Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture (Xishuangbanna in short), lies on the southwest part of Yunnan Province, is one of the minority autonomous prefectures of the province and permanently raises some multiracial residents, such as Dai, Hani, Lahu and Blang, Jino, etc. The minority nationalities account for 74 per sent of the total population in this area. Jinghong is the political, cultural and financial center of Xishuangbanna.
As one of the key tourism cities in China, Xishuangbanna is famous for its magnificent tropical rainforest scenery and traditional minority customs. Besides, its special geographical position – borders Laos and Burma, adjacent Thailand and Vietnam, made it the important access to Southeast and South Asia and the gateway of Yunnan Province opening to the outside world.
Locates at longitude 99°56' - 101°50' East, 21°08' - 22°36' North latitude, Xishuangbanna has a tropical monsoon climate, belongs to tropical humid region south of the Tropic of Cancer, with warm weather and be divided into only two seasons – the rain season and the dry season. The rain season lasts for 5 months (May to Oct), the dry season even longer – 7 months.
As approach to Indian Ocean, affected by its Southwest Monsoon, this area is warm and humid, ideal for plants grow, thus Xishuangbanna also been called “the Kingdom of Plants”. The rich rainforest covers an area of over 466.67 square kilometers. There are over 20,000 types of plants growing in this region, among them, 5,000 species are tropical plants, edible plants about 10,000 species and some of them are utilitarian materials. Xishuangbanna is the second biggest producing place of rubber.
Vast rainforest offers ideal habitat for local animals – birds of 429 species and beasts of 67 species. You can also find many rare creatures like Vulture, Indo-Chinese Tiger and Panthera Pardus, etc.
The whole region of Xishuangbannan is a famous Scenic Spot and Natural Reserve, which can be divided into 3 main parts – Jinghong City Scenic Area, Menghai County Scenic Area and Mengla Scenic Area. The whole scenic spot covers an area of over 1202.53 square kilometers.
Road, Railway and Waterway are the main methods for outer-city transport.
