Word: yunnan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Imagine my surprise, then, when option C (the Beijing Olympics) bombed in the southwestern province of Yunnan. Thousands of kilometers away from Beijing, Yunnan is home to members of nearly half of China's 56 ethnic groups. Culturally, many of the province's citizens have more in common with their Burmese and Laotian neighbors than they do with the Han majority that makes up most of China. Indeed, the Chinese proverb "The mountains are high, and the emperor is far away" seems tailor-made for the people of Yunnan...
...Nevertheless, China is nowhere near as unified as foreigners - or even "we Chinese" - assume. Narrowly, this means that the people of Yunnan have little interest in a certain sporting event that will commence on August 8, 2008. One Yunnan truck driver, when asked about the Olympics, just shook his head in disgust. "So much money is being wasted," he said, the first time I'd heard someone in China refer so negatively to the Summer Games. "It's not going to make my life any better. Why should I care...
...broader level, though, the Olympic apathy in Yunnan points to a more troubling trend of rising regionalism at the expense of central-government authority. The Chinese know their history well: Beset by warlords, the Middle Kingdom suffered a multitude of fractious eras, including a brutal multi-century stretch known as the Warring States Period...
...wasn't thinking about any of that when I mistakenly tried to ingratiate myself in Yunnan by bringing up the Olympics. But it did make me sympathetic to a dejected vendor sitting idly by her stall as nearby competitors did brisk business selling ethnic-themed tourist trinkets. Her wares? Olympic key chains and stuffed toys modeled after the Beijing 2008 mascot. "No business today," she sighed. "Maybe tomorrow...
...currency. In Chiang Saen, signs in Chinese read CALL CHINA FOR ONLY 12 BAHT A MINUTE. A sign outside the Glory Lotus hotel advertises CLEAN, CHEAP ROOMs in Chinese. It is not aid from the U.S. but trade with China--carried on new highways being built from Kunming in Yunnan province to Hanoi, Mandalay and Bangkok, or along a Mekong River whose channels are full of Chinese goods--that is transforming much of Southeast Asia...