Yunnan

Yunnan is a province in Southern China, bordered by Sichuan on the North, Guizhou and Guangdong on the East, Vietnam and Laos on the South, and Myanmar and Tibet on the West.

The capital of Yunnan is the city of Kunming, which is also its largest city. The majority of the population lives in the East of the province, as the West is quite mountainous.

The first records of the province date back to 200BC, when the then Han dynasty of China first recorded dealing with the people of the area. Around the year 800, it became part of the kingdom of Nanzhao until it was taken over by invading Mongolians in the 13th century. The area was ruled by local warlords until it was eventually joined into the rest of China after the Second World War. Being rather isolated and distant from the rest of China, it became a popular place for wartime refugees to escape to from across China, and as a result is the most ethnically diverse province in the country.

In the interest of national unity, Chinese provinces do not have provincial flags.

The name Yunnan comes from the Pinyin name for the province (云南 - yun + nan). The yun character translates to "cloud", and the nan character means "South". Probably named this because it is a Southern province, and the mountainous Western portion of the province is quite elevated, or in the clouds.