A tourist would be attracted to how Yunnan sells its tourist interests. One interesting aspect this the 18 Guai or Oddities of Yunnan. At first I was not sure what it meant but as the days passed I realise that there is a lot to make us think about the unique-ness of the place.
Number 1 Eggs are sold in bundles
Free-range duck eggs or hen eggs from the countryside are tied up in longitudinal bundles with rice straw or thin bamboo strips – this protects them on the journey to market.
No 2The abundance of bamboo and rice straw in Yunnan means a thriving cottage industry manufacturing eco-friendly baskets, shoes, chairs, fans, brooms … and pot lids, most often used on rice steamers (see below).
Number 3 Three mosquitoes make up a dish
Number 5 Food called “Ear Piece”
”Ear Piece” is the literal translation of erkuai, a local culinary specialty made of processed, cooked, compressed rice. Erkuai can be boiled, stir-fried , or barbequed (kao erkuai, ) when it usually comes in the form of a circular disc smothered in a deep red mala paste of chilli, salt and Sichuan peppercorns. Another popular manifestation is ersi, finely shredded erkuai in a noodle soup.
Number 6 The same clothes are worn for all four seasons
Seasonal weather variations are not very marked throughout most of Yunnan (except perhaps the very north and northwest). In fact the province likes to boast of its “Eternal Spring”-like climate, so people tend not to bother dressing themselves with distinct seasonal clothing.
Another Odditiy should be mentioned here: Girls wear flowers in all four seasons. Flowers bloom throughout the year, and the floral industry is one of the economic mainstays of the Kunming area. The same goes for fruit and vegetables, most of which can be grown year-round thanks to vast fields of poly-tunnels on the outskirts of the provincial capital.
Number 7 Rain here but sunshine there
Although seasonal climate variations are relatively small in Yunnan, the local weather conditions can be very changeable, especially during the summer rainy season, when thunderstorms can affect one side of a mountain and not the other. An old saying says: “Weather varies within a circumference of 10 li (5 km) and winter comes when it rains”. Interestingly, one might think that this Oddity implies an abundance of rainbows, but this is not the case. There can be plenty of simultaneous rain and sunshine, but because of Yunnan’s low latitude the sun is usually high in the sky, arcing at high speed to or from the horizon. It’s never at a low enough angle for long enough to provide decent odds for rainbow viewing!
Number 8 Cars travel in the cloudsAlthough seasonal climate variations are relatively small in Yunnan, the local weather conditions can be very changeable, especially during the summer rainy season, when thunderstorms can affect one side of a mountain and not the other. An old saying says: “Weather varies within a circumference of 10 li (5 km) and winter comes when it rains”. Interestingly, one might think that this Oddity implies an abundance of rainbows, but this is not the case. There can be plenty of simultaneous rain and sunshine, but because of Yunnan’s low latitude the sun is usually high in the sky, arcing at high speed to or from the horizon. It’s never at a low enough angle for long enough to provide decent odds for rainbow viewing!
With its steep mountainous terrain, Yunnan is home to many steep winding roads which pass high over the mist-covered mountains, though many of these time-consuming routes are now being replaced by high-speed “expressways” with tunnels, sweeping viaducts and impressively high bridges. Another travel-related Oddity is Cars move faster than trains: the fact that car travel can be much faster than the limited opportunity for travelling by train in Yunnan. This is really a reference to the tortuous (and slow) narrow-guage line from Kunming to Hanoi in Vietnam, built by the French and completed in 1910. Another mention of this railway line is made by the Oddity Trains go abroad but not inland, reminding us of the fact that this line was, for 50 years, Yunnan's only rail link with the outside world. The "inland" line from Kunming to Chengdu was only finished in 1960.
