Top Souvenirs and Local Specialities in Xishuangbanna
Top Souvenirs and Local Specialities in Xishuangbanna
Tropical Fruits
Xishuangbanna is paradise for tropical fruits, people can enjoy fresh fruits all year round, su as banana, pineapple, mango, plum, grapefruit, carambola, sweetsop, jackfruit and passionflower. The biggest fruit there is jackfruit, which may weigh more than 30 kilograms. Another peculiar fruit is passionflower (also known as “fruit with a hundred kinds of fragrance”). Fruit of passionflower is delicate and juicy. There are also dried fruit products available in stores and markets, they are the best choice for taking away.
Silver Ornaments and Jewelry
Ethnic people in Xishuangbanna like wearing silver ornaments such as hairpin, earring, chaplet, bracelet, armlet, plastron, anklet, finger ring and waistband. The two main streams of the silver ornaments are Dai style and Hani style. The traditional silver ornaments used to be hand-made but now factories are set up to produce local golden, silver ornaments and jewelry according to national standard. You should buy them in licenced stores, particularly when you are buying Jewelries.
Rare Medicinal Herbs
As the Kingdom of Plants, Xishuangbanna is home to rare medicinal herbs. among which, Xiejie (Sanguis Draconis), also known as Qilingsha in Chinese, is the most famous. It is used in the Chinese medicine to treat injuries from falls, fractures, contusions and strains, to relieve the pain from rheumatism and to treat some gynecological diseases.
Puer Tea
Xishuangbanna is the home of China’s famous Puer tea.The six most major Chinese Puer tea mountains are all located in Xishuangbanna. The Xishuangbanna broad-leaf tea can be made into black tea and green tea. The former looks fresh and watery and fragrant while the latter looks fine and thin with crystal green color in the water. The most noted categories of the Puer Tea include: Nanno Pekoe, Yunhai Pekoe, Ganglu Tea, Fuxiang Tea, Xuanyun Tea. You can Puer tea in stores and teahouses, Jinglan “Tea City” and Gaozhuang Xishuangjing are the places dotted with tea shopes and tea houses.
Local Handicrafts
Women of Dai, Hani, Laku, and Jino weave cloth by themselves, and have the tradition of embroidering the clothes of their own. Therefore, brocade and embroidery with local ethnic characteristics are also favored by visitors.
Arabica Coffee
Arabica Coffee is a peculiar category in Xishuangbanna. The full-bodied coffee has sweet aftertaste, which is quite different from those produced in the tropical Africa.
Black Pottery
Black pottery is the traditional handwork product of the Dai minority nationality. Local black pottery wares include earthen jug, jar, vase, smoking set, tea set and so on. They are carved delicately with patterns of primitive simplicity, which makes they perfect souvenirs.
