Xishuangbanna Primitive Forest Park, Xishuangbanna

Xishuangbanna Primeval Forest Park, also called Xishuangbanna Virgin Forest Park,  is 8 kilometers east of the Jinghong City and north of the Lancang River. Situated in a river valley of 720 to 1,355 meters above sea level, the forest park has an area of 1,700 hectares of which 98％ is covered by trees, and is thus the largest comprehensive ecological place of interest in the prefecture. The park gives prominence to the features of primeval forest, wild animals and ethnic culture and custom. It is highlighted by three major themes: primeval forest, wild animals and ethnic folklore. To get to here:

1. Taking bus from Jinghong to Mengyang or the taking original forest park dedicated shuttle for visitors to get there.
2. The west side of Jinghong is long-distance bus terminal, there is shuttle bus to reach the forest park for tourists.The fare is CNY 3.

"Man" means village in Dai's language. Manshuanglong means a place with two Chinese dragons. Mashuanglong White Tower are the pagoda of the Dai people. They have snow-white tower body, and bamboo shot-like tower head. Therefore, they are also called "bamboo tower". 

Manshuanglong White Towers are representative buildings of the southern theravada Buddhism. The main tower is about 18 meters tall with eight small towers distributed in 8 angles. Most of the tower bodies are multi-layer gourd like. The white towers is unique because it is hollow. In the center of the main tower stands a sitting position of statue Sakyamuni. In the center of the small towers around it placed with "Auspicious Buddha", "Ruyi Buddha", "Peace Buddha", "Longevity Buddha", "RenLu Buddha", "Wealth Buddha", "Marriage Buddha" and "Songzhi Buddha" respectively.

On both side of sightseeing roads, there are two 68 meters long dragon stairs. To pray for Buddha blessing, visitors must climb the 286 steps to show his sincerity. 

Xishuanggban is widely crowned as “The Home of Peacock”, because there are a lot of peacocks living in Xishuangbanna. Peacock owes a holy position among Dai people and is the totem of Dai people. Peacock stands for happiness, beauty, goodness and luckiness. Peacock plays an essential role in locals’ daily life. The highlight of Peacock Park is the daily Flight of a Thousand Peacock, a performance involving one thousand peafowls. They flew out of their sanctuary to land on the lakeside, where they were fed, before eventually returning to their sanctuary on the opposite bank of the lake. Visitors are invited to feed the peacocks as well as to have their photographs taken with them.

Located within the Xishuangbanna Virgin Forest Park is an Hani cultural village. In this village, we get to know the Hani people, their history and lifestyle. There are also songs and dance performance, and welcome dances where visitors are invited to join in. 

The Hani village is reached via a suspension bridge. It spans a river below. An alternative to using the bridge is to cross the ravine by glider.

You can join in to play and dance with the Hani people for free. Along the road, there is a description and explanation about Hani unique customs. The highlight is their marriage custom.

In the marriage, there is a possibility there will be someone will try to kidnap the bride. If the kidnap is successful, the bride has to marry to the kidnapper. It shows the groom failed to protect his bride. Apart of that, Hani people practices crying marriage too. Once the marriage arrangement settled down, the mum will hide in her room and cry to show her love to her daughter and the hard feeling of being apart with her. Normally, the crying marriage starts two or three days before the wedding ceremony, some families many even start to cry seven days prior to the wedding. The farther the bride will marry to, the longer and sadder the bride will cry.

We got a free taste of Hani people's homemade wine too. It was really strong but it helps you to survive the cold days.

The Nine-Dragon Waterfall is a waterfall within the Xishuangbanna Virgin Forest Park. In front of the waterfall is a statue entitled Jiulong Subduing Nine Dragons. There is also a pavilion here where tribal performances are stage. You can also try out some local candy on sale at the stall near the waterfalls.

Xishuangbanna tropical northern is located in the edge of the northern place of south of the tropic of cancer, belong to the tropical monsoon climate, warm and sunny all the year round, humid and rainy, it is the only oasis desert on the tropic of cancer on the earth, is China’s most complete, most typical and the largest tropical rain forest ecosystem, also is the scarce gene pool of rare plants and animals on earth today where is known as a natural wonders on the earth. Five thousands of many kinds tropical plants and animals in Xishuangbanna existing in the nearly two square kilometers of land, which is breathtaking. “One tree forest”, “the king of flowers”, “hanging garden”, graceful peacock are beautiful picture scroll created by nature elaborately in Xishuangbanna, where can fully enjoy the tropical flavor without going out of China.

 If wandering in Xishuangbanna Dai ethnic villages, besides the characteristics of folk customs, tourist can also feel the characteristic of lush and green. Among them, the wild elephant valley, parashorea cathayensis, primeval forest park is renowned ecotourism scenic spot in China. In the same latitudes land with Xishuangbanna in the world, basically is dominated by savanna and desert, forming a “the tropical of cancer desert”. And the oasis in Xishuangbanna is like a shining emerald inlaid on the “the tropical of cancer desert”.

There are a site where you can see the monkeys roam freely and separated by a river from the tourists. The tourists are not advised to feed the monkeys.

There is a zipline canopy adventure where you can cross between trees. You will just cross about 4 trees and it is over. The price is expensive too. Not worth it. Malaysia's Skytrex is more worthwhile.

The best of all is still the cultural performance by 4 different tribes in Xishuangbanna. This is the Hani Tribe which is the 2nd largest minority ethnic in Xishuangbanna. 

The “Sipsongpanna” (or “Xishuangbanna”) Dai are the Dai Lue or Tai Lue people. The Tai Lue in China are also known as the Shui Dai or “Water Dai.” The Sipsongpanna Dai would also include the closely related people segments of the Huayao Dai (“Flower-waisted Dai”), the Han Dai (“Dry Land Dai”), and the Paxi (“Dai Muslims”). The Hauyao Tai, Han Tai, and Paxi people segments only exist in Yunnan Province, China. However, the Tai Lue are also found in Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States.

This is Dai duan which is commonly known as White Dai. There are more at Jinping area. 

A style like this, you will usually relate it with Thailand. This is the Dai dan group. Dai tribe actually spread out within Myanmar, China, Thailand and Laos. Myanmar has the highest number of Dai people. In Myanmar, they are more known as Tai people. 

This is the Wa tribe who are very proud with their long hair. The Wa tribe population in Xishuangbanna is not very big but their tribe is related to Dai Tribe which is from Myanmar too.

This is the Jino Tribe which is the last tribe out of 55 minority ethnics recognized by China government in 1979. 

There is a water splashing ceremony where the elephant will splash water on the tourists as the symbol of good luck or good fortune. Many of the tourists have avoided it from getting wet though. This is a custom for the Dai tribe. Overall, it is a good place to understand more about the tribes in Xishuangbanna but I recommend to visit Yunnan Minorities Village at Kunming to know all the 26 ethnic minorities in Yunnan instead of just Xishuangbanna. Anyway, you just need half a day to finish the tour. Not really long. So if you have the time, you still can spend some of your time here.

Ticket Price: CNY 65
Operating Hours: 7.00am - 6.00pm
Recommended?: 2/5