Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture is in the south of Yunnan Province, inhabiting the far southern reaches of China near the neighboring countries of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand. As a stopping point on the Ancient Tea-horse Road, it has been a cultural center for millennia.
Xishuangbanna is known for its lush tropical landscapes, and its landscapes also harbor the cultural richness of the 13 ethnic minorities that live in the area, including the Dai, Han, Hani, Lahu, Yi, Bulang, Jinuo, Yao, Miao, Hui, Wa, Zhuang and Jingpo peoples.
At Dai Park you can immerse yourself in the lives of the Dai people. The park has five villages, Manjiang, Manchunman, Mancha, Manting and Manga, where you can see thousands of years of accumulated culture, as well as some of the most breathtaking natural landscapes in the world, including subtropical courtyards that are fragrant with flowers and fruits. You can observe the customs and rituals of the mysterious Theravada Buddhist culture, including its spectacular "Water-sprinkling Festival".
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden is a top-rated scenic tourist area that is the largest botanical garden in China, offering the largest number of species of plants, with more than 12,000. It also 38 plant parks, the largest number of anywhere in China. Every year it attracts about 700,000 visitors, including tourists, scholars, students and researchers.
In Mengjinglai you can experience the cultural cross fertilization between the ethnic cultures of China and Myanmar (Burma). Also in Mengjinglai you can see the Manting Imperial Garden, which displays the cultural and ethnic diversity of Xishuangbanna.
The Lancang River, known as “the Danube of the Orient” runs through Xishuangbanna, and it is home to tropical rainforest and some of the world’s great pristine ancestral forest land with the greatest biodiversity in all of China, including many species of unforgettable and charismatic animals, such as the Asian elephant, which can be seen up close in Wild Elephant Valley.
In Xishuangbanna morning is broken with bells and drums and Pattra-Leaf Scripture. At dawn, the marketplace of the Dai people on the bank of Lancang River begins to stir and soon is bustling.
Rainforest Valley is a scenic area that is part of the Menglun Protection area of Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve, where many visitors come to learn about ecology and to see the fantastic natural scenery.
Mengyuan Wonderland scenic area is located in the northwest of Mengla County is also a site of many natural wonders, with dense tropical rainforest and Buffalo Cave, a karst caves that you can go into and see its stalactites and stalagmites, stone pillars and stone flowers, and many strange underworld sights.
The wonders to see in Xishuangbanna are too numerous to list. It’s an enchanted natural fairyland, once seen, never forgotten.
