Experience the best of Jinghong

Jinghong is the seat of the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, in the far south of Yunnan, close to the borders with Laos and Myanmar, on the Lancang, as the Mekong is called in China. It was founded as Chiang Hung in 1180 and was the capital of the Tai kingdom of Sipsongpanna. The Dai are the main people of the area, and Buddhist temples with tiered roofs and palm-lined streets show their culture.

Dai villages around the city celebrate the Water Splashing Festival each April, when people douse one another with water for the new year. The Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, the largest of several gardens in the area, preserves rainforest plants, and the Wild Elephant Valley north of town is a forest reserve where Asian elephants live.

Dai cooking is built on lemongrass, mint and chilli, with rice steamed in bamboo tubes or pineapples and river fish grilled in leaves. The hills of the prefecture are famous tea country, and pu'er is the best-known leaf. December to April is dry, and the rains fall from May to October.