Honghe Overview

Honghe Overview is a relatively comprehensive introduction to Honghe prefecture. It can help you have a more comprehensive understanding of Honghe prefecture from the basic information, geographical location, climate and so on.

Basic Information

Geography

Honghe is located in the southeast of Yunnan, nearly 265 kilometers from Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan province. It is connected with Kunming in the north, Wenshan in the east, Yuxi in the west, Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the south and the tropic of cancer runs through east-west.

Located in the southeast of Yunnan Provice, Honghe prefecture borders Vietnam. The boundary line is 848 kilometers. It is high in the northwest and low in southeast. Its terrain is divided into mountains, karst plateau, basins and river valleys four parts. The highest point of Honghe prefecture is the Xilong Mountain(西隆山) in the southwest of Jinping county, 3074.3 meters above the sea level; Lowest point is in the junction of Honghe River and Nanxi River in Hekou county, 76.4 meters above the sea level(it is also the lowest point of Yunnan). Rivers in Honghe belong to Pearl River and Honghe River basins. Drainage area of Pearl River is 12837.2 square kilometers, accounting for 39.9%; Honghe River is 19343.8 square kilometers, taking up 60.1%.

Climate

Honghe Prefecture lies in subtropical plateau monsoon climate area with a low latitude. In the Prefecture, the four seasons are not very clear, but the difference between dry and rainy season is notable. The rainfall in rainy season from May to October each year accounts for more than 80% of annual rainfall. The period of heavy rainfall intensity is from June to August and the rainfall varies from time and space. Rainy season has the characteristics of heavy rainfall intensity and long duration. Temperature varies greatly between day and night, but slightly during the whole year. 

Best Time to Visit Honghe

Without summer heat and winter chilliness, Honghe prefecture is rice in sunshine and rainfall. The southern part is wetter and warmer than the north. The temperature difference between day and night is large, but not large all year. In order to avoid the summer when rain and heat are during same period, the best time to visit Honghe prefecture is March to May and September to November. 

Administrative Divisions

Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture has jurisdiction over 4 county-level cities, 6 counties and 3 autonomous counties, including Gejiu City(个旧市), Kaiyuan City(开远市), Mengzi City(蒙自市), Mile City(弥勒市), Jianshui County(建水县), Shiping County(石屏县), Luxi County(泸西县), Yuanyang County(元阳县), Honghe County(红河县), Lvchun County(绿春县), Pingbian Miao Autonomous County(屏边苗族自治县), Jinping Miao, Yao and Dai Autonomous County(金平苗族瑶族傣族自治县) and Hekou Yao Autonomous County(河口瑶族自治县).

Main Tourist Destinations in Honghe

Yuanyang County

Yuanyang is one of the Hani minority regions of Yunnan. It is a paradise for photographers.

Attractions in Yuanyang: Yuanyang Hani Rice Terraces, Laohuzui Rice Terraces, Bada Rice Terraces, Longshuba Rice Terraces, Duoyishu Rice Terraces and Qingkou Hani Village.

Jianshui County

Jianshui, with a long history of more than 1200 years, was called Lin'an in the ancient time, it used to be a very important trading city. 

Attractions in Jianshui: Jianshui Ancient Town, Jianshui Confucius Temple, Zhu Family Garden, Shuanglong Bridge and Jianshui Swallow Cave etc.

Gejiu City

Gejiu City is the capital of Tin. There is the Grand Mosque of Shadian, which is the largest mosque in southeast China.

Attractions in Gejiu City: Shadian Grand Mosque, Jiajizhai Village Pear Blossom Valley, Baohua Park, Jinhu Lake etc.

Luxi County

Luxi County is famous for the Alu Ancient Caves, which is a few kilometers from the north of Zhongshu Town. 

Attractions in Luxi County: Alu Cave and Chengzi Ancient Village.

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Transportation

  • When you plan to Honghe Prefecture, the main transportation means to get to and get away Honghe prefecture is long-distance bus. Surely, you can also take trains to Honghe prefecture. Airports in Mengzi City, Mile City and Yuanyang County are under plan and construction. With the development of online ticketing service, you can book tickets online in advance.
  • When you are in Honghe Prefecture, you can take a taxi or bus to get around. If you want to travel between cities and counties, you can get regular bus tickets in Bus terminals. For a place that has no bus terminal, chartered minibus is a good choice.

Read more about Honghe Transportation.

Ethnic Culture

Ethnic groups in Honghe include Han, Yi, Hani, Miao, Zhuang, Dai, Yao, Hui, Lahu, Bai and other minorities. Yi and Hani are two main ethnic minority groups, accounting for more than 40% of total population. There are quite a few ethnic activities like Huadeng dance of Yi ethnic minority, Long Street Banquet of Hani ethnic people, Lion dance (Tiaoshizi) festival of Miao ethnic minority, Manggu dance and Lezuo dance of Hani people etc, by which you can know something about minority residential, food culture and dress culture. 

