Kang Wannian (pictured above), a villager from Mengla county in Xishuangbanna prefecture was sentenced to 12 years in prison on December 21 and ordered to pay a fine of 480,000 yuan for shooting and eating a rare Indochinese tiger.

In a case that gained international attention, Kang killed the tiger in February of 2009. He claimed that he and a friend had gone to collect freshwater mussels along the Nandun River near the Laos border in the Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve when he shot the tiger in self-defense using a shotgun he was carrying.

The Xishuangbanna court that heard the case was apparently unconvinced by Kang's claims of self-defense. Hovering above the defendant were questions of why he brought a shotgun to go digging for mussels and why, if it was shot in self-defense, the tiger was shot at a range of 35 meters.

Of Kang's 12-year sentence, two years are for possession of a firearm, which is forbidden for civilians in China. Another firearm—a high powered rifle—was also found during a search of Kang's residence.

After Kang shot the tiger, acquaintances of his arrived at the scene, whereupon the group butchered the animal and divided the meat between them, taking it home to eat. Four other men have also been sentenced to terms of three to four years each for their roles in the butchering and eating of the animal.

The case was particularly high-profile because many believe the tiger that Kang shot was the last Indochinese tiger in China. This belief is based on the fact that the animal has not been seen in China since one was photographed by researchers in the same nature reserve in 2007, and has not been seen since the shooting. Only about 1,000 to 2,000 of the species exist, spread across Southeast Asia.

Officials at the nature reserve have since stated that there is no way to know whether any other of the elusive cats exist in the reserve. Of China's other species of tiger, the Siberian tiger, only a population of 500 exist today in isolated areas of Northeastern China—though scientists believe that population suffers from serious genetic problems due to being brought back from the brink of extinction.

Kang's lawyer was quoted in the Shenghuo Newspaper account of the sentencing as saying that the defendant intended to appeal the ruling.

China and Laos have reached an agreement to create a cross-border reserve to protect endangered Asian elephants and other protected species, according to a Xinhua report.

The new 54,700 hectare reserve will consist of 31,300 hectares in Yunnan's Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous region and 23,400 hectares in Luangnamtha province in Laos.

In addition to providing roaming space for China's last wild elephant herd – which now numbers around 400 elephants – the reserve will also feature protected cross-border corridors that will provide safe passage for the animals. Development of the corridors will be funded by the Asian Development Bank.

It is estimated that there are less than 30,000 Asian elephants left in Southeast and South Asia. The five-ton animals need to consume roughly 300 kilograms of food daily, which requires a significant amount of wandering space.

In recent years, Asian elephants in Yunnan have increasingly come under pressure from rapid development in Xishuangbanna which has encroached upon the forests in which they live. It is believed that this encroachment has led to a growing number of attacks on humans by elephants.

Last winter in Xishuangbanna an American tourist was seriously injured by an elephant and a Chinese man on holiday was killed by an elephant in separate attacks.

The new Yunnan/Laos reserve will focus on minimizing conflict between elephants and humans. Officials involved in the reserve said that in addition to protecting elephants, the reserve will aim to protect biodiversity in the region, which is part of the Greater Mekong Subregion, where more than 1,000 new species have been discovered in the last decade.

Kunming foreign trade up 43.6% in July
Kunming Customs announced that in July the city's foreign trade grew by 43.6 percent over July of the previous year, according to a Kunming Daily report. The total value of Kunming's imports and exports reached US$790 million, making July the city's biggest month for foreign trade so far this year.

Buoyed by a growing manufacturing sector, Kunming exported US$380 million in goods last month, with the total value of imports reaching US$410 million. Kunming's foreign trade for the first seven months of this year totaled US$3.71 billion.

Four injured after hospital sword attack
Four men are injured with three in critical condition at Kunyi Number Two Affiliated Hospital (昆医附二 院) after a group of men with swords attacked them at the hospital, the Yunnan Information Times is reporting.

