Geomontagne

South-west China, the Tea Road

The Yunnan province possesses cultural treasures with the presence of minority ethnic groups, which have preserved their traditions, costumes, music and language. Among the 56 ethnic groups in China, 25 groups are represented in Yunnan. At the eastern end of the Himalaya range, the Yunnan contains several peaks over 6000 m in elevation, near its border with Tibet, in the Shangri la area. Yunnan also contains subtropical forest in Xishuangbanna, at the border with Laos and Burma, but the climate remains temperate in most of the province, due to the elevation over 1000 m.

The history of the tea road goes back to the Tang dynasty (618-907), who started the exchange of the tea for horses. The tea cultivated in south Yunnan was transported by caravans to Tibet, over more than 1800 km. the Tibetan quickly adopted the tea as a basic nutritional habit. The horses were also necessary to protect the Chinese empire against Mongolian horsemen, who were constantly roaming behinds the Great Wall. The successive dynasties increased commercial exchange with Tibet.

At present time, the old trails have been partly replaced by the roads, but there are still a few untouched sections. We are proposing to discover these itineraries, as well as the culture of the Bai, Yi, Naxi, Lisu and Tibetain ethnic groups.

Three sections of the tea road are proposed between Dali and Dequin at the three following dates: