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Yunnan, China

Yunnan Province
云南省
Province
Name transcription(s)
 • Chinese 云南省 (Yúnnán Shěng)
 • Abbreviation (Diān)
Also: / (Yún)
Map showing the location of Yunnan Province
Map showing the location of Yunnan Province
Coordinates: 25°03′N 101°52′E / 25.050°N 101.867°E / 25.050; 101.867Coordinates: 25°03′N 101°52′E / 25.050°N 101.867°E / 25.050; 101.867
Capital Kunming
Largest city Kunming
Divisions 16 prefectures, 129 counties, 1565 townships
Government
 • Secretary Chen Hao
 • Governor Ruan Chengfa
Area
 • Total 394,000 km2 (152,000 sq mi)
Area rank 8th
Population (2010)
 • Total 45,966,239
 • Rank 12th
 • Density 120/km2 (300/sq mi)
 • Density rank 24th
Demographics
 • Ethnic composition Han – 67%
Yi – 11%
Bai – 3.6%
Hani – 3.4%
Zhuang – 2.7%
Dai – 2.7%
Miao – 2.5%
Hui – 1.5%
Tibetan – 0.3%
De'ang (Ta'ang)-0.19%
 • Languages and dialects Southwestern Mandarin;
25 ethnic minority languages
ISO 3166 code CN-53
GDP (2013) CNY 1.2 trillion
USD 191 billion (24th)
 • per capita CNY 25,500
USD 4,000 (30th)
HDI (2010) 0.609 (medium) (29th)
Website www.yn.gov.cn
Yunnan
Yunnan (Chinese characters).svg
"Yunnan" in Simplified (top) and Traditional (bottom) Chinese characters
Simplified Chinese 云南
Traditional Chinese 雲南
Literal meaning "South of the Yun[ling Mountains]"

Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country. It spans approximately 394,000 square kilometres (152,000 sq mi) and has a population of 45.7 million in 2009. The capital of the province is Kunming, formerly also known as Yunnan. The province borders Vietnam, Laos, and Burma.

Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with high elevations in the northwest and low elevations in the southeast. Most of the population lives in the eastern part of the province. In the west, the altitude can vary from the mountain peaks to river valleys as much as 3,000 metres (9,800 ft). Yunnan is rich in natural resources and has the largest diversity of plant life in China. Of the approximately 30,000 species of higher plants in China, Yunnan has perhaps 17,000 or more. Yunnan's reserves of aluminium, lead, zinc and tin are the largest in China, and there are also major reserves of copper and nickel.

The Han Empire first recorded diplomatic relations with the province at the end of the 2nd century BC. It became the seat of a Sino-Tibetan-speaking kingdom of Nanzhao in the 8th centuryAD. Nanzhao was multi-ethnic, but the elite most-likely spoke a northern dialect of Yi. The Mongols conquered the region in the 13th century, with local control exercised by warlords until the 1930s. From the Yuan dynasty onward, the area was part of a central-government sponsored population movement towards the Southwestern frontier, with 2 major waves of migrants arriving from Han-majority areas in northern and southeast China. As with other parts of China's southwest, Japanese occupation in the north during World War II forced another migration of majority Han people into the region. These two wave of migration contributed to Yunnan being one of the most ethnically diverse provinces of China, with ethnic minorities accounting for about 34 percent of its total population. Major ethnic groups include Yi, Bai, Hani, Zhuang, Dai and Miao.


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