Yuanyang Rice Terraces. Photo by Rao Yong

Nuogang Village in Jingmai Mountain. Photo by Chen Fei

Lijiang Old Town. Photo by Wang Yi

At the 3rd Yunnan International Communication Forum on 10 December, the 2024 China International Communication Buzzwords were unveiled, with "World Heritage" among them.

Yunnan is truly a World Heritage province, home to six World Heritage sites, ranking second nationwide. On this land of magic and charm, these sites have become a bridge for global tourists to discover China, making "There is a life called Yunnan" a dream for many. From Yunnan, cultural and tourism exchanges and cooperation have fostered mutual understanding, learning, and shared progress among nations.

Faster departures and smoother arrivals

In recent years, the infrastructure network connecting Yunnan and neighboring countries has been steadily improving. Increasingly convenient transportation not only shortens the distance in time and space but also enhances cultural exchange and mutual understanding. With transportation-focused "hard connectivity" playing a key role, heritage is gaining popularity, and tourism is booming, laying a solid foundation for cultural exchange and tourism cooperation between Yunnan and other countries.

In August this year, the China-Cambodia Cultural Corridor at Siem Reap Angkor International Airport was officially inaugurated. Over the past year since the airport's opening, it has handled 14,700 flights, served 1.32 million passengers, and established routes connecting 15 cities across 8 countries, creating a thriving "Silk Road in the air." The airport's operation has fueled the growth of related industries such as tourism, hospitality, and logistics. Ding Yizhen, Tourism Attaché at the Cambodian Embassy in Beijing, who has visited Yunnan many times, believes that the ongoing "heritage tourism" boom, coupled with enhanced regional connectivity, offers significant potential for Cambodia and Yunnan to collaborate in protecting world heritage sites.

The China-Laos Railway connects major tourist cities, including Kunming, Yuxi, Pu'er, and Xishuangbanna in Yunnan, as well as Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, and Vientiane in Laos, linking numerous World Heritage sites. On 13 April this year, marking the first anniversary of the international passenger train service on the China-Laos Railway, an additional pair of trains was launched between Xishuangbanna and Luang Prabang, bringing new opportunities for the tourism industries of both nations.

Enjoy travel with greater convenience

Thanks to the transit visa-free policy and the accelerated recovery of the air transport market, Lijiang has seen a sustained increase in inbound passenger flow this year. In the first 10 months, the number of inbound and outbound flights and passengers at Lijiang Airport surged by 5.7 and 10.4 times respectively compared to last year, setting new records.

Listening to ancient Naxi music in the Old Town, savoring preserved pork ribs on Sifang Street, and exploring the history of the Mu family in the Mu Mansion—Lijiang Old Town is a must-visit destination for many Vietnamese tourists exploring China. "World Heritage tours are not only a valuable way to experience human cultural and natural heritage, but also an important channel for fostering mutual friendship," said Vietnamese tourist Pham Thi Kim Lien.

In 2024, as China deepens its implementation of visa-free policies, "China Travel" has become a trendy choice, and Yunnan has gained even more attention as a favored destination for international tourists. In March, the reciprocal visa exemption agreement for ordinary passport holders between China and Thailand came into effect. In July, the National Immigration Administration announced the expansion of Yunnan Province's 144-hour visa-free transit policy. It now includes the administrative areas of nine cities and prefectures—Kunming, Lijiang, Yuxi, Pu'er, Chuxiong, Dali, Xishuangbanna, Honghe, and Wenshan. Additionally, Lijiang Sanyi International Airport and Mohan Railway Port have been added as eligible transit ports, further boosting the appeal of Yunnan for cross-border and inbound tourism.

Moreover, at the 8th Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Leaders' Meeting held in Kunming on 7 November, China announced the introduction of the "Lanmei Visa," granting qualified businesspeople from the five Mekong countries five-year multiple-entry visas to China. On 17 December, the National Immigration Administration further relaxed and optimized the visa-free transit policy, extending the stay period for visa-free transit visitors from 72 or 144 hours to 240 hours (10 days). The policy also added 21 new ports as eligible entry and exit points and expanded the range of allowable activities. With the implementation of these new policies, international travelers to Yunnan will enjoy a more convenient and enriched travel experience.

