The Most Direct Things to Learn About Yunnan
1. Yuanmou people
At the sound of Yunnan, the first thing pops into people's head is backwardness and ignorance. However, such prejudice is not a complete nonsense, at least not in the past. In the old days when the transportation is not as convenient as today, indigenous people inhabiting this place found it impossible to communicate with others. why? Because ninety four percent of the land is occupied by high plateau and the mountains. No one would ever thought Yunnan should be the cradle of the human being. When Chinese students opened the first page of their history book, they see the name of their ancestor, Yuanmou people. what is Yuanmou? It's a small county under the jurisdiction of yunnan province, where archeologists discovered the very first ancestor for all Asian people which can be dated back to 1.7 million years ago. because of the discovery, the beginning of the history of Chinese people was pushed forward by one million years. and because of this, Yunnan became known to more and more people.We are so proud that we share the same land with our very ancestors.
2. Nie er
1.7 million years natural changes the human efforts have made this land different. Yunnan people remains humble, gentle and carefree regardless of the constant changes of the outside world. As the capital of yunan province, Kunming was granted the fame of spring city. A poet in Ming dynasty used to describe the flowers in Kunming, saying that the weather is always like that in February and March, while the flowers can be seen in four seasons. If you're wondering whether he is exaggerating the facts or not, you can ask those black-headed seagulls from the Siberia who migrated thousands of miles to km to escape the frigid winter.
In Chinese, there is a four-character idiom called Renjiediling,meaning the greatest of a man lends glory to a place. this is especially true for Kunming. Have you heard of the national anthem of China? March of the Volunteers. the song is extremely inspiring, especially during the warring times. I can hardly imagine now how such as a song inject confidence and courage into chinese people. Do you believe that this song was composed by 23 year old young man. His name is Nie er. his name is composed of four ears, this is actually a nickname for him because he has an ear for music. Nie'er did not compose the song in a very peaceful environment. on the contrary, the environment back then was extremely dark and dangerous. he was targeted by the Japanese spies and was forced to go to japan. unfortunately, his life lasts only for twenty three years. as chinese go saying goes, his excellence was jealous by the heaven. Anyway, Nieer is not only the proud of china but also the product of yn.
3. Yunnan Baiyao Herbal Medicine
Ten years before the birth of Nier'er, 1902, a doctor of yi ethnicity called Qu Huanzhang offered Yunnan army a small bottle of white powder. To everybody's surprise, this small bottle of white powder made undeniable contribution during the warring time. When YN soldiers got injured by bruises, bleeding, congestion or even shot by bullets, they would apply some of the white powder on to their wounds or directly drink it, bleeding will be immediately stopped and the inflammation would be diminished. therefore they did not need to be transferred to the rear to receive treatment, instead, they can treat themselves by simply using the small white powder and can go back to the battlefield immediately. Japanese soldiers were surprised, how come those soldiers were still on the battlefield after they got shot? they realized it was this small border of white powder saved the life of so many YN soldiers, therefore they called it indestructable YN soldiers.
so the question is what may the small bottle white powder so magical? the answer lies in the key ingredient in it, that is pseudo ginseng. in chinese we call it three seven, why we used two numbers to name it? this is because its drug efficacy wont't show until three to seven years' growth. Another reason for any of this name is its special structure. generally speaking there are three leaf stalk/petiole, on each of them grows seven leaves. therefore people called three seven.
the famous YN baiyao herbal medicine has won great popularity among chinese customers, they have various products such as sprays for traumatic injuries, toothpaste to stop the bleeding, beverage and even shampoo. Knowing in efficacy of pseudo ginseng, local people use it directly. it can be eaten raw or cooked. it is also the favorite of traditional chinese doctors.
Traditional Chinese medicine holds the opinion that all kinds of illness and sickness are caused by unhealthy blood. well the bitter substance in a pseudo ginseng can cleanse our blood and unclogged our blood vessels thus promote the blood circulation.
can help us control our blood pressure, blood lipid and blood sugar. To sum up, it is useful for all blood-related diseases. Therefore, it is extremely good ingredient for dietotherapy. its powder can be cooked with steam egg, sometimes we also cook it with the chicken.
Currently the formula for the Yunnan Baiyao herbal medicine is classified information, however we do know that pseudo ginseng is a major ingredient in it. as you know, herbal medicine is a major part of traditional chinese medicine ,in a province alone grows more than two thousand kinds of herbal medicines,such as cordyceps, gastrodia, chinese angelica,maca and so forth.
4. Lijiang
When the traveler first come to YN, where is his first choice? dancers definitely Lijiang. This small town lying at the foot of snow jade mountain, boasts of three world relics, namely the world natural heritage-- three parallel rivers, world cultural heritage-- Lijiang ancient town, and the memory of the world--Dongba culture. Despite all this world class titles, Lijiang is still amiable small town ready to receive all the guests from the world.
5. Yunnan cigarette
Every smoker in china knows the cigarette in Yunnan . among all the . Yunnan and a Hongta are the two most popular brands which made YN province a real kingdom of tobacco. currently Hongta corporations and Hongyun corporation are the most powerful tobacco corporations in china.
6. Stone forest
if you have ever pay attention to the logo appearing on tourism you'll see its stone forest and ashima. the reason that the stone forest can enjoy such laurel because the nature has spent 170 million years to created such wonder. It makes us marvel at how powerful nature is and how transients our lives are.
7. Puer tea
Coffee, cocoa and tea are the three most popular beverages in the world. You must have heard how crazy Chinese people love tea. They almost replaced water by tea. someone starts to wonder who is the first man to discover that tea is drinkable, and where is the very first tea tree? Experts found a tea tree with a age of 3200 years in Xishuangbanna which is the oldest tea tree in the world. It tells the world.that Yunnan is the origin.of.tea. Another evidence is the ancient and bizarre ways of drinking tea among indigenous ethnic groups in YN. For example, Bulang people's sour tea, Jinuo people 's cold tea dish, Dai people's bamboo tube tea, Bai people's three-course tea.
then why is the tea in yn called puer tea? puer is now a municipality under yunnan province. It used to be the collecting and distributing center of tea. Gradually all the tea produced in Yunan province was called puer tea.