No 9. Green vegetable is called "Bitter Vegetable"
The fast growing annual vine, the balsam pear, grows well in the Yunnan climate. It’s a weird looking sight at summer markets, like a lurid green cucumber with a feathered or corrugated skin of longitudinal ridges and furrows. The Chinese name is ku gua, “bitter gourd”, and indeed the taste is a little bitter. It gained its reputation from traditional Chinesemedicine, which holds that bitter foods have a cooling effect on the body’s internal heat. A plate of stir-fried ku gua may be ordered at a dinner "because it's good for you" - and to maintain the correct yin-yang balance of the meal. Typically, however, hardly any is eaten, and it ends up in the pigswill bucket, along with the other unappealing dishes of stringy roots or slimy rice porridge which were ordered for similar "medicinal" purposes!
Green vegetable is called "Bitter Vegetable"
Number 11 Toes are exposed all year round
Another climate-related Oddity, this refers to the inhabitants in some mountain areas going about their daily work barefoot (or wearing simple open-toed rice straw shoes). The year-round mild weather enables this. In the poorest, remotest villages it is still possible to see some of the older generation tending their fields in this manner.
Number 12 Girls carry tobacco bags
Women of the Lisu minority nationality are fond of smoking and chewing tobacco, and hangembroidered pouches from their waistbelts to hold the leaf. The bags have become part of their cultural identity and national costume, and are often exchanged as gifts.
Women of the Lisu minority nationality are fond of smoking and chewing tobacco, and hangembroidered pouches from their waistbelts to hold the leaf. The bags have become part of their cultural identity and national costume, and are often exchanged as gifts.
Number 13 Everyone craves “Across-the-Bridge Noodles”
This is the most famous dish in Yunnanese cuisine and is extremely popular with locals, especially in Kunming where there are numerous dedicated restaurants. The dish is similar to a hotpot or Swiss bouillon fondue, except that the meat stock (of chicken, pork and duck) is kept boiling hot by a thin layer of oil on top of the soup. The ingredients are added by the diner: wafer thin slices of huotui ham and fish; raw quails eggs; yan caipickled vegetable; lotus root; lettuce leaf; mushrooms (wood ear and cauliflower fungus);xiang su deep fried battered pork fat slices; doufu pi tofu skin; and of course mixian rice noodles.
This is the most famous dish in Yunnanese cuisine and is extremely popular with locals, especially in Kunming where there are numerous dedicated restaurants. The dish is similar to a hotpot or Swiss bouillon fondue, except that the meat stock (of chicken, pork and duck) is kept boiling hot by a thin layer of oil on top of the soup. The ingredients are added by the diner: wafer thin slices of huotui ham and fish; raw quails eggs; yan caipickled vegetable; lotus root; lettuce leaf; mushrooms (wood ear and cauliflower fungus);xiang su deep fried battered pork fat slices; doufu pi tofu skin; and of course mixian rice noodles.
According to legend, the dish was created by a resourceful wife in the SE Yunnan town of Mengzi whose daily task it was to provide her scholar husband with a hot lunch. The problem was that he worked on an island in the middle of a distant lake, accessed by a long wooden bridge, and she was constantly frustrated by his complaints about cold food. One day she accidently discovered the heat-retentive properties of soup topped by a layer of oil – and the rest is history!
Number 14 Grannies climb mountains faster than monkeys
Yunnanese women, especially those of the Naxi minority nationality (below right), have a reputation for being hard-working, diligent and business-minded. Even in old age they are physically fit, thinking nothing of putting in a hard day’s labour in the fields (below left) or collecting firewood and great bundles of pine needles in the mountain forests. The Oddity Children are raised by men is another reference to women taking on tasks traditionally carried out by the male population. Men often stay at home to look after the young children (in between drinking baijiu, and playing cards or mahjong with their mates!). Does this sound like a familiar scenario?!
Yunnanese women, especially those of the Naxi minority nationality (below right), have a reputation for being hard-working, diligent and business-minded. Even in old age they are physically fit, thinking nothing of putting in a hard day’s labour in the fields (below left) or collecting firewood and great bundles of pine needles in the mountain forests. The Oddity Children are raised by men is another reference to women taking on tasks traditionally carried out by the male population. Men often stay at home to look after the young children (in between drinking baijiu, and playing cards or mahjong with their mates!). Does this sound like a familiar scenario?!
