Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture
Xishuangbanna Prefecture | |
|---|---|
| Chinese transcription(s) | |
| • Characters | 西双版纳傣族自治州 |
| • Pinyin | Xīshuāngbǎnnà dǎizú Zìzhìzhōu |
.png) Location of Xishuangbanna Prefecture within Yunnan province of China | |
| Country | China |
| Province | Yunnan |
| GB/T 2260 CODE[1] | 532800 |
| Admin HQ | Jinghong |
| Admin units | |
| Area | |
• Total | 19,700 km2 (7,600 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• Total | 993,397 |
| • Density | 50/km2 (130/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (China Standard Time) |
| Postal code | 666100[2] |
| Area code | 0691[2] |
| Website | xsbn.gov.cn |
| 1Yunnan Statistics Bureau [1] 2Yunnan Portal [2] | |
Xishuangbanna (or Sipsongpanna, Tai Lü:ᦈᦹᧈᦈᦹᧈᦵᦋᦲᧁᦘᦱᦉᦱᦺᦑ᧑᧒ᦗᧃᦓᦱ /ʦɯ˧˥ʦɯ˧˥ʦəu˧ pʰaː˥˩saː˥tai˥˩ sip˥sɔŋ˥ pan˥˩naː˥˩/, Chinese: 西双版纳傣族自治州; pinyin: Xīshuāngbǎnnà dǎizú Zìzhìzhōu) is an autonomous prefecture in Yunnan Province, China. The capital city is Jinghong, the largest settlement in the area and one that straddles the Mekong River, called the Lancang River in Chinese.
Name
The native Thai name Sípsɔ́ng literally means "twelve" and Pǎnnǎ literally means "thousand rice fields (千亩)". So Sípsɔ́ŋpǎnnǎ = "twelve thousand rice fields".
| Xishuangbanna | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 西雙版納 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 西双版纳 | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Former Chinese names | |||||||||||
| Chinese | 1. 車里 2. 允景洪 | ||||||||||
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| Thai name | |||||||||||
| Thai | สิบสองพันนา or สิบสองปันนา (IPA: [sìpsɔ̌ːŋpānnāː]) | ||||||||||
| Tai Lü name | |||||||||||
| Tai Lü | ᧑᧒ᦗᧃᦓᦱ (IPA: [sípsɔ́ŋpǎnnǎː]) | ||||||||||
| Hani name | |||||||||||
| Hani | Xisual banaq | ||||||||||
| Akha name | |||||||||||
| Akha | Sǐsǎwpâna | ||||||||||
Administrative subdivisions
Xishuangbanna governs one county-level city and two counties.
- County-level city: Jinghong
- Counties: Menghai County, Mengla County
Geography
The prefecture has an area of 19,700 km². Xishuangbanna is the home of the Dai people. The region sits at a lower altitude than most of Yunnan, and has a tropical climate. It is fast becoming a sought after tourist destination.
Biodiversity
Xishuangbanna harbors much of the biodiversity of Yunnan Province, which harbors much of the biodiversity of China. Its tropical climate and its remoteness until recent times accounts for this. In addition to an abundance of plants, Xishuangbanna is home to the last few Asian elephants still in China; the species roamed over a large part of the country even as late as a few hundred years ago. The elephants are protected in a reserve, but the plant diversity is threatened by, and has for five decades been threatened by, the proliferation of rubber plantations which completely destroy the rainforest and replace it with a monoculture of trees originally from Brazil.[3]
Passiflora xishuangbannaensis is a recently discovered passionflower species that is endemic to Xishuangbanna.
Demographics
With censuses in the year 2000 Xishuangbanna had 993,397 inhabitants with a population density of 50.43 inhabitants per km².
Ethnic groups
Ethnic groups in Xishuangbanna, 2000 census
| Ethnicity | Population | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Dai | 296,930 | 29.89% |
| Han | 289,181 | 29.11% |
| Hani | 186,067 | 18.73% |
| Yi | 55,772 | 5.61% |
| Lahu | 55,548 | 5.59% |
| Blang | 36,453 | 3.67% |
| Jino | 20,199 | 2.03% |
| Yao | 18,679 | 1.88% |
| Miao | 11,037 | 1.11% |
| Bai | 5,931 | 0.6% |
| ethnic background not given | 5,640 | 0.57% |
| Hui | 3,911 | 0.39% |
| Va | 3,112 | 0.31% |
| Zhuang | 2,130 | 0.21% |
| Others | 2,807 | 0.3% |
Culture
The Six famous tea mountains region (六大茶山; pinyin: Liù Dà Chá Shān; literally, "Six major tea mountain") located in the prefecture produce some of the most highly regarded Pu-erh tea in the 20th century.
Xishuangbanna is rich in nature, historical and cultural resources, noted for its folklore, rain forests, rare plants and wildlife. Its major tourist attractions include Menglun Tropical Botanical Garden, Manfeilong Pagodas (Tanuozhuanglong), Jingzhen Pavilion, Wild Elephant Gully, Dai people's village at Ganlanba.
The well-known traditional festival is the ethnic Dai's Water-Splashing Festival. It lasts for three days from April 13 to 15. Besides the water festival event it also consists of some other events such as Dragon boat races, firing of indigenous missiles, flying Kongming Lamps.
Transport
Since the opening of the Xishuangbanna Gasa Airport (formerly "Jinghong International Airport") in 1990, traveling to Xishuangbanna by air has become more popular and convenient and there are daily flights connecting Xishuangbanna with Kunming City. The area also has air connections with Dali, Chengdu and Bangkok. The Xishuangbanna Airport is 6 km south of Jinghong City.
There are also bus routes to places all over Yunnan and neighboring provinces.
See also
References
External links