According to eyewitnesses, four or five men wielding knives with blades as long as one meter attacked four men, during which time hospital security guards reportedly fled. Neither the men's identities nor the reason for the attack have been made clear.

A hospital spokesperson said its best staff were attending to the injured men. Some of the men's relatives have complained that the hospital is responsible for the attack because its security staff abandoned their posts.

China Eastern to launch Kunming-Jinghong-Bangkok route
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced that China Eastern Airlines has applied to serve a new route linking Kunming and Bangkok through Jinghong in southern Yunnan's Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, according to a Flightglobal report.

The new route, which is scheduled to be launched in October, is expected to operate seven times weekly.

After years of sometimes confused policy in which industrial hemp was lumped together with its psychoactive cousin marijuana, the Chinese government is now actively promoting hemp cultivation as a tool for lifting rural Chinese out of poverty.

China will build multiple hemp cultivation bases in Yunnan, Heilongjiang, Gansu and Anhui provinces as well as the autonomous regions of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia by 2020, a project that is expected to bring three million people out of poverty, according to a Shanghai Daily report citing an official from the People's Liberation Army's General Logistics Department.

Production at one of the first facilities involved in this plan went online yesterday in Menghai County in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southern Yunnan. The hemp fiber processing factory, owned by China Hemp Industrial Holding Co Ltd, has an annual capacity of 2,000 tonnes.

In addition to being used to produce fibers for rope and clothing, hemp can also be used to make paper which is much less damaging to the environment than paper made from trees. Aside from causing deforestation, tree paper is bleached with toxic chlorine bleach. Hemp paper can be bleached with less environmentally harmful hydrogen peroxide.

Industrial hemp can also be used to produce fuel, biodegradable plastics, construction materials and health foods.

The government in Xishuangbanna now provides farmers with free hemp seeds plus technical training. According to the prefecture's party chief Jiang Pusheng, there are nearly 10,000 farmers growing hemp in the area, farmers who through hemp cultivation stand to double their annual income from 2,000 yuan (US$293) to 4,000 yuan.

Image: Baidu

GoKunming contributor Guo Duomi set off during the Chinese New Year holiday with Lady Guo to cycle some of the roads less travelled in central and southern Yunnan. Here he shares with us details of his journey from Yuxi to Jinghong by bike.

Day 1 – Yuxi to Tonghai (51km)
The first leg of the journey was the two hour bus to Yuxi (玉溪) which enables you to miss a tough day's ride out of Kunming. When the Dianchi Lake cycle path is completed this may be worth reconsidering, as would cycling to Chengjiang (澄江) and then taking the quieter roads along the west of Fuxian Lake (抚仙湖) to Jiangchuan (江川).

The first few kilometres take you out of Yuxi's industrial west on a crowded and dusty road. At the top of a hill you turn off the main road to enjoy a quiet stretch into the hamlet of Yanhe (研和镇). From here you join the highway for a climb of around 10km offering reasonable views of Yuxi's surrounds. After this there is a short descent followed by a long and straight roll into Tonghai (通海).

Tonghai is a friendly town whose attractions include the expansive Qilu Lake (杞麓湖), at which a passing groom getting his wedding shots taken may wish to take a spin on your bicycle.

Day 2 – Tonghai to Jianshui (80km)
A short climb out of Tonghai sees you pass the entrance of the motorway to Jianshui (建水) and then take on a massive 25km descent into Gaozhai (高寨). The road is reasonable quality but the combination of heavy fog and a wet road meant that is was pretty cold and uncomfortable going on a January morning.

The road forks at Gaozhai with Jianshui 50km away whilst Shiping (石屏), which looks about the same distance on a map, is 90km away. The road to Jianshui is good quality and undulates through a series of villages and towns, snaking past the expressway from Tonghai and the railway under construction, culminating in a reasonable climb and descent into town.

