Xishuangbanna,Rich in Ethnic and Reqional
1 min readXishuangbanna 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.
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. Xishuangbanna harbors much of the biodiversity of Yunnan Province,which harbors much of We 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 eXIsting 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 there is threatened by,and has for five decades been threatened by,the proliferation of Tubber plantations which have completely destroyed the rainforest and replaced it with a monoculture of trees originally from Brazil.
Passiflora xishuangbannaensis is a recently discovered passionflower species that is endemic to Xishuangbanna.
