Jinghong Along the Lancang River
A 2026 account describes Jinghong’s riverside greenway, a public path along the Lancang for evening walks.
Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture.
The Lancang River anchors one view of Jinghong, while Dai New Year brings an ordered sequence of ritual and social activity beyond its best-known water scenes. Narrative poems and Zhangha singing open another relationship between language and performance. In Mengla County, the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden keeps living plants in a scientific collection and presents relationships between people and plants. These stories share a prefecture without representing every Dai household or community.
Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture
Before and After the Water: Dai New Year
In Xishuangbanna, Sangkhan Bimai unfolds through preparation, water-splashing, Buddhist observance and public celebration.
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A Living Archive at the Tropical Botanical Garden
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden keeps living collections and a herbarium, two archives that preserve different kinds of botanical evidence.
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How a Botanical Garden Organizes Plant Knowledge
Four themed areas at the botanical garden present plants through food, medicine, religion and literature, revealing how institutions interpret human-plant relationships.
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Sour Bamboo Shoots, Wild Flowers and a Dai Table
A public account of Dai sour bamboo shoots follows the ingredient from fresh strips to a sealed jar and a period of fermentation.
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From Dai Long Poems to Zhangha Song
Dai long poems hold stories of origins, history, social criticism and love; Zhangha brings some narratives into song.
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Plants and People at XTBG’s Ethnic Forest Culture Garden
The garden’s themed displays connect plants with food, belief, medicine, literature and the materials of everyday life.
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Lancang River in Jinghong
The Lancang River provides a geographical frame for Jinghong’s waterfront life. River edges and crossings connect the city with the larger river corridor.
Jinghong
Dai New Year and local narrative traditions give Jinghong different cultural settings. Ritual sequences, singing and everyday food belong to related but distinct practices.
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden
The botanical garden in Mengla County maintains living scientific collections. Displays and ethnobotanical work also introduce relationships between plants and people.
Photo credits and rights
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A bridge across the Lancang River at Jinghong.Chlukoe · 2015-03-07 13:40:23 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized without cropping or upscaling; converted to WebP.
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Public water-splashing celebrations in Jinghong marking the Dai New Year.유신예 · 2025-12-15 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized without cropping or upscaling; converted to WebP.
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Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences.Colin W · Taken on 9 November 2007 · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized without cropping or upscaling; converted to WebP.
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Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences.Yumeto · 2025-12-25 12:41:08 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized without cropping or upscaling; converted to WebP.
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Sliced sour bamboo shoots, shown as a generic ingredient example. The photographer did not specify the location or a Dai preparation.GTSPACE · 2024-09-06 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized without cropping or upscaling; converted to WebP.
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String instruments and a Zhangha music booklet displayed at Xishuangbanna National Museum.Cangminzho · 2018-03-21 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized without cropping or upscaling; converted to WebP.
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Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden; the photographed views do not identify a particular community’s plant knowledge.Colin W · Taken on 9 November 2007 · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized without cropping or upscaling; converted to WebP.
