Taipei - Hong Kong - Kunming

Taipei
Flying into Kunming, Yunnan

Yunnan is the most southwestern province in China. It has an area of 394,000 square km, 4.1% of the nation's total. The province borders Guangxi and Guizhou Province in the east, Sichuan Province in the north, and Tibet in the northwest. It shares a border of 4,060 km with Myanmar in the west, Laos in the south, and Vietnam in the southeast.

Kunming

Kunming (昆明) is the capital of Yunnan (云南) province, China with a population of 3.7 million. It is located at the northern edge of Dian Lake (滇池). Kunming is also known as the "Spring City" (春城) because of its year-round temperate weather. Situated on a 1900 meters (6200 feet) plateau in central Yunnan Province Kunming is surrounded by mountains.

Yunnan Families 云南人家

hand calligraphy
chopstick lessons
Sarah with Miao woman

Yunnan Families (云南人家) brings together traditional architecture and lifestyle settings of some of Yunnan's indigneous peoples under one roof in Kunming offering meals from the different people's cuisines around a stage where tribes people perform every night.

Among the country's fifty-six recognised ethnic groups, twenty-five are found in Yunnan. Some 38% of the province's population are members of minorities, including the Yi, Bai, Hani, Tai's, Dai, Miao, Lisu, Hui, Lahu, Va, Nakhi, Yao, Tibetan, Jingpo, Blang, Pumi, Nu, Achang, Jinuo, Mongolian, Derung, Manchu, Shui, and Buyei.

The Miao (苗族) are the fifth most populous ethnic group in China numbering 9.6 million. The Han (汉族) are the most populous. The Miao are known as Mèo or H'Mông in Vietnamese Maew (แม้ว) or Mong (ม้ง) in Thai and mun lu-myo in Burmese. The Miao are centered in southwest China in the provinces of Guizhou, Hunan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, Hainan, Guangdong, and Hubei. Hmong/Mong subgroups have migrated out of China into northern Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. Following the communist takeover of Laos in 1975, a large group of Hmong/Mong refugees resettled in the United States, France and Australia. There are about 500,000 and 275,000 Hmong in France and the US respectively.