Yunnan Travel Guide

I. Basic Data
1. Name: Yunnan Province

2. Area: 394,100 square kilometers

3. Population: 42.88 million (the 2000 population census)

4. Capital: Kunming

5. Geography: Yunnan is located in southwestern China, between 97° 31'39" - 106° 11'47" east longtitude and 21° 8'32" - 29° 15'8" north latitude; surrounded by Guizhou, Guangxi, Sichuan and Tibet, and bordering Myanmar, Lao People's Democratic Republic and Viet Nam. It is a highland province with a terraced topographical feature stretching from the northwest to the southeast, resulting in a diversity of elevations and climates.

6. Natural Resources: As one of the largest provinces in China, Yunnan abounds in land resources; the per capita land area is about 16 mu (15 mu = 1 hectare). However, cultivated land constitutes only a small part of the total, owing to steep mountains. In addition, Yunnan has large areas under forest cover, although they are distributed unevenly. Furthermore, it has 230 million mu of grassland.

Yunnan is rich in mineral resources, especially non-ferrous metals. With the greatest number of wild animal species in China, Yunnan is known as a "kingdom for wild animals". Xishuangbanna, with its picturesque landscape and rich wildlife, is a major tourist attraction.

7. Economy: In 2000, the province's GDP amounted to 195.509 billion Yuan, total industrial and agricultural output value reached 227.022 billion Yuan, total import and export volume nearly US$1.8 billion, fiscal revenue 43.295 billion Yuan and grain output 14.678 million tons. A major hallmark of Yunnan is the multi-ethnicity of its inhabitants. Burdened by a large population, Yunnan is one of the poorest provinces in China.

8. People's life: According to 2000 year end statistics, Yunnan had a working population of 22.685 million, making up 52.9% of the province's total population; total wages of staff and workers amounted to 25.446 billion and total insurance and welfare expenses of staff and workers was 1,954.827 million Yuan. Rural per capita net income reached 1,478.60 Yuan; the average annual wage of staff and workers was 9,231 Yuan; per capita disposable income for urban residents was 6,325 Yuan; balance of saving deposits of urban-rural residents was 1,138 Yuan. In addition, there were on average 1.56 hospital beds and 1.48 doctors for every 1,000 persons.

9. Education: 2000 year end statistics showed that there were altogether 24 institutions of higher learning in the province, with an enrollment of over 90,400 students and a faculty of 9,237; 2,562 secondary schools with an enrollment of more than 2,137,400 students and 120,461 teachers; and 22,151 primary schools with an enrollment of 4,720,600 pupils and a faculty of 210,507. Since the 1960s, Yunnan has made remarkable improvements in the overall educational level of its population, which can be seen from the increasing number of people with all kinds of education, the increase in average years of education received and the development of all types of school education. The enrollment rate of school-age children was 99.02%.

II. Population Situation
1. Size and Distribution

According to the 2000 population census, there were 42.88 million population in Yunnan province. Most of its population lives in the eastern river basins, however, the western mountainous and semi-mountainous areas are sparsely populated. Vertically, it is dense in the middle and sparse in both the southern and northern areas. Such distribution may be partly due to its special topographical features, and partly its agricultural conditions, socio-economic development and population growth. In addition, Yunnan is also a multi-national province, which according to the 1990 census, had altogether 51 ethnic groups, one of the three provinces (autonomous regions) that has an ethnic population of over 10 million. In 2000, the population density was 109 persons/sq.km.

2. Population History

Since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, population development in Yunnan has much in common with the rest of the country, but also it has its own characteristics. Meanwhile, it has the typical population features that usually emerge in an under-developed economy. Between 1949 and 1990, except for a few years, the total population had been increasing all the time, and the net addition also increased year by year, reaching the summit in the early 1980s. The development of Yunnan's population over the past 40 years can be described as "increasing--leveling off--fast increasing--increasing--slow increasing". Growth was relatively slow, compared with the trend prevailing in the country. Only since 1979 did Yunnan's population begin to develop substantially with growth being brought under control. Since then, its population has kept increasing slightly, and a reproductive model of "low birth rate, low death rate and low natural increase rate" has taken shape.

