Xi Shuang Banna is a most southern county of the Chinese Yunnan Province. Located on the banks of the Lancang (Mekong) River in the Southernmost part of Yunnan Province, bordering on Myanmar (Burma) and Laos, is the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture. The Lancang River links it to the countries in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Xishuangbanna covers a total area of 20000 square km, and is home to 13 ethnic national minorities groups (mainly the Han, Dai, Hani, Blang, Lahu, Jino, Yao and Yi). The local capital is Jinghong city and the district's name is more Thai than Chinese. "Sip song pan na" is Thai for "Twelve thousand rice fields", and that's what the fertile district has been called among the local Thai, or Dai, population for centuries.

As far as the population of this southernmost part of Yunnan is concerned, it is indeed more Thai than Chinese. In this district, the DAIS chinese minority are actually the majority. Of the district's population of more 650,000, more than half belong to the Dais who are just as closely related to the Thais of Thailand as the name suggests. The Han Chinese make only about a quarter of the population.

Xishuangbanna can be seen as China's Mini-Thailand, because there is a similarity of tourist attractions even if Thailand has indeed a much more developed tourism activity. There is also a Water Festival, which is equivalent to Songkran in Thailand, falls on the same date (April 13 to 15), and has the same traditional meaning of greeting a new year by the Thai, and Dai, calendar.

Xishuangbanna has a tropical rain forest climate, with abundant sunshine, plentiful rain and frequent dense fog. It has a reputation for beautiful subtropical landscapes and typical folk-culture attractions. Special places of interest in Xishuangbanna include Ganlanba, Menglun and the Wild Elephant Valley.

Jinghong City, Black and White Pagodas 

Beautiful and fascinating Xishuangbanna is famous all over the world, and is a very popular Yunnan tourist destination.