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English>>Special Coverage >> Discovering Yunnan

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(People's Daily Online) 09:00, August 16, 2013

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(Provided to People's Daily Online/Li Rong)

Yunnan is located in the southwest of China, has 4,060 kilometers bordering on Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar, and is in close vicinity of Thailand, Cambodia, India and Bangladesh. Therefore, Yunnan is a China's important gateway to Southeast and South Asia. Yunnan covers an area of 394,000 square kilometers, with the average altitude ranging from 2,500 to 3,000 meters; there are altogether 16 prefectures and municipalities with a total population of 44 million; Its 25 minorities, among which 15 groups are natives, have made Yunnan a province with the greatest number of minorities in China.

By the end of 2011, Yunnan has 174 national A level scenic spots, among which are five AAAAA scenic spots, ranking the fifth in the nation. It has 801 star-rated hotels, 155 five-star hotels, nine conference centers, 300 tourist shopping companies, 550 travel agencies and 45 car companies. The natural beauties, ethnic customs and local cultures of Yunnan comprise its exclusive tourism treasures. At present, Yunnan has 10 scenic tourist regions and one holiday resort at national level, ranking third in China in this respect. In addition, there are 48 scenic tourist regions and eight holiday resorts at provincial level, thus forming 11 tourist routes and six selected routes at national level. Yunnan will grasp opportunities, foster more companies for award tourism, keep promoting award tourism and spare no efforts to make Yunnan the best destination for award tourism.

Yunnan also boasts of convenient transportation while developing a three-dimensional communication network. Kunming international airport, as an important international air hub of the Southwest China, ranks as the 5th largest air harbor in China; in Yunnan, there are 10 in-province air routes for Shangri-la, Dali, Lijiang, Xishuangbanna, Baoshan, Pu'er, Lincang, Wenshan and Zhaotong, etc; whereas the inter-province air routes provide direct flights for China's 60 major and medium-size cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao etc; moreover, there are 14 international air routes between Kunming and Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Osaka, Seoul, Yangon, Vientiane, the Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Siem Reap, Mandalay and Dhaka etc.

Yunnan has railways and freeways crisscrossing the whole province. As for railways, Yunnan has Guiyang-Kunming, Chengdu-Kunming, Nanning-Kunming, Neijiang-Kunming and Kunming-Hekou railways; the Kunming-Hekou Railway can reach Hanoi Vietnam directly; and among its highways, the Shilin-An'ning, Chuxiong-Dali, Dali-Lijiang, Kunming-Yuxi and Kunming-Qujing freeways are active.

In addition, Yunnan is constructing other freeways to connect Kunming with Bangkok (Thailand), Lashio (Myanmar) and Hanoi (Vietnam), as well as the Yunnan's section of the Pan-Asia Railway for access to nations of the Indochina Peninsula. In accordance with the "Agreement On Navigation on the Lancang-Mekong River" jointly signed by China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, commercial fleets are now shuttling the 900-kilometer river route between Pu'er and Louangphrabang (Laos), and ships may freely anchor at 14 harbors or docks of the 4 countries.

（Editor：YeXin、Chen Lidan）