3. Population Structure by Sex and Age

The sex ratio in Yunnan has been on the increase since the first national census in 1953. It was over 100, according to the third census conducted in 1982, and hovering over 100 and continuing to rise afterwards. The sex ratio of the total population rose to 105.67 in 1990 when the fourth census was organized. However, it is still normal. But in 2000, the sex ratio was higher than normal with 110.00. In addition, there exist some differences between different age groups, regions and ethnic groups.

In 2000, of the total population, there were 11.16 million aged 0 - 14, accounting for 26.02% of the total, 29.15 million aged 15 - 64, or 67.98% of the total, and 2.57 million aged 65 or over, or 6.00% of the total. The total dependency ratio stood at 47.10%, with the young age and old age dependency ratios being 38.28% and 8.82% respectively.

4. Fertility Level and Changes

Women's fertility in Yunnan has changed greatly since the 1980s, featuring an increased proportion of women in the young age groups. Age-specific peak fertility had dropped from 262.96 per 1,000 in 1981 to 234.21 per 1,000 in 1989, with childbearing relatively concentrated on some given age groups. In 2000, the birth rate was 19.05 per 1,000, and natural growth rate 11.48 per 1,000. Four-variant projections reveal that the TFR of Yunnan's women of childbearing age will keep dropping at a speed lower than in the 1980s. The successive 17 years of baby booms in the 1960s - 1970s will certainly exert strong influences on the development process. However, projections show that the birth rate will go downward in a certain period from the mid-1990s. It is estimated that the total population will amount to 46.13 million by 2010 and 48.74 million by 2020, and tend to decline after the year 2040.

5. Mortality and Life Expectancy

The mortality of Yunnan's population has remained at a higher level than the national average since 1953; however, its changing trend is identical to the nations. The death rate was 7.92 per 1,000 in 1990 and 7.57 in 2000, with not much difference over the recent years. Major characteristics include: peak of death rate moving to the older age groups; infant mortality rate drastically dropping; age-specific death rate curve switching from being U-shaped to J-shaped; and a difference in the death rate between regions and between urban and rural areas, and in terms of ethnic background and sex. The difference is attributed to the age composition of its population and the level of socio-economic development. Thanks to the decline in child mortality, the average life expectancy of Yunnan's population reached 63.49 years in 1990, 1.87 years older than 61.62 in 1981, male and female population were 62.08 years and 64.98 years respectively, but a difference still exists between different regions and between urban and rural areas, and in terms of ethnic background and sex.

6. Marriage Status, Family Size and Type

Since the 1980s, early marriage has been rare in Yunnan among the population aged 15 and over. Few people get married before the age of 20. As for sex, the proportion of unmarried males is apparently higher than females, and this is also true of each age group. Among unmarried people, the sex ratio is higher in the middle age group and lower at both ends. The proportion of people remaining single for their lifetime is low, and of those who do, it is more common among males than females. For the total population, the rate of remaining unmarried is on the decrease.

In 1997, the population aged 15 and over totaled 30.251 million in Yunnan, of which 15.223 million were male and 15.027 million were female. Of these people, 3,775,000 were unmarried males and 2,517,000 were unmarried females; 10.248 million were first time married males currently with spouses and 10.556 million were females in the same status; 467,000 were remarried males currently with spouses and 456,000 were females in the same status; 164,000 were divorced males and 145,000 were divorced females; and 570,000 were widowed males and 1,353,000 were widowed females.

In 1999, among the 29.530 million population in the 15 and above group, unmarried people accounted 20.59%, the first marriage having spouses people accounted 69.29%, the non-first marriages having spouses people accounted 2.63%, the divorced people accounted 1.01%, and the widowed people accounted 6.47%.

Yunnan's total population growth has been brought under effective control over the past 20 years; however, with socio-economic development, the total number of households is on the rise while the scale is on the decrease. In addition, there is a difference in the family size between urban and rural areas, between different regions and ethnic backgrounds. Usually, there are more members in the ethnic minority families than in Han families, and the difference between urban and rural areas is narrowing.

