From antediluvian plateaus and mountain peaks reaching over 20,000 feet (6740 meters) to tropical jungles and prehistoric findings dating back millions of years, Yunnan’s history is both a colorful and exciting story. Over half of all of China’s animals and plant species inhabit Yunnan. And with 25 different ethnic minorities, some dating back to the beginning of China itself, Yunnan is the most ethnically diverse and colorful Province in China.
Yunnan province borders Sichuan, Guizhou, Tibet, and Guangxi domestically and Burma, Laos, and Vietnam internationally.
Poised at an average height of 6,500Feet (1980 meters) and covering 152,000 square miles (394,00 square kilometers) Yunnan’s southern latitude and high altitude make for mild weather and pleasant climates throughout the year. Yunnan is also home to the Salween, Mekong and Yangtze rivers. Because of its abundance of natural resources and special climatic features, Yunnan province is often referred to as the “kingdom of plants”, “kingdom of animals”, and “kingdom of minerals”. One of China’s best teas -Puer tea is grown in Simao and Puer. Through out the province many of the medicinal plants and herbs that make Yunnan a center for traditional Chinese medicine are cultivated and grown.
Prehistoric Period
Yunnan is clearly one of the original hotbeds of evolutionary change. Fossil remnants of our pre- human ancestors were discovered in 1955. They dated back about 10 million years. These ape like but erect hominoids inhabited the area stretching from Yuanmou in central Yunnan to Kaiyun in the south. The Yuanmou Ape Man, discovered in 1965 during construction of the Kunming-Chengdu railway is the earliest human fossil remains found in China and Asia, and marks the beginning of Chinese history. Major dinosaur findings have also been uncovered in Lufeng, Jinning and Dianchi Lake.
Dinosaur Museum Lufeng
Many thousands of years past with no written history or archeological evidence to show who the original inhabitants of Yunnan were or how they lived. During the Paleolithic Age (30,000 to12,000 BC) Yunnan’s inhabitants used simple tools, lived in caves and had mastered the use of fire. With the coming of the Neolithic Age (12000 BC to 2000 BC) evidence of agriculture, home building, art and music emerged. Both the Yangshao and Longshan cultures existed during this period.
The Kingdom of Dian and the Xia Dynasty
In 1955 archeologists discovered a Bronze Age civilization dating back to 1200 BC at the south end of Lake Dianchi. This kingdom was known as Dian. Their historical roots are linked to the first ruling family in China’s history, the Xia Dynasty which was founded in the 21st century BC. During this period Yunnan was comprised of southwestern tribes such as the Dian, Mimo, Zuodu, Sui, the Kunming and the Laojin; ancestors of many ethnic groups found in Yunnan today.
Yunnan first entered greater Chinese history around the 3rd century BC during the Warring States Period 481 BC – 212 BC. About 280 BC, General Zhuang Qiao from the Chu Kingdom located in the Yangtze River Valley, invaded Yunnan and the southwest province. The war lasted ten years during which time the Chu general conquered the tribes and unified the Dianchi area. When it was time for General Zhuang Qiao and his army to return home they found their path blocked by Chu’s military rivals. General Zhuang Qiao crowned himself King of Dian and settled in the area. For more than two hundred years the general’s descendants ruled Dian. Over time the Chu invaders assimilated and intermarried into the local tribes, bringing with them the more-advanced culture of the Yangtze River Valley.
Yunnan became a part of Chinese dynastic history during the first unification of China at the onset of the Qin Dynasty 221 BC – 206 BC. The first Emperor of the Qin Dynasty, Li Bin, the governor of Shu (present day Sichuan Province), built a path called the “Five-chi-wide road” (1m=3chi) that began in Yibin of Sichuan Province and ended in Qujing of Yunnan Province. The Qin court sent officials to Yunnan to administer this area, thus incorporating Yunnan into unified China. These policies were carried on and further improved during the Han Dynasty.
Yunnan History & Dynastic Timeline
Xia Dynasty 2070BC – 1600BC
Zhou Dynasty 1046BC – 221BC
Qin Dynasty 221BC – 206BC
Han Dynasty 202BC – 220AD
East Han Dynasty 25AD – 220AD
Shui Dynasty 581AD – 618AD
Tang Dynasty 618AD – 907AD
Yuan Dynasty 1271AD – 1368AD
Ming Dynasty 1368AD – 1644AD
Qing Dynasty 1644AD – 1911AD
The Han Dynasty
The first official record of Yunnan was contained in a report to Emperor Wudin of the Han dynasty that clouds were seen in the southwestern area, thus the name Yunnan, meaning South of the Clouds. During the Han Dynasty a large silk trade had been established with Europe and the Roman Empire. Much of this trade was conducted along the Southwest Silk Road, which extended from Yunnan to India. In order to insure security and control, the Emperor sent his army into Yunnan to quell resistance and opposition from local tribes especially the Kunming Nationality in the Erhai area. Even with the acceptance and support of the high court of the Dian Kingdom, this campaign ultimately failed. After the fall of the Han Dynasty, southern tribes seized power.
