ABSTRACT
Yunnan is often characterized as a land “south of the clouds,” a culturally and geographically diverse frontier remote from the national center. 1 But it is also portrayed as a province of great strategic and resource value to the nation-state of China. 2 Contemporary tourism – a “pillar of development” in Yunnan – trades on both these images, promoting a region that is accessible but exotic, comfortably Chinese, and yet not very Chinese at all. Such images reflect a regional history of conflict and cooperation with the center, as well as periods of relative independence and fluctuating interaction across borders.
