ABSTRACT
The core objects in the tropical Yunnan borderlands often appear in historical records, travel journals, and contemporary art performances and media. From living creatures to natural and manmade objects, and from plain objects to religious ones, core objects in the tropical Yunnan borderlands demonstrate not only the features and degrees of the development of local civilisations, but also the social and cultural exchanges between the Chinese, Indian, and indigenous people. Nevertheless, in the eyes of the indigenous and non-indigenous people these objects bear different meanings due to the understanding on their ritual and functional usage in daily consumption. From 1870s until the present, cash crops such as opium and rubber trees have been the main core objects in this area, which reveals the conflicts between local economic development and ecological sustainability. Moreover, the existence of opium and rubber trees as core objects demonstrates multiple facets of the Yunnan borderlands that contradict the stereotypical tropical paradise or the remote ethnic frontier of China.
