Construction on the rail line connecting Dali with Lijiang has been completed and will be running in time for the National Day holiday during the first week of October, according to a YunnanNet report. Construction on the rail line began in 2004.

The 164 kilometer rail line passes through some serious mountain country, with more than half of the trip made up of bridges or tunnels. Bridges account for 22 kilometers of the journey, with 78 kilometers passing through tunnels.

The Dali-Lijiang (大丽) line will begin at Dali East Station, traveling along the eastern shore of Erhai Lake with stops at Shangguan (上关), Xiyi (西邑) and Heqing (鹤庆) before arriving in Lijiang. At present, information about departure times and trip duration is unavailable.

Lijiang is one of China's most popular tourist destinations – in the first half of this year it was visited by 3.44 million tourists. The opening of a new rail connection with Dali and Kunming should translate to even more travelers visiting the city, which features attractions including its old town (a UNESCO World Heritage site), Jade Dragon Snow Mountain and the nearby Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The extension of the Kunming-Dali rail line to Lijiang brings a proposed Kunming-Lhasa rail line one step closer to reality. The line will next be extended to Shangri-la and then to Lhasa.

The Kunming-Lhasa rail link would make Yunnan's capital the third provincial capital in western China with a direct rail link to Tibet after Xining in Qinghai and Chengdu in Sichuan, which will begin construction on a Chengdu-Lhasa rail line this month.

From June 22 to 30 in Seville, Spain, UNESCO's World Heritage Committee will review a list of hundreds of candidate sites proposed by countries around the world as part of the World Heritage Site selection process. In the end, only 20 or so sites will make the cut and be named World Heritage Sites, putting them firmly on global tourism's radar.

Each country submitting candidate sites must maintain a 'tentative' list of sites from which it can submit two candidates to the selection committee. This year, China's tentative list features 52 different sites, including three in Yunnan. China currently has 37 World Heritage Sites.

The Yunnan sites on China's tentative list include Dali Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake Scenic Spot, the Hani Terraces of Yuanyang and the lesser-known Chengjiang fossil lagerstätte at Maotian Mountain. While Dali, Yuanyang and Chengjiang are by no means unknown to travelers, being selected a World Heritage Site would bring new tourist revenue – and new developmental issues.

Yunnan is currently home to three World Heritage Sites: Old Town of Lijiang, Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas and South China Karst. Here's a quick look at the sites that could be selected in June:

Dali
Set between the towering Cangshan Mountains and the expansive waters of Erhai Lake, Dali has been a mainstay on the China backpacker circuit for more than a decade.

The agricultural know-how of the ethnic Bai people native to the area made Dali an important rice production base in dynastic times. This wealth fuelled the rise of the Nanzhao Kingdom, which was centered in Dali and at its height stretched from northern Laos, Thailand and Myanmar up into Chengdu and the Sichuan Basin before incurring the wrath of the Tang Dynasty.

Today Dali's old town is the most popular destination for travelers, but small guesthouses have also been popping up around Erhai Lake at Xizhou and Shuanglang. At the end of this year a new train line will link Dali and Lijiang.

Should Dali become a World Heritage Site, it would likely face many of the same development-versus-preservation problems that Lijiang has dealt with.

Yuanyang
Yuanyang and its rice terraces have long been an 'off the beaten track' option for travelers to Yunnan wishing for something different from the Dali-Lijiang-Tiger Leaping Gorge route. With just a fraction of Dali's tourism, Yuanyang offers a much more "local" experience for travelers – there is very little tourism infrastructure, roads around the terraces are often quite rough, and dining options are rather limited.

In terms of scenery, the more than 13,000 hectares of rice terraces around Yuanyang offer some of the most stunning natural images to be found in China, especially at the beginning of the year when the terraces are filled with water creating a striking mirror effect.

For relatively poor Yuanyang, World Heritage Site status would be tantamount to winning the lottery. The main question would be how much of the incoming tourist revenue would make its way into the pockets of locals.

Chengjiang fossil lagerstätte
The least-known of the three Yunnan sites on the tentative list, Chengjiang's Lagerstätte – a sedimentary deposit rich in fossils – is centered around Maotian Shan, located just north of the city of Chengjiang and picturesque Fuxian Lake, one of China's deepest and cleanest lakes.

While it is ignored by travel guidebooks, Chengjiang and its Lagerstätte is quite famous among paleontologists for the fossilized sea life it contains, collectively referred to as 'Chengjiang Fauna'. Chengjiang Fauna is considered one of the 'Three faunas of the evolution of early life forms' along with Burgess Shale Fauna in western Canada and the Ediacaran Fauna of South Australia.

The Chengjiang Lagerstätte recently made news around the world when Yunnan and UK scientists announced that they had found the earliest example of collective behavior there in the form of 525 million-year-old crustacean fossils linked together.

Already a popular weekend getaway for wealthy Kunmingers, Chengjiang would likely experience a rapid increase in international travelers as well as Chinese from other parts of the country were it to be named a heritage site.

Chengjiang fossil image: Nature.com

Dali-Lijiang rail line to open in December
The long-awaited Dali-Lijiang rail line (大丽铁路) is scheduled to commence operations on the last day of this year, according to a Dushi Shibao report.