In terms of household type, the province is dominated by two-generation households, with three or more generation households still constituting a certain part. Furthermore, there is a significant difference between urban and rural areas. Overall, families are downsizing and nuclear families are increasing. In 1990, the average size of family households was 4.51 persons, but it was 3.72 in 2000, down 0.79.

7. Aging of the Population

According to the 1990 fourth census, Yunnan had already become an adult society, with the aged population making up 4.90% of the total. Since then, Yunnan's population continued to become older and the pace is becoming more rapid with the implementation of the family planning program and raising of people's living standards. In 1990, the population aged 65 and above accounted 4.90% of the total population, but it was 6.00% in 2000. It is estimated that the province's aged population will reach 4,770,900 in number by the year 2008, or 10.42% of its total population; then it will be an aged society.

8. Population Quality

The fourth census conducted in 1990 showed that the overall education attainments of Yunnan's population had improved considerably over the 26 years since 1964. The number of people with all kinds of education was increasing, and the average time spent in receiving an education and the number of all types of schools were also on the rise.

According to 2000 statistics, among Yunnan's population at age 6 and over, 0.86 million with a college education and over, 2.81 million with a senior middle school education, 9.10 million with a junior middle school education and 19.20 million with a primary school education, they accounted 2.23%, 7.27%, 23.53% and 49.60% of the population at age 6 and above respectively. Nonetheless, there is a long way ahead for Yunnan to keep up with China's reform and opening up process. Continuous efforts should be made to strengthen the work to keep the people aged 15 - 44 from illiteracy, to raise the school attendance rate of school-age children, and stabilize the enrollment rate of in-school students.

9. Migration and the Floating Population

The 1990 census indicates that between 1985 and 1990, the volume of inter-provincial migration of Yunnan ranked only twentieth in the country's 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, while its total population came in fourteenth place, showing that the number of migrants is small in Yunnan. Of all the population migrating, 531,800 were inter-provincial migrants, constituting 42.07% of the total. Yunnan is among the provinces with a high proportion of inter-provincial migration. Of the 531,800 migrants, 254,300 were in-migrating and 277,400 out-migrating, with a net of 23,100 out-migrants.

A large regional difference exists in inter-provincial migration. Southwestern China's provinces were the main destination for migrants from Yunnan, followed by the southern, eastern and northeastern provinces. However, intra-provincial migration still dominates. The foremost underlying reason for population migration is economic development, especially for male migrants, while most women usually migrate for other reasons.

Data from the 1990 census showed that the migrating population in Yunnan totaled 907,900 in the same year, accounting for 1.61% of the province's total population. In addition, population migration and flow in Yunnan demonstrates some features typical of an under-developed economy, very different from that of the coastal eastern and inland provinces. However, with the accelerating reform and economic development in the western areas and expansion of border trade, Yunnan's population migration and flow will certainly develop at a faster rate and some new characteristics will emerge accordingly.

10. Population, Resources and the Environment

Yunnan is not rich in farmland resources. Despite its ample water resources, the distribution is unbalanced between different regions and in different seasons, which still results in water shortages in many regions in the province. In addition, the deteriorating water environment in recent years further aggravates the situation. Desertification of grasslands and pastureland, and the damaged eco-environment plus the brutal slaughtering of animals by humans have brought some rare animal breeds to the verge of extinction.

Total grain output in this province keeps increasing; however, per capita share remains unchanged, lower than the national average. Furthermore, to meet the needs of the ever-increasing population, natural resources such as forest, land and water continue to be damaged, air pollution becomes more serious and the ecological equilibrium tends to be broken, resulting in the breakout of various calamities more frequently, more seriously and more widely.

11. Ethnic population

Yunnan is the second largest ethnic-inhabited province in China, one of the country's three provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) with an ethnic population of over 10 million. In 1990, there were 51 ethnic groups living in Yunnan; the total population of these ethnic groups was 12.34 million, but it was 14.33 million in 2000, the average annual growth rate was 1.45%. As a result, the province has a variety of spoken and written languages, cultures and religions, as well as forms of marriage and family, and foundations for population development. The distribution of the ethnic population is complicated and generally tends to develop in the direction of scattering and intermingling with each other.