More in-depth experiences await

On November 19, the "World Heritage Tour Programme" was launched in Kunming. This initiative aims to establish a multi-stakeholder international cooperation platform, explore innovative strategies and methods for World Heritage preservation, and encourage broader participation in the conservation of these treasures.

This year, Yunnan has hosted numerous events centered on World Heritage tourism. The China (Yunnan) - Cambodia "Touring Yunnan and Seeing Angkor" series extended from Kunming to Cambodia, engaging participants through a multi-sensory experience of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touch. These efforts foster collaboration between China and Cambodia to protect World Heritage. Additionally, the launch of tourism itineraries like "10 World Heritage Sites in 10 Days," "Starlight Journey to the Secret Land of Buddha," and the "Travel to Yunnan and See Angkor" dual heritage tour offers fresh inspiration for travelers and industry professionals to explore Yunnan, China, and beyond.

"World Heritage tourism has drawn more domestic and international visitors to Luang Prabang, a city recognized for its natural and cultural heritage," said Su Li, a Lao tour guide. She highlighted that the mutual development of tourism and heritage protection enhances local living standards while strengthening ties between Yunnan and South and Southeast Asia.

This year, Su Li was invited to Yunnan to attend the "World Heritage Tour Programme" launch. Next year, Yunnan delegates will visit Laos. In 2025, the "One River, One Family" Chinese New Year cultural series plans to host a World Heritage-themed event in Laos. Experts from China and Laos in media, culture, tourism, and heritage preservation will share their insights on heritage conservation and the integration of culture and tourism. Su Li looks forward to fostering closer exchanges and collaboration between Laos and Yunnan.

Yunnan blogger "Miss Cultural Travel Bunny":

Provide quality travel tips

"Miss cultural travel bunny". Photo provided

After the cultural landscape of the ancient tea forests of Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er was included on the World Heritage List, this thousand-year-old tea mountain gained significant fame and became a new popular tourist destination in Yunnan. Before the successful bid, Yunnan travel blogger "Miss Cultural Travel Bunny" was involved in research related to the protection of villages and the development of culture and tourism at Jingmai Mountain. Her series of travel tips for the region continue to receive praise and collections from netizens.

As a self-media personality deeply engaged in the culture and tourism field, she observes that the style of tourism in China is shifting towards independent travel and in-depth experience tours. This change reflects the increasing demand from Chinese tourists for autonomy, quality, and personalized travel experiences. Tourists are becoming more interested in what they can feel at World Heritage sites and what kind of exclusive memories they can take home.

In November of this year, Yunnan launched the "World Heritage Tour Plan." "Miss Cultural Travel Bunny" believes that in advancing this plan, Yunnan should focus on the protection and inheritance of cultural heritage, fully leveraging these resources to promote tourism development and achieve a harmonious integration of culture and tourism with cultural heritage preservation. As a culture and tourism blogger, she will continue to focus on Yunnan’s World Heritage sites and provide high-quality travel tips for her followers.

Binbona, CEO of Cambodia's Juhuan News Media Group:

Protect common wealth

Binbona. Photo provided

"Tea is not only an important symbol of Chinese culture, but also a profound reflection of China's commitment to the preservation of cultural heritage and the harmonious coexistence of man and nature." Not long ago, Binbona, the CEO of Cambodia's Juhuan News Media Group, visited Jinghong City, Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province, to explore the mystery behind the fragrance of tea.

When Binbona first stepped onto the 10,000-acre tea plantation in Dadugang Township, known as "the largest continuous tea plantation in the world", he was captivated by the sight before him: "The tea-picking girls, dressed in colorful traditional costumes, resemble tiny flowers scattered across the emerald green." Through media reports, Binbona learned about the uniqueness of the ancient tea forest cultural landscape of Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er, the world’s first tea-themed World Heritage Site.

Binbona mentioned that Cambodia's most famous World Heritage Site is Angkor Wat in Siem Reap Province. In addition, Cambodia has three other World Heritage Sites: the Temple of Preah Vihear, the Temple of Sambor Prei Kuk, and the Koh Ker Monument.

"These precious cultural relics bear witness to the wisdom and creativity of the ancient Khmer people, carrying countless stories and historical memories that are well worth exploring by tourists." Since the 1990s, the Cambodian and Chinese governments, along with academic institutions, have been collaborating to restore Angkor's cultural relics, bringing them new life through their joint efforts. Binbona believes that as the two countries deepen their cooperation in the field of cultural heritage protection, more and more people will join the effort to safeguard the precious wealth shared by humanity.