Jianshui bristles with historic sights and has large and vibrant old town. It offers not just warm people but ridiculously warm weather in the depths of winter – making a nice departure from the frosty temperatures that the 'spring city' of Kunming proffers during a cold snap.

Days 3 and 4 – Jianshui to Shiping and back (120km return)
As you leave Jianshui you pass what seems to be every headstone manufacturer in Yunnan. After about 5km you reach Twin Dragon Bridge (双龙桥), an impressive 17 span Qing Dynasty bridge still in regular use by the locals.

A further 10km or so on you will find yourself at the entrance to the village of Tuanshan (团山), site of the Zhang family Gardens. This complex was created by a prosperous merchant family over many centuries and, whilst now a tourist site with a 20 yuan entry fee, it remains a living community home to a population 80 percent of which are surnamed Zhang.

Spending the extra 10 yuan on a guide is well worth it (even if you don't speak much Chinese) as you will be taken into many otherwise inaccessible areas of the gardens and you'll have the footbound old woman pointed out to you - though photographs are a no-no.

Moving on from Tuanshan you shadow the expressway on poor roads until the village of Baxin (坝心站). From here you divert to the southern shore of Yilong Lake (异龙湖), passing by racks of tofu skin drying in the sun until you double back into Shiping. Shiping tofu is famous as the best in Yunnan and, just like the Guinness in Dublin, it certainly seems to taste better when sampled at the source.

Day 5 – Jianshui to Yuanyang (79km)

Departing Jianshui to the south you are faced with 35 kilometres of almost constant climbing on decent quality roads. The pass above the town of Goujie (狗街) marks the beginning 40km of descending roads which are poor but offer some awesome scenery. Steep slopes near and far provide your first view of terraced rice fields and stunning views of the dammed Yuan River (沅江) shortly follow.

The descent takes you level with the reservoir along a few kilometres of horrible dirt road before arriving at the positively subtropical town of Yuanyang (元阳). Yuanyang is also known as Nansha (南沙), the town of Xinjie (新街) which is sometimes also called Yuanyang was our target destination and lies a further 30km of steady climbing south. This could make a challenging conclusion to your day's riding or you could fork over 10 yuan and pop your bicycle on the roof of the local bus to be chauffeured up in (relative) style.

Day 6 – Yuanyang (Xinjie) rice terraces (40km)
In Xinjie you have the option of hiring a vehicle for the day to take you around - a necessity if you want to see the terraces at sunrise and/or sunset and you don't have decent lights. You do risk the chance of seeing nothing due to fog however. Heading out at your own leisure on the bike allows you to go when visibility has improved. About 10km of climbing out of town will take you to the turnoff for the spectacular Bada (八大) and Duoyishu (多依树) terraces which are a further 8 and 15 kilometres away respectively on a gently undulating poor quality dirt road.

Continuing back along the main road a further 5 kilometres will take you to the pass with a further 8 kilometres down to the Tiger Mouth terraces. From here you can keep on heading south to Lüchun (绿春) and through the rolling hills all the way to Jinghong (景洪). Reports are that the scenery in this region is pleasant but a little repetitive.

Days 6 and 7 –Xinjie to Jinghong
Given time constraints we rolled down through the fog into Yuanyang and bussed it to Jinghong overnight via Jianshui. A trip to the hot springs just south of town proved a relaxing day trip however the 'back streets' route to the springs offered by the map in Mei Mei Café is quite difficult to follow.

Days 8 and 9 – Jinghong to Banna Wild Elephant Valley and back (110km return)

Crossing the Mekong – here known as the Lancang River (澜沧江) you follow the main road past the tollbooth until the roundabout. Taking the hard left will lead you to the road from which the number three road to Mengyang (勐养镇) branches off on your right. Requiring a lengthy climb past rubber and fruit plantations on a deteriorating surface followed by a long descent into the back of Mengyang means this road is not recommended.