Number 15 Rice is cooked in a bamboo tube
A very popular street-food in Xishuangbanna is the Dai speciality zhutong fan – slightly sweet sticky rice (with peanuts) steamed and barbequed in a small bamboo tube. The bamboo bark is cut away and the inner wood can be peeled back in strips to reveal the succulent and tasty rice inside, held together by the bamboo tube’s inner membrane. It’s also known as xiang zhu fan, after xiang zhu, the special thin, wide-jointed, variety of bamboo used. In the Dai language this is known as “rice cooking bamboo”. The secret of xiang zhu – the onion-skin of fragrant membrane lining the stem - is only revealed when finally eating the rice. After cooking, the tube is beaten to loosen the membrane, the bamboo bark is cut away and the inner wood can be peeled back in strips to reveal the succulent and tasty rice inside, held together by the bamboo tube’s inner skin. Xiang zhu bamboo matures over the winter months, so keep a look out for zhutong fan between the months of October and February.
A very popular street-food in Xishuangbanna is the Dai speciality zhutong fan – slightly sweet sticky rice (with peanuts) steamed and barbequed in a small bamboo tube. The bamboo bark is cut away and the inner wood can be peeled back in strips to reveal the succulent and tasty rice inside, held together by the bamboo tube’s inner membrane. It’s also known as xiang zhu fan, after xiang zhu, the special thin, wide-jointed, variety of bamboo used. In the Dai language this is known as “rice cooking bamboo”. The secret of xiang zhu – the onion-skin of fragrant membrane lining the stem - is only revealed when finally eating the rice. After cooking, the tube is beaten to loosen the membrane, the bamboo bark is cut away and the inner wood can be peeled back in strips to reveal the succulent and tasty rice inside, held together by the bamboo tube’s inner skin. Xiang zhu bamboo matures over the winter months, so keep a look out for zhutong fan between the months of October and February.
Number 16 Keys are hung on waist belts
Dai women in Xishuangbanna wear long, colourfully patterned skirts held at the waist by silver belts. As a traditional custom married women sometimes hang keys from their belt, a symbol which indicates that they run the family household.
Number 17 Monks can have love affairs
The NW Yunnan highlands around Zhongdian and Deqin are predominantly Tibetan in culture. Buddhist monks in this region, like in Tibet itself, are not required to hold to a celibate lifestyle (though many of course do). It is thought that this practice is influenced by the fact that many families send a son to the local monastery on a temporary basis, and after his religious duties and education are completed, the young man invariably returns to secular life and marriage.
Number 18 Small, lean horses are hard-working
Hardy mountain ponies have been used for centuries to transport goods through the mountainous Yunnan terrain. Most famously, bricks of Pu’er tea were carried in caravans on the Cha Ma Gu Dao (Ancient Tea Horse Trail) from the tea-producing areas of Simao and Xishuangbanna to the outside world: north-east to Beijing; north-west to Tibet; south to Laos and Thailand; southwest to Burma and India. These caravans of horses provided quite a stir in the southern countries, as the population there were more used to seeing oxen or elephants as beasts of burden. In fact this led to the Thais referring to the (mostly Muslim) Yunnanese as jiin haw, “Galloping Chinese”.
Hardy mountain ponies have been used for centuries to transport goods through the mountainous Yunnan terrain. Most famously, bricks of Pu’er tea were carried in caravans on the Cha Ma Gu Dao (Ancient Tea Horse Trail) from the tea-producing areas of Simao and Xishuangbanna to the outside world: north-east to Beijing; north-west to Tibet; south to Laos and Thailand; southwest to Burma and India. These caravans of horses provided quite a stir in the southern countries, as the population there were more used to seeing oxen or elephants as beasts of burden. In fact this led to the Thais referring to the (mostly Muslim) Yunnanese as jiin haw, “Galloping Chinese”.
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