Han Map
Sui and Tang Dynasties
At the dawn of the eight-century six princes ruled the southwest. One of the six tribes, the Nanzhou emerged as the most powerful. They inhabited the area around Erhai Lake in present day Dali and were probably descendants of the modern Yi people. In 732 one of the princes, Nan Zhao, with the assistance of the Tang dynasty killed his five rivals, appropriated their land and united all of the tribes. In 738 Emperor Xuanzong appointed PiLuoge to be the King of Yunnan ,symbolizing the founding of the kingdom of Nanzhou.
The original capital of the Nanzhao Kingdom was located in Weishan (within Dali Prefecture) and later moved to sites around the Erhai lake. The Kingdom of Nanzhao lasted for 247 years with 13 successive kings. During it’s 247 years the Nanzhao Kingdom remained loyal to the Tang Court and acted as an outpost of the Tang Empire against Tibet. Later in 973 Duan Siping, chief of the Bai, overthrew Nanzhao and founded the Dali kingdom, which became the political center of Yunnan and lasted for 315 years with 22 successive kings.Dali was then the political centre of Yunnan.
Yuan Dynasty
In 1253 Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan sent his Mongolian army to conquer the Kingdom of Dali. When the Dali Kingdom fell, the local population fled both west and south. This left a large depopulated and barren area. Kublai Khan filled this void with Muslim mercenaries and troops for both political and strategic reasons. Yunnan thus became a land of foreigners, Muslim, Mongol and remnants of indigenous tribes. Kublai Khan’s regime was the first to establish strict administrative controls over Yunnan. The Yuan government established eleven provinces in China of which Yunnan was one. Since then Yunnan has been a provincial administration, and the capital was moved from Dali to Kunming. After the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty Yunnan fell into a state of chaos and anarchy.
 
Kublai Khan Genghis Khan
Ming Dynasty
In 1368, the Ming emperor Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. In Yunnan, the Ming army killed or drove out all of the foreigners but for a few of the Muslim groups. In 1381 the Ming government commanded its troops to enter and take control of Yunnan. Many people then immigrated here to the open wastelands. From that point forward the Han people became the majority group in Yunnan, while other ethnic groups fell into the minority. The Ming helps to develop Yunnan’s mining and metallurgy industries especially silver and copper. As part of their administrative strategy, the Ming dismissed local officials that were from ethnic minorities and offered their posts to the Han.
Strangely enough, the most famous and successful navigator and explorer of the Ming Dynasty were a Muslim and member of the Hui people. Zheng He (1371-1435) visited 39 countries reaching as far as the East coast of Africa. He was instrumental in developing cultural and economic ties between China and other Asian and African countries, and was regarded as a wonder in the world history of exploration. He personally led seven exploratory voyages. The fleet was composed of 200 ships, the largest of which was 147meters long and 60 meters wide, with a crew of one thousand men. This voyage remains a wonder to the western navigators even 500 years later.
 
Zheng He Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the second time in Chinese history that China was ruled by the Manchu Nationality . The first time was during the Yuan Dynasty when China was controlled by the Mongols. The Qing Dynasty was founded by the Manchus, a semi-nomadic people from northeastern China. Taking advantage of the political instability and popular rebellions against the Ming dynasty, the armed forces of the Manchus launched a military action into the Ming capital of Beijing in 1644, and overthrew the Qing dynasty. However, in Yunnan the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, led to a Southern Ming regime headed by Zhu Youlang for a short period of time. He and his followers tried to resist the Qing conquest even after the Qing capture of Kunming in 1659. Zhu and his men eventually fled to Burma to seek refuge.
In the middle of the 19th century, European imperialist powers became interested in Yunnan. By that time, the British were already well established in Burma, the French in Indochina. Both powers wanted to exploit the natural resources and substantial trade potential of Yunnan, especially the rich mineral deposits of tin and copper.
Between 1840 and 1875 Yunnan was rocked by a series of domestic and international events. Yunnan was forced to yield to British and French imperialism after China’s loss in the Opium War (1839-1842). Britain used it’s military superiority and the weakened position of the Qing government to gain certain trade concessions. In order to gain control over Yunnan mineral resources the French government forced the Qing government to approve the building of the Yunnan-Vietnam railroad which started in Kunming and ended in Hanoi which the French occupied along with the rest of Vietnam. The French’s control pf the railroad also allowed them to dominate other Yunnan transportation, the tin industry, finance, postal services and telecommunication.
The Republic of China
As a result of the revolution in 1911 led by Sun Yat Sen, the rising in Tengyue and Lin’an and the rebellion of September 9th in Kunming an end was put to the rule of the Qing Government over Yunnan and a Yunnan Military Government was established. For years to follow Yunnan descended into a period of warlordism that lasted until World War II.
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen 1866-1925
In 1937 Japan invaded China thus beginning World War II in this region. The carnage was beyond belief, with many factories, schools, universities and government agencies from both the central part of the country and the east coast moved to Yunnan. Yunnan’s strategic location made it an ideal supply hub and logistical center for military supplies that were later distributed to Allied bases through out Western China. In May of 1942, the Japanese invaded western Yunnan. The occupation lasted two years before the Japanese troops were expelled, Making Yunnan the first province in China to drive out the Japanese invaders.
In March 1950, the People’s Government of Yunnan was founded and ushered in a brand new age.
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