Local Specialty

Local specialty like Jianshui Purple Pottery, Gejiu Tin Arts and Crafts, Hani Embroidery, Hani Costume, Mengzi Cross the Bridge Rice Noodle and Shiping Tofu are well-known in Honghe, Yunnan.

History

As early as the Han dynasty (206BC-220AD), the central government established shires to govern the region, which was the beginning of the central government's sphere of influence in the region. On November 18, 1957, Honghe Hani and Yi autonomous prefecture was established, made up of the Mengzi Special Zone and the former Honghe Hani autonomous region. 

Economy

Honghe is the fourth largest economy in Yunnan province, ranking first among the 30 Ethnic Minority autonomous prefectures in terms of economic aggregate and some socio-economic indicators. 

In 2016, the total GDP of Honghe prefecture reached 133.679 billion yuan, an increase of 10.1% over the previous year at comparable prices. The added value of the primary industry reached 21.43 billion yuan, up 5.6% year-on-year; The added value of the secondary industry reached 60.433 billion yuan, up 12.6% year-on-year; The added value of the tertiary industry reached 51.816 billion yuan, up 9.0% year-on-year. The proportion of the three industries is 16.0:45.2:38.8. The per capita GDP reached 28,653 yuan.

Natural Resources

Water Resources

The rivers in Honghe prefecture belongs to the Pearl River Basin and the Red River Basin, in which the Pearl River Basin accounts for 39.9% and the Red River Basin accounts for 60.1%. Honghe Prefecture has many rivers of different sizes. Within the Honghe prefecture, there are 180 rivers with water catchments of more than 50 square kilometers, including 65 in the pearl river basin and 115 in the red river basin; 94 rivers over 100 square kilometers, including 41 in the pearl river basin and 53 in the red river basin, 14 rivers over 1000 square kilometers, including 5 in the pearl river basin and 9 in the red river basin. The main rivers in the red river basin are red river, Lixianjiang river, Tengtiao river, Nanxi river, Xiaohedi river, Xiaoheijiang river, Niukong river, Panlong river, Daliangzi river and so on.The main rivers in the pearl river basin are Nanpanjiang river, Lujiang river, Dianxi river, Shadian river and Qujiang river. River runoff totals 14.29 billion cubic meters.The largest river is the Honghe river, which flows through Honghe county, Shiping county, Yuanyang county, Jianshui county, Gejiu city, Jinping county, Mengzi city and Hekou county, with a length of 240.6 kilometers within the territory, the drainage area of 11,534.7 square kilometers, and the annual flow of 297m³/s.

Mineral Resources

Honghe prefecture is located at the junction of three major metallogenic belts in east Yunnan province, southeast Yunnan province and west Yunnan province, featuring good ore-forming conditions and abundant mineral resources. Among all kinds of metal and non-metallic mineral deposits, tin, manganese as well as associated metal indium, bismuth and silver occupy an important position in the whole province and the whole country. Gejiu city is the concentration place of the main mineral resources in Honghe prefecture. The reserves of non-ferrous metals rank the first in the province and tin ranks the first in the country. Jianshui is the country's largest manganese production base; With a reserve of 4,044 tons, Mengzi is one of the largest silver mines in China. With a reserve of 800,000 tons, Jinping nickel mine is the fourth richest nickel mine in China. Jianshui titanium mine has a reserves of 1.25 million tons. Gejiu has become the world's largest tin smelting, tin material processing, tin chemical production center.Yunnan tin group has become a large-scale state-owned non-ferrous metal production enterprise integrating geological exploration, mining, ore dressing, smelting, tin chemical industry, arsenic chemical industry, tin processing, new non-ferrous metal materials, precious metal materials and so on.

Biological Resources

In 2011, there were 7 nature reserves in Honghe prefecture (including 3 national nature reserves), which is rich in wildlife resources and can be called the "natural kingdom of animals and plants" and "biological gene pool of south Yunnan". There are 5667 species of wild seed plants in 1530 genera, 229 families, including gymnosperms of 17 genera, 29 species in 8 families and angiosperms of 5638 species in 1513 genera, 221 families.There are 82 species of wild plants under state’s key protection, including 23 first class national protected plants, such as cycads and camellia, and 59 second class national protected plants. There are 102 species of wildlife under state’s key protection, including 21 species under state first-class protection, like the Malay bear, the black-crowned gibbon, the leopard and the green peacock, and 81 species of wildlife under state second-class protection.There are 911 kinds of Chinese herbal medicine as well, including 770 kinds of plant medicine, 140 kinds of animal medicine and 1 kind of mineral medicine.

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