Birth rates and fertility rates for the ethnic minorities are higher than that of the Han majority in the province and the national averages; however, their overall education attainment is lower than the provincial and national levels. Two- and three-generation families account for an overwhelming majority of the ethnic households. In addition, the structure of occupation for the ethnic peoples is rather backward compared with the Hans, although they have developed at a quicker pace than the Hans to meet the needs of China's modern economy.

III. Family Planning
Since the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, implementation of the family planning program in Yunnan has experienced four phases:

Phase I (1954 - 1966)

Family planning work in this period focused on a general publicity campaign and contraceptive counseling in selected cities, which then began to draw attention from parties concerned and was welcomed by urban families with too many children. Afterwards, however, it was suspended by the "Great Leap Forward" movement.

Phase II (1962 - 1966)

In 1962, the provincial public health authorities decided to start pilot work for family planning in Kunming and Gejiu. In 1963, after conducting extensive surveys and research, the provincial Party Committee and provincial People's Congress issued the Decision on Carrying Out the Instruction of the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council on Advocacy of Family Planning, including family planning as one of their six tasks during the transition period. Medical and public health departments at all levels also formulated their action plans. The family planning program began to achieve results on a small scale. During the Cultural Revolution, the family planning work was again suspended.

Phase III (1971 - 1976)

In this period, as in other provinces, Yunnan established a Leading Group for Family Planning at provincial, prefectural and county levels to conduct pilot and research work. This period had seen success in the effort to keep population growth under control. The birth rate dropped from 38.11 per 1,000 in 1971 to 31.83 in 1976.

Phase IV (1977 to present)

This is a period in which the family planning program ran smoothly and progressively. Family planning organizations were expanded and well developed, the policy and approaches were ameliorated, and the program was gradually applied to the whole province. The importance of including ethnic peoples in the family planning program was publicly made clear. This, therefore, ensured a continued and steady development of the family planning work in Yunnan. The birth rate dropped again from 31.83 per 1,000 in 1976 to 23.60 per 1,000 in 1990, and further to 19.05 in 2000.

In recent years, Yunnan, in accordance with the guidelines of the central government on family planning work, and the principle of "conducive to border stability, conducive to ethnic unity and conducive to economic development" put forward by the provincial government, has focused its attention on fundamental work at the grassroots level and on improvement of administrative and professional capacities, so as to make a leap forward in the overall level of family planning.

In the successive five years, Yunnan succeeded in keeping its population growth under effective control, given the increasing number of married women of childbearing age. In 1997, while continuing to keep the present fertility level, it also put emphasis on publicity and education, contraception and regular services, integrating family planning with economic development, with helping farmers become prosperous, and with building happy families. In addition, they were active in promoting the new family planning approach of "two changes", i.e. to change from implementing family planning alone to an integrated approach combining family planning with socio-economic development; and to change from relying primarily on administrative measures to a new mechanism combining incentives with administration, publicity and education, comprehensive services and scientific management. Further efforts were also made by the provincial government to enhance the leadership, improve the skills of professionals, and integrate family planning with poverty alleviation. A campaign that is now widely promoted is providing rural residents with the latest information on culture, science and technology and health care.

Since the 1970s, Yunnan has made remarkable progress in controlling the growth of its population. If the population had developed with the natural increase rate of 30.09 per 1,000 as in 1971, its total population would have amounted to 45.54 million in 1990, 8.234 million more than its actual population of 37.306 million; if it had developed at the rate of 24 per 1,000 as in 1976, the total population would have reached 41.14 million, 3.834 million more than its actual number. Therefore, Yunnan has averted about 8 million births during 1971 - 1990, and about 4 million during 1976 - 1990, with an average increase of 280,000 annually. This promotes sustainable development with regard to population, economy and society, and creates a relaxed environment for population development in the Ninth Five-year Plan (1996 - 2000) and in the 21st century.