From Mengyang continuing along the secondary road which shadows the expressway requires a short climb of around 5km followed by a pleasant descent to the Elephant Valley entrance. The dilapidated tree houses which are a favourite with western tourists are a long walk into the reserve. Promotional material suggests that your best chance of seeing a wild elephant is in the early morning. At around 9pm however the darkness was pierced by an oddly familiar elephant sound and we were treated to the spectacle of a five strong herd taking a drink and having a mess about in the stream below.

Arrival of the megaphone led tour groups at 9:00am the next morning made one understand why the elephants preferred to make a nocturnal visit.

The return voyage sees you retrace your steps to Mengyang and then shadow the expressway until the turnoff for Menglun (勐仑, a lazy 110km away). Don't be put off by the fact that the signs don't show Jinghong as a destination – after about 5km in you will reach a turn off for the secondary road to Jinghong which descends all the way back to the Mekong/Lancang.

Attacks on non-local tour buses by angry tour bus drivers in Jinghong in southern Yunnan have resulted in some Chinese travel agencies suspending tour services to the popular travel destination, according to Chinese media reports.

Some tour bus drivers have turned violent in response to the government's decision to break the monopoly held by local tour bus operators over Xishuangbanna prefecture. Shanghai Daily reports:



Last Friday local bus drivers reportedly staged a sit-in protest in front of government offices in Jinghong, the prefecture's capital.

Some tour operators in Shanghai such as Spring International Travel service and Jinjiang International Travel have suspended tour group services, while government owned China Youth Travel Service says the attacks were "isolated" and that it will continue to send tourists to Xishuangbanna.

The Jinghong Hydropower Station's first generating unit went into operation last Thursday, according to a Xinhua report. The 108-meter high dam in southern Yunnan's Xishuangbanna prefecture is the third of 15 planned for the Lancang River (澜沧江), which is known as the Mekong after flowing out of China.

The Jinghong Hydropower Station joins the already operational Manwan and Dachaoshan power stations as the central government is preparing to build 12 more dams on the Lancang generating a total of 25.2 million kilowatts.

The 12.3 billion yuan (US$1.76 billion) station at Jinghong is projected to have a total installed capacity of 1.75 million kilowatts upon completion.

According to Xinhua, "The project is a key part of the country's strategy to develop its vast western region and send electricity from there to the more populated eastern area."

Related articles:

Official: Yunnan still hopes to dam Nu River

China's second-largest hydropower project enters construction stage

Mekong River drying up

The regulatory fallout for China Eastern Airlines after an apparent organized act of protest by several of its Yunnan-based pilots in late March has finally hit the Shanghai-based carrier, which has been stripped of its Kunming-Xishuangbanna and Kunming-Dali routes, effective May 4, according to Kunming media reports.

The cancellation of the popular routes by aviation regulatory body the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) comes as a result of a rare public display of defiance by pilots on 21 flights last month. China Eastern Airlines had stated that pilots in its Yunnan subsidiary deliberately turned back midway through their provincial flights out of Kunming in late March – effectively going on strike in midair – with dissatisfaction with strict lifetime contracts and low pay both cited as reasons for the pilots' actions.

China Eastern released a statement in early April saying that two high-ranking officials in the company's Yunnan subsidiary had been fired and a deputy general manager from the company's Shanghai headquarters would serve as head of the branch.

In addition to the canceled Xishuangbanna and Dali feeder routes, CAAC reduced the number of flights China Eastern can fly from Kunming to Lijiang, Shangri-la, Mangshi, Lincang, Pu'er and Wenshan by 20 flights daily, effective April 26.

Details are unavailable regarding whether the routes will be available to other carriers or if China Eastern will later be eligible to service the routes again. Passengers who have purchased canceled flights are entitled to a full refund at China Eastern offices.

The cancellation of the Xishuangbanna and Dali routes comes as both regions prepare for an influx of summer and Olympics-related tourism.

Update: Bloomberg is reporting that Air China and three other carriers will receive the canceled routes beginning May 4.

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