Customs in Xishuangbanna

Xishuangbanna, located in the south of Yunnan Province, covers an area of about 20,000 square kilometers and is inhabited by more than 10 ethnic groups, among which the Dai nationality has the largest population and is an autonomous prefecture of the Dai nationality. As a scenic spot, Xishuangbanna is very distinctive. The ethnic minorities living here have basically retained their unique cultures and customs. People can see the colorful headdresses and costumes of the Dai and Bulang nationalities, the bamboo houses they live in and the bamboo rice they eat.

Dai water-splashing festival

Every year in mid-April, it is the Dai people's New Year's Festival-Water-splashing Festival. During the festival, no matter in bamboo buildings, villages, streets and highways, no matter men, women and children, passers-by are all lively and extraordinary water splashing activities. Some of them carry washbasins, others carry buckets and splash water with their hands. Everyone is dripping. According to local customs, this means washing away dirt with water, eliminating disasters and getting happiness. People also like singing, dancing and drinking during the water-splashing festival. It has become a very attractive tourist project to attend the Songkran Festival in Xishuangbanna.

Dai bamboo house

Dai bamboo building is a kind of castle in the air with bamboo and wood structure. The area is quite large, the whole exhibition hall is supported by dozens of large wooden columns, and the floor is built with bamboo pieces. The downstairs is open on all sides, and no one lives there, just stacking sundries and raising livestock. People live upstairs. The roof is covered with a thin flat tile, which looks like a hat worn by ancient people. According to the local people, this is Kong Ming's hat, which means that in those days, Kong Ming taught local people rice. In order to commemorate him, the locals designed the roof of the bamboo building to look like Kong Ming's hat.

Tropical plant treasure house

There is a plateau in the north of Xishuangbanna as a barrier to block the cold current, and the south is affected by the southwest monsoon of the Indian Ocean, so there is no cold wave and strong wind in winter and spring, and there is no typhoon and rainstorm in summer. This unique natural environment makes it rich in forest resources and a wide variety of plants, making it a world-famous treasure house of tropical plants. Tropical cash crops such as rubber, sisal, cinchona, oil palm, citronella, coffee, coconut, banana, pineapple and mango grow well here. Yunnan Institute of Tropical Plants is located 95 kilometers northwest of Mengla County, and has introduced more than 500 kinds of tropical economic plants, wild plants and ornamental plants/kloc-0 at home and abroad, including precious medicinal materials such as Dracaena, Rauvolfia and Maytenus. The botanical garden is shaded by trees all year round, with flowers blooming and fruits fragrant. It is not only the research center of tropical plants in China, but also a distinctive tourist attraction.

The tropical rain forest in Xishuangbanna is a mysterious and attractive place for many tourists. In the dense virgin forest, not only are there many kinds of plants, but also the species of animals rank first in the country. There are more than 400 species of birds, 100 species of fish, 32 species of amphibians, 62 species of mammals and many reptiles. This is a veritable natural zoo.

There are many Buddhist pagodas in Xishuangbanna, the most famous of which are Dameng Long Ta and Jingzhen Octagonal Pavilion. Dameng Long Ta is a group of pagodas, located at the back of Manfeilong Village, Damenglong, Jinghong County. It is also called the Manfeilong Tower. It consists of nine white towers, with the main tower height of 16.29 m and the surrounding eight towers height of 9. 1 m. These towers are beautiful in appearance and unique in style. Mange Buddhist Temple, located on the other side of the Lancang River in Jinghong, is a Buddhist temple with unique architectural style and charming shape. Jingzhen Octagonal Pavilion, also known as Mengzhen Pagoda, is located on Jingzhen Mountain, at 14 km west of Menghai County, with a height of 15.42 m and a width of 8.2 m, showing an octagonal shape. It has a 10 herringbone roof on all eight sides, one above the other, extending to the top of the tower. There is an umbrella hat at the top of the tower, and the metal plate on it is engraved with a net whistle. When the wind blows, it will whistle. According to the records of Dai Buddhist scriptures, this tower was built by ancient Dai Buddhists, just like the hat of the ancestor Sakyamuni, and it is a treasure in the architectural art of Dai Buddhism.