The Chinese Government’s five-year strategy for social and economic development to 2015 includes the aim of making the southwestern province of Yunnan a bridgehead for ‘opening the country’ to southeast Asia and south Asia. Yunnan - A Chinese Bridgehead to Asia traces the dynamic process which has led to this policy goal, a process through which Yunnan is being repositioned from a southwestern periphery of the People’s Republic of China to a ‘bridgehead’ between China and its regional neighbours. It shows how this has been expressed in ideas and policy frameworks, involvement in regional institutions, infrastructure development, and changing trade and investment flows, from the 1980s to the present.Detailing the wider context of the changes in China's global interactions, especially in Asia, the book uses Yunnan's case to demonstrate the extent of provincial agency in global interactions in reform-era China, and provides new insights into both China’s relationships with its Asian neighbours and the increasingly important economic engagement between developing countries. Offers a new perspective on Yunnan Contains historical depth: understanding the background and developments over time means that this ‘China watching’ book will not date quickly Takes a provincial view of China’s international relations

This book examines how the Ming state transformed the multi-ethnic society of Yunnan into a province. Yunnan had remained outside the ambit of central government when ruled by the Dali kingdom, 937-1253, and its foundation as a province by the Yuan regime in 1276 did not disrupt Dali kingdom style political, social and religious institutions. It was the Ming state in the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries through its institutions for military and civilian control which brought about profound changes and truly transformed local society into a province. In contrast to other studies which have portrayed Yunnan as a non-Han frontier region waiting to be colonised, this book, by focusing on changes in local society, casts off the idea of Yunnan as a border area far from civilisation. Chapters 1, 2, and 5 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

From the yaks which graze at altitudes so high that vegetables cannot grow, to the tropical south where market stalls brim with brilliant red chilies. Yunnan, an exotic, mountainous land which borders Tibet, Sichuan, Burma, Vietnam and Laos, is the most bio-diverse province in China. It is also the most culturally rich. Each ethnic minority has its own distinct cuisine, aromas and flavors-all brought together for the first time in this unique cookbook.

With comparative frontier history and pioneering use of indigenous sources, Giersch provides a groundbreaking challenge to the China-centered narrative of the Qing conquest. He focuses on the Tai domains of the Yunnan frontier on the politically fluid borderlands, where local, indigenous leaders were crucial actors in an arena of imperial rivalry.

From the famed Crossing the Bridge Noodles to dishes like spiced chicken grilled in banana leaves, Cooking South of the Clouds will introduce cooks to a side of Chinese cooking still relatively unknown outside of the country itself. China's Yunnan Province is the most geographically, biologically and ethnically diverse region in China.Stretching from the Himalayan plateau to the subtropics, the province is home to thousands of species of plants and animals as well as twenty-four of China's minority groups. As a result, Yunnan is one of the most culinary interesting and delicious places on earth, with a wide variety of cuisines and flavours all packed into one small province. Each chapter in the book covers a different area featuring its classic recipes such as Tibetan momo dumplings from the north, grilled chicken with chillies and fresh herbs and the famed 'crossing-the-bridge' noodles from the south, fried rice with ham, potatoes, and peas from the east and roasted eggplant salad with tomatoes and herbs from the west, near the Burmese border. Complete with profiles of local cooks, artisans and farmers, as well as breath-taking location photography, Cooking South of the Clouds takes you on an unforgettable journey through the land of Shangri-La and presents a whole new world of flavours.

This is volume III of six in a series on the Sociology of East Asia. Originally published in 1949, Study of Rural Economy in Yunnan.