Word: yunnan
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...coincidence that the Dai, an ethnic minority concentrated in southwestern China's Yunnan province, ring in their New Year in mid-April by sprinkling each other with cold water. April is the driest month for subtropical regions like Yunnan, which depend on the coming of seasonal rains for their fertility. Historically, water-splashing has been a symbolic way of beseeching the divine to bring an end to scarcity and hasten a period of abundance. Never have the people of South China needed that abundance more than now, during the worst drought the area has seen in nearly a century...
...that edict closed off the primary revenue stream for the dozen tiger farms nationwide. The Guilin Xiongsen Tigers and Bears Mountain Village in southern Yunnan province had 400 tigers when the sales ban was enacted. In hopes the ban would be temporary, the farm continued breeding and now has 1,500 tigers. Each tiger costs roughly $9 per day to feed, which equates to nearly $5 million a year in costs for the park. The revenue the village receives from visitors is far less than that. Some facilities have turned to unusual schemes to generate extra income. At the Harbin...
...While northern China has been battered by sandstorms this spring, traditionally soggier south China has been battling drought. Premier Wen Jiabao spent the weekend touring drough-stricken villages in Yunnan province, where many areas have received half the usual rainfall. Sixteen million people in the region are now suffering drinking water shortages, according to state media. The Dai ethnic group, which is concentrated near the Burmese border in western Yunnan, has even been encouraged to cut back on the amount of water used during the upcoming Water Splashing Festival it celebrates each year to mark the arrival of spring...
...Today, penalties for harming tigers in China are harsh - a villager in Yunnan province was recently jailed for 12 years for killing and eating what might well have been the country's last wild Indochinese tiger. But the laws are patchily enforced. In December the SFA released a directive promising better protection of wild tigers and a sterner crackdown on the illegal trade. Many conservationists remain unconvinced. "We've heard these words before from China," says Mike Baltzer, leader of the World Bank - backed Global Tiger Initiative at the conservation group WWF. "We're waiting to see if they really...
...announcement on World AIDS Day that it would open its first state-sanctioned gay bar came as a shock--especially after officials divulged that $18,000 in public funds would be used to create a lounge that would offer free condoms and lectures on safe sex. The bar in Yunnan province--a region that contains nearly a quarter of China's reported HIV and AIDS cases--was set to open Dec. 1, but the launch has been delayed following an outcry over the cost to taxpayers...