Yunnan located in the southwestern end of the East Asian continent, refers to "the south of the colorful clouds" in Chinese, which people's hearts are longing to visit. Yunnan is yearning for not only its unique plateau scenery, and brilliant and diverse ethnic cultures, but also its characteristic charm and endowment with unique animal and plant resources, as well as bio-geographical landscapes, all these magic aspects about Yunnan have attracted attention from the world. Yunnan, as a world garden, is a place where people yearn, and an ideal destination you can enjoy a healthy life. In Yunnan, there are magnificent mountains and rivers, beautiful natural scenery, as well as high mountains covered with snow all year round located at the southern end of the northern hemisphere. There are dense virgin forests, steep and deep canyons, and well-developed typical karst landforms, thus making Yunnan a museum of natural scenery; in particular, there are a variety of exotic and famous flowers, rare birds and animals, numerous historical sites, colorful folk customs, and mysterious ethnic cultures added infinite charm to Yunnan. "There is only one scenic spot in Yunnan, and it is called Yunnan."In brief, Yunnan is not only the"Kingdom of Fauna", "Kingdom of Flora", and "Species Gene Bank" but also the"World Garden". This is because: Yunnan presents a unique geographical foundation and diverse ecological environment. 

Yunnan is located between 97º31' to 106°11' east longitude and 21°8' to 29º15' north latitude. The province covers an area of more than 394,000 square kilometers. The whole terrain runs in a stepped manner with high northwest and low southeast. The terrain is stereoscopic and distributed into 3 levels, forming a giant staircase, which gradually decreases from north to south. From the highest point at Kawagebo Peak, 6740 meters above sea level, to the lowest point at the junction of Yuanjiang River and Nanxi River, 76.4 meters above sea level, the distance from north to south is 960 kilometers, and the elevation difference is around 6663.6 meters, with an average drop of 6 meters per square kilometer. Yunnan is a border province with complex, diverse, and unique natural conditions in China so does its complicated ecological environment.

Yunnan happens to be at the junction of three natural geographic regions (namely, the East Asian monsoon region, the Tibetan Plateau region, and the tropical monsoon region of South Asia and Southeast Asia) in the south and southeast of Asia, with obvious differences. Under the control and influence of the two different monsoons aforementioned and the south branch westerly wind, it has formed notable regional climatic characteristics and extremely diverse three-dimensional climate types. There are different types of climates such as hot and humid, dry-cold, dry-heat, and humid-cold within the territory spanning 8 latitudes and embracing seven climate zones ranging from the typically hot and humid climate in Hainan Province to the typical humid and cold climate in Heilongjiang Province. 

It is impossible to find similar diversified and extremely complex climate types in any other place in the world. Yunnan hosts a wealth of ecosystem types, including all types of ecosystems on the earth except oceans and deserts. There are 476 ecosystem types, including tropical forests, broad-leaved forests, coniferous forests, bamboo forests, shrubs, meadows, deserts, wetlands, and other ecosystems. There are a total of 14 vegetation types and 37 vegetation sub-types, accounting for 60% of the total 796 ecosystem types in China.

Reference: Yunnan: Colorful Garden of the World

Photo Resource: Unsplash

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