Pavel, Bulgarian Internet Influencer:

Start the amazing journey

Pavel. Photo by Yang Junyu

"Friends from all over the world, when you travel to the World Heritage Sites in Yunnan, the Hani Terraces in Honghe is a stop not to be missed." Not long ago, Pavel Georgiev Galabov, a Bulgarian internet influencer, recommended the magnificent terraces to friends around the world via his account after visiting Azheke Village, which is located in the Hani Terraces Heritage Area.

As soon as he entered Azheke Village, Pavel was deeply impressed by the scene before him: a patchwork of mushroom houses scattered among green hills and clear waters, babbling streams running through the village, and terraced fields like a mirror reflecting the color of the sky. "The village, the terraced fields, the forests, and the water system all blend into one, like an oil painting," Pavel exclaimed.

What also amazed Pavel was the local folk culture. During his visit to Azheke, Pavel wore local ethnic costumes and danced with local villagers. "I listened to ancient Hani songs, which are considered 'encyclopaedic' by the locals, and saw a 100-year-old 'four-stringed' instrument still in use, which is older than my grandfather—it's amazing!" Pavel said excitedly.

After learning about the four-pronged ecosystem of forests, villages, terraces, and water, the unique traditional Hani settlement area, and the long history of Hani culture, Pavel expressed his admiration. He said: "This place has achieved a virtuous circle between the protection and development of the World Heritage Site, nourished the lives of the Hani people, and demonstrated to the world China's successful exploration on the way to protecting World Heritage Sites."

Comminication

World heritage connects you and me

Since the beginning of this year, the Yunnan International Communication Centre for South and Southeast Asia Region has held a series of humanistic exchange activities under the theme of "World Heritage" and focusing on cultural exchanges. Wonderful graphics and videos were posted on overseas social media platforms such as X, Facebook, and Instagram. Guests from home and abroad who participated in the activities also published a series of posts based on their personal experiences, which received many positive comments from netizens.

During the annual meeting of the 2024 South Asia Southeast Asia Media Alliance, Naipadra, Minister of Information of the Kingdom of Cambodia, posted 11 posts on his official Facebook page, such as "Today we come to the tourist village in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture", "Let's try Yunnan's rice noodle", "Signing Moment", etc., which vividly showed the development status of rural tourism and the protection of intangible cultural heritage in Xishuangbanna Prefecture. The content posted by Naipadra attracted many people to share it and leave comments with heart emojis.

During the annual meeting, guests from Laos and other countries took the China-Laos Railway train directly to Xishuangbanna to experience the "happiness of flying". A series of articles on "China-Laos Railway has sent more than 43 million passengers on the 3rd anniversary of its opening and operation" became a hot topic and received warm feedback from overseas netizens. Malaysian netizen Farid commented: "With the help of the China-Laos Railway cross-border tours, I can see the different cultural landscapes along the way, and I plan to take my children to experience it during the winter holidays." Laotian netizen Su Liwan said: "The China-Laos Railway has brought rapid changes to our lives."

These anecdotal essays not only maintained the excitement of the conference, but also reviewed the style of many "World Heritage Sites." Under the English post "Stone Forests - a billion-year-old surprise," the American Sams commented: "What's the best time of year to go here? Fantastic nature!" Under the English video post "Lijiang Scenery Shocked Foreign Boys," Italian netizen Alessio commented: "Yunnan's world heritage is amazing! Stone Forest and Lijiang Ancient Town are unique and have been put on the must-visit list." Australian netizen Hans said he often flies around the world, and the 144-hour visa-free transit policy allows him to explore the region during business trips. "Yunnan children were stunned by the beauty of Angkor Wat," Cambodian netizen Kanita commented: "Chinese friends, welcome back."

Voice

In this year's "Touring Yunnan and Seeing Angkor" series of heritage site activities, we joined hands with the International Communication Centre for South and Southeast Asia Region of Yunnan Province to invite guests from around the world to travel from Yunnan to Angkor Airport in Cambodia to start their World Heritage tours. Through a series of activities, the media in Cambodia and Yunnan have further expanded the promotion of culture and tourism, enriching the connotation of World Heritage tourism. In the future, it is expected that both sides can explore more potential, leverage their respective advantages, deepen cooperation, and jointly contribute to the cultural and tourism promotion and the protection of World Heritage Sites in both countries, attracting more tourists to visit the World Heritage Sites in Cambodia and Yunnan.

