different from Southeast Asian countries and has a unique charm. Xishuangbanna is the only tropical rainforest nature reserve in the country, with towering trees that block out the sun, rare birds and animals abound, and exotic trees and flowers can be seen everywhere. Xishuangbanna, which is very close to Thailand and Myanmar, is full of Buddhist style. The pagodas and temples are intertwined with Dai bamboo buildings, green bamboos and ancient trees, creating a sacred scene.

Dai Water Splashing Festival

The New Year of the Dai people in Xishuangbanna is called "Lenghe Sangkan" or "Sangkan Bimai" in Dai language. Because when celebrating the New Year, a warm and grand water-splashing blessing event is held, outsiders call it the Water-Splashing Festival. The Dai New Year is different from June in the Gregorian calendar. "Lenghe Sangkan" in Dai language means the New Year in June. The Dai calendar is a lunisolar calendar, with the year being the solar calendar year and the month being the solar calendar month. According to the little demon in the Naxi Pure Land, although the Dai people celebrate the New Year in June, the festival is not fixed on June × day, but changes between mid-June and early July. It needs to be calculated every year in order to Determine the exact day of the New Year.

Celebrate the festival

Festival date: Although the Dai people celebrate the New Year in June, the festival is not fixed on June × day, but from mid-June to early July The changes between the dates need to be calculated every year to determine the exact day of the New Year.

Activity location: Xishuangbanna Dai inhabited area, playing the ancient city song "Naxi Pure Land".

Festival features: During the New Year of the Dai people in Xishuangbanna, a warm and grand water-splashing blessing event is held between June and July every year. Water-splashing is a must-have activity for the Dai people during the New Year.

Celebration method:

On this day, there is "rushing" (assembly entertainment). People dress up, sing and dance to gather at the rushing ceremony, perform high-sheng, high-sheng, dragon boat rowing, etc. Throw away your bags and celebrate the holidays.

In the past, Dai Li New Year was mostly held in villages and was not large in scale. After the establishment of Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, governments at all levels have regarded the Dai Year as an organized and led activity to strengthen cultural exchanges among ethnic groups, display national customs, attract investment, and attract domestic and foreign tourists and merchants. Traditional activities such as dragon boat races, fireworks, flying lanterns, and sand piles have also added cultural performances, product exhibitions, trade negotiations, etc. Various parks have also taken advantage of their advantages to carry out cattle robbing, cockfighting, elephant performances, folk performances, and crossbow shooting. and other various activities, making the festival activities grand, colorful and fascinating. International friends, overseas Chinese, tourists from inside and outside the province, and businesses come here in droves to celebrate the festival with the people of all ethnic groups in Xishuangbanna, enjoy the rich ethnic customs activities, admire the charming local scenery, and carry out economic and trade activities. Dai Li New Year has become an important festival to enhance cultural and economic exchanges, enhance friendship and national unity.

History and Culture

The Legend of Water Splashing Festival

According to folklore, in ancient times, the place where the Dai people lived suffered disasters one after another. There is no rain in summer, no wind in spring, no sunshine in autumn, and it rains all winter. It can be sunny but not sunny, rainy but not rainy, the four seasons are confused, crops cannot be planted, fields are barren, people and animals are plagued by epidemics, and mankind is facing annihilation.

The man who was known as Paya Wan saw such a situation and decided to go to heaven to find out the cause and report it to the king of heaven, Yindatila. He made wings from four wooden boards, soared into the sky, rushed into the heaven, and reported the disasters encountered in the world to the king of heaven, Yindatira. When Xiang Dati heard about the situation, he found out that it was Pengma, the god in charge of wind, thunder, lightning, rain, clear and cloudy. He ignored the three seasons of drought, rain and cold set by Pengmacha and relied on his vast magical power. , deliberately causing chaos. And this Dala Zha, who holds the horse in his hand, is so skilled in magic that all the gods can do nothing to him.

In order to punish this god for his indiscriminate and violent behavior, Yingda Tila dressed up as a handsome young man and went to the house of Dalacha in Pangma to pick up girls. The seven daughters of Daraja, who had been imprisoned in the palace for a long time, fell in love with this handsome man at first sight. Yingda Tila told the truth about the disaster that Pangma Point Dala had brought to the world, causing mankind to face catastrophe. Seven kind-hearted girls who were already angry with their fathers decided to kill their relatives and save mankind. They gathered around their father every day, coquettishly, and explored the secrets of his life and death. Facing the charming girl, Dalaza finally revealed the secret: he was not afraid of knife cuts, arrows, fire or water, but what he was afraid of was the hair on his head. After finding out the secret, the girls got their father drunk, took the opportunity to cut off a bunch of his hair, and made a "Gong Saizai" (literally translated as Heartstring Bow, Chubixian Bow). The bowstring was pointed at Daracha's neck, and his head fell suddenly. However, the head of Dalacha holding the horse is a demon head, with a sprinkler head falling to the ground, and the fire is soaring into the sky. When the seven girls saw this, they threw themselves at the head and hugged him regardless of their own safety, and the demonic fire was extinguished. In order to extinguish the demonic fire, the seven girls had to hold the demonic head in their arms and rotate it until the head rotted away. Every time the sisters take turns, they splash water on each other to wash away the stains on their bodies and eliminate the odor.

After the death of Pangma Dian Dalacha, Mahapeng of Shurupa rebuilt the calendar and controlled the wind and rain, so that the world would be smooth and the people could live and work in peace and contentment. Legend has it that the revised calendar was announced to his father in a dream by Paya late in the sixth month of the Dai calendar. Therefore, the Dai people regard June when the new calendar is announced as a time to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year. When people celebrate the New Year, they splash water on each other to commemorate the seven kind-hearted girls who killed their relatives for righteousness, and to drive away evil spirits and eliminate dirt, so as to seek good luck and good luck that has been passed down to this day. The Dai New Year usually lasts for three or four days, and is usually called "Wanmai", "Wancheng" and "Maipayawanma". "Wanmai" is the day to bid farewell to the old year, which is somewhat similar to the New Year's Eve in the lunar calendar. On this day, people clean up, prepare New Year food, bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year.

"Wancheng" is one day in most years, sometimes two days, meaning an empty day. It does not belong to the number of days reported in the old year, nor does it belong to the number of days in the new year. Folks usually describe "Wancheng" as holding the head of Dalacha. The day of decay.