Photo shows residential houses in Wengding Va Village, Cangyuan Va Autonomous County, Lincang Prefecture, Yunnan. [yunnan.cn]

The second county-level airport of China is under construction in Cangyuan Va Autonomous County, Lincang Prefecture, Yunnan. It is a piece of good news for tourists to Wengding Wa Village.

Lincang Airport, which is 22.5 kilometers away from the city seat, has already been opened in 2001. However, it takes about 4 hours from Licang Airport to Wengding by buses. Wengding is more than 800 kilometers away from Kunming, the provincial capital. It takes over 12 hours by bus.

Once, a tourist, Liu went for travelling in Wengding. Liu said, "It took more than 3 hours to Wending from Licang City. The journey was quite tough. I nearly got sick and vomited." At that time, expressway had not been built yet.

In future, travelers can take a flight to Cangyuan, then to Wengding.

Wengding means "connected rivers" in the dialect of the Wa ethnic group. To date, Wending, where primitive residential architectures and ethnic culture are retained, is the best-preserved ethnic community. It is a must-see tourist site in Lincang.

The airport in Cangyuan Va Autonomous County is more than 30 kilometers away from the county seat. The total investment is 1.289 billion yuan. By December 16, 2011, the preliminary work of the airport’s construction has started. It is expected to be opened in 2014. It can accommodate large aircrafts, including: Airbus319, Airbus320 and Boeing 737. Then travelers can take a direct flight to Kunming, Lijiang, Diqing, Xishangbanna and Tengchong in future.

Presently, the only county-level airport of China, which has been opened for over 2 years, is in Tengchong County, Baoshan Prefecture. It welcomes about 500 thousand passengers annually. Though there are more than 10 flights everyday, it is still hard to purchase a ticket. The airport has greatly promoted the tourism industry of Tengchong.

The airport in Cangyuan Va Autonomous County is expected to promote the development of tourism industry.(Editors:Tina He, Lynn)