Article from Yunnan Daily

In everyone's heart, there is a Yunnan dream, and every corner of Yunnan has a many splendoured life.

This land boasts the world's most complex and unique terrain, giving rise to a myriad of climate types. Nourished by this fertile soil, it also imparts rich cultural significance to all living things.

Come to Yunnan and experience "Yunnan, a many splendoured life.” Feel the breathtaking natural scenery and the rich ethnic customs. The weather here feels like perpetual spring, with flowers blooming throughout the four seasons. Stepping into Yunnan is like stepping into eternal spring.

So, where does the sentence “Yunnan, a many splendoured life” come from?

(VI) Poetic Dwelling

"Peach blossoms by the flowing water, transcending the mortal realm; cloud shadows and moss traces, forming the years." In everyone's heart, there is a dream of Yunnan.

"Peach blossoms by the flowing water, transcending the mortal realm; cloud shadows and moss traces, forming the years." In everyone's heart, there is a dream of Yunnan.

In the late spring of Yunnan, it feels like rediscovering the books read in those years. "The weather is often like March or April, with flower branches continuously blooming in all four seasons." "Thousand-year plum blossoms, a thousand feet deep pond, the spring breeze arrives first in colorful Yunnan." It makes people feel the breath of spring coming towards them, as if there is a vivid and lively scroll unfolding slowly before their eyes.

In ancient times, people sought harmony with nature in poetic dwellings, amidst mountains and waters, and throughout the seasons. Today, in Yunnan, the mutual support of "pleasing to the eyes" and "pleasing to the heart" has become a kind of poetic life.

At an altitude of three thousand six hundred metres, in Songzan Meili Mountain Residence, you can linger in the scenery of your choice, naturally falling asleep and waking up. When the first ray of morning sunlight spills down, illuminating the Meili snow peak, and a breathtaking golden light descends from the sky, replacing the original cold colors of the snow mountain with the warm hues of rosy clouds, everything seems like a beautiful oil painting. And you become the most devout admirer of nature.

At the shores of Lugu Lake, enveloped in the vast expanse of green, you can hold a pool of crystal-clear water, savoring the refreshing coolness under the warm sunlight. Accompanying you is not only the boundless azure lake but also the leisurely pig trough boats gliding on the rippling waves and the melodious Mosuo folk songs floating between water and sky. A serene and tranquil sensation permeates this place, creating a sense of wonderful calmness.

As Zhuangzi said in "Zhi Bei You" (Understanding the North), "Heaven and earth possess great beauty yet remain silent." Yunnan unfolds like an open book, waiting for people to "read" it with their authentic senses. The process of absorbing nutrients from this book is both a form of learning and a way of life.

In the Cambrian Explosion, supported by evidence from three shale-type biological groups worldwide, Yunnan's Chengjiang Biota is one of them. In Yuxi's Chengjiang, starting from the Chengjiang Fossil Site Natural Museum, you can traverse the miracle of the evolution of life on Earth over billions of years—Kunming, strange shrimp, bizarre insects... getting acquainted with the traces of life that once existed on Earth.

Almost all ancestors of modern animal phyla can be found at the Chengjiang Fossil Site.

From the estuary through Mengzi's Green Village to Kaiyuan, following the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, you can explore Yunnan's first railway within its borders. Along the 465 kilometres of railway tracks in our country, relive the wind, rain, and clouds of those early years: from the initial painful memories brought by humiliation and suffering to the sparks of civilization being spread and finally to the reinvigorated cultural heritage.

In the Puer tea mountains, you can explore the entire process of making tea from tea mountain to teacup. Design the cotton paper, learn tea frying and processing, create your own exclusive tea cake, and truly understand the laborious journey of a cup of tea.

You can also follow the traces of the Ancient Tea Horse Road, become a tea farmer for a day, and immerse yourself in the life of the tea-growing region, experiencing the charm of Puer tea in picking leaves, making the tea, brewing it and sipping.

"For the traveller seeking external fulfillment, one must be equipped with objects; for the introspective seeker, satisfaction is taken from within oneself." Visiting Yunnan's famous mountains and rivers, experiencing the various flavours of life, not only offers infinite scenery but also self-reflection. Through repeated self-breakthroughs, "iteratively" growing, it is a higher level of spiritual life.

Step after step, in Yunnan, while exploring the wonders of nature, cooking the flavors of everyday life, and seeking a poetic dwelling.

Yes, this kind of life is called “Yunnan, a many splendoured life.”