----Naipadra, Minister of Information of the Kingdom of Cambodia

This year, Laos has participated in a number of activities related to the World Heritage tours conducted by Yunnan Province. These activities are an important result of media cooperation between Laos and China, especially between Laos and Yunnan, and they have also enabled more friends from Laos to get to know, understand and enter Yunnan. Next year, we will continue to cooperate with the media in Yunnan, starting from Yunnan and then going to Laos, using the power of the media and joining hands to promote and publicise the World Heritage Sites in both China and Lao PDR.

----Vansai Davinya, Deputy Chief of the Central Propaganda Department of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and Editor-in-Chief of the People's Newspaper

From the China-Myanmar Media Forum to the China-Myanmar Cultural Exchange Week, cooperation between Myanmar and Yunnan has been expanding. In the future, Myanmar media will combine the world cultural heritage resources in Myanmar and even in South and Southeast Asia, strengthen cooperation with Yunnan media, promote world heritage tours from different angles and dimensions, and continuously inject media power into Myanmar-China humanistic exchanges, tourism development, and personnel, economic and trade exchanges.

----U Maung Maung Oun, Minister of Information of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar

Last year, we participated in the World Heritage Tours Programme launched by Yunnan, exchanged various forms of content products, and promoted Yunnan's World Heritage Sites and other related content in Thailand. In the future, we would like to deepen our cooperation with Yunnan media and continue to showcase the rich World Heritage sites in Yunnan and other provinces in China through our reports, and we look forward to the joint efforts of Thai and Chinese media in promoting and launching World Heritage tours.

----Vacharin, Acting Director, International News Department, Thai News Agency, MCOT Public Company Limited, Thailand

Journalist's Notes

Let's hold hands and walk together

On 19 November, at the launch ceremony of the World Heritage Tours Programme, more than 10 representatives from home and abroad joined hands to promote the World Heritage Tour, and “hand in hand” became our most intuitive impression of the World Heritage Tours.

World Heritage tours starting from Yunnan, holding hands for shared development. From September 2023 to September this year, Jingmai Mountain attracted a total of 402,000 tourists, an increase of 33.52% year on year. Tourism revenue reached 338 million yuan, up 184% year on year. The brand awareness and reputation of Jingmai Mountain tea are steadily growing; traditional handicrafts and intangible cultural heritage, such as Dai brocade and bamboo weaving, are thriving; homestays and farmhouses combining tea and tourism are flourishing like mushrooms after the rain; forest and tea coexist, people and land are in harmony, and dividends are shared.

World Heritage tours starting from Yunnan, holding hands for win-win cooperation. Cambodian Minister of Information Naipadra visited Yunnan twice this year. He came for the protection and development of World Heritage, and chose Yunnan because he was optimistic about Yunnan's location advantages, resource advantages, and cultural advantages. Every time he visited Yunnan, “cooperation” was the word Naipadra mentioned most frequently. He expressed his hope to jointly promote the development of cultural tourism with Yunnan and protect our common wealth – World Heritage.

World Heritage tours starting from Yunnan, holding hands for civilizations to exchange and learn from each other. In recent years, we have had the honour of visiting several World Heritage sites in neighbouring countries. The bustling night market in Luang Prabang, Laos, has injected new life into the ancient city, and the dazzling array of unique handicrafts has become the best medium for showcasing Lao culture. At the Angkor Archaeological Park in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the guide intentionally pointed out the image of Chinese merchants in the murals of the ancient monuments, telling us about the long history of exchange and mutual learning between Cambodia and China. In Halong Bay, Vietnam, many cruise operators have been making efforts to learn Chinese in order to better introduce Halong Bay to Chinese tourists.

More and more people are willing to send their children to study in China, hoping that the next generation will have a broader vision and step onto a wider stage. World heritage is a testament to human culture and a hope that the blue planet will continue to thrive. In the sharing of resources and the exchange and mutual learning of cultures, only by joining hands and blending together can we move forward better.

Click here to view Chinese report

(Editors: Reena, Amy)