ABSTRACT
The biodiversity and cultural diversity of the Xishuangbanna region, in China's Yunnan province, are among the richest in the world. In recent years, scholars, government departments at different levels and the media have paid increasing attention to research on the relationship between rubber plantations and biodiversity in the region, because impacts on biodiversity from the industrialization of agriculture and forestry in Xishuangbanna are becoming increasingly serious. This chapter considers Manshan village in Xishuangbanna which is populated by Bulang people and selected for studies of the impact of rubber cultivation on cultural diversity and indigenous knowledge. A case study on Manshan village of Daluo township in Xishuangbanna's Menghai county is also presented. Swidden agriculture has been replaced by rubber plantations, and has disappeared. Swidden agriculture is now gone and much of this cultural heritage and its attendant indigenous knowledge is no longer relevant, so it is fading from memory.