Of the rail line's 164 kilometers, 22 kilometers are on bridges and 78 kilometers are tunneled – 62 percent of the line travels over bridges or through tunnels. At present, work crews are boring through Heluo Shan (禾洛山), the final mountain to be tunneled before the line enters Lijiang.

Work on the Dali-Lijiang line began in 2004. The line will begin at Dali East Station, traveling along the eastern shore of Erhai Lake with stops at Shangguan (上关), Xiyi (西邑) and Heqing (鹤庆) before arriving in Lijiang.

The rail line will eventually be extended to Shangri-la (Zhongdian) and then on to Lhasa.

Kunming to crack down on electric bicycles
Starting tomorrow, Kunming police will be cracking down on illegal operation of electric bicycles around the city and will be issuing fines ranging from five to 50 yuan, according to local media reports. Fineable offenses will include carrying multiple passengers, going the wrong way, riding in car lanes, riding on sidewalks and running red lights.

The combination of rapidly growing numbers of electric bicycles on Kunming's streets – there are an estimated 700,000 electric bikes in the city today - and the legal gray area the vehicles occupy have led to increasing safety problems.

In 2004, two people died in electric bike accidents in Kunming, compared to 20 last year and 13 in the first four months of this year. So far this year, electric bikes have been involved in roughly 25 percent of the traffic accident calls received by police.

The crackdown on electric bicycles will last 100 days, during which it is evidently hoped that vehicle owners will become accustomed to obeying traffic rules.

Man tests negative for swine flu, released from quarantine
The final passenger from a Mexican airline flight containing people infected with the H1N1 virus tested negative for the disease - more commonly known as swine flu – and was from quarantine in Kunming prior to the weekend.

Two days after news of the man's release, China's Health Ministry announced that the first suspected H1N1 case on the mainland - a thirty-year-old man returning from studying in the United States – was under quarantine in a hospital in Chengdu.

If one strolls through the villages along the shores of Yangzonghai Lake, it is impossible to avoid coming across signs announcing the "Three Prohibitions" – drinking lake water is prohibited, swimming or bathing in lake water is prohibited and consuming aquatic products from the lake is prohibited.

The 26,000 villagers in the area can no longer use the lake as a source of drinking water – they now depend upon bottled water delivered by the government. Unfortunately, Yangzonghai's pollution, most of which has taken place since 2001, parallels what has been happening to lakes and rivers across Yunnan province in recent years.

According to a recent Tencent report, water quality across Yunnan's network of rivers and lakes has been deteriorating steadily over the last several years.

Of the 53 lakes and reservoirs in the province, 27 are not considered "environmentally functional". Of the 75 main rivers in the province, 22 percent are heavily polluted.

Aside from arsenic-polluted Yangzonghai, the report said there are five other lakes in Yunnan that are not able to be considered "environmentally functioning". This includes Dianchi Lake's Caohai and Waihai sections, Qilu Lake, Xingyun Lake and Yilong Lake.

Of these bodies of water, Caohai and Qilu Lake suffer from the heaviest pollution, while the pollution levels at Waihai, Yilong Lake and Xingyun Lake – which suffers from petroleum pollution – were slightly lower.

The report also said that Erhai Lake in Dali is currently at a perilous turning point between medium and heavy eutrophication, which eventually removes oxygen from a body of water and leads to the destruction of all animal life.

Across Yunnan, wastewater treatment, a crucial component in reducing river and lake pollution, is practically nonexistent, according to the report.

At present, there are only 38 wastewater treatment facilities in Yunnan, 10 of which are located in Kunming. There are 90 counties and municipalities in the province with no wastewater treatment facilities whatsoever.

Compounding the problem of too few wastewater treatment plants is the lackluster condition of existing facilities. In a spot check of 13 wastewater treatment facilities in Yunnan by the provincial environmental supervisory unit, it was discovered that six of the plants were incapable of "normal operations".

To further compound matters, landfills across the province are seeping pollution into underground water supplies, the report said.

Hong Kong property developer Shui On Land's 5 billion yuan (US$730 million) development project in Shangri-la may not move forward after all, with Hong Kong media reporting that Shui On chairman Vincent Lo (罗康瑞) told an investor party that the property giant will quit the project.

Lo reportedly cited difficulties with Shangri-la's 'operational environment' as the reason for pulling out of the project. Shui On representatives contacted by Hong Kong media said that Lo's comments merely indicated that he wished to scrap the project's current plan, not the entire project itself.

Shui On spokespeople have yet to elucidate the company's plan for the project, for which it signed a cooperation agreement with the Diqing government.

Initial plans for the project involved 1,773 square kilometers of land, 966 square kilometers of which would be designated 'protected land' plus a 349 square kilometer 'buffer belt'. A 760,000 square meter resort would be located within the belt.

Lo's comments raise questions regarding Shui On's commitments to the company's three other development projects in Yunnan.

The company has signed agreements for a residential and resort development in Lashihai outside of Lijiang, a similar development on the east side of Erhai Lake in Dali and a residential/office/commercial development at the north end of Dianchi Lake in Kunming.

Total investment by Shui On in Yunnan tourism projects was projected to reach 48 billion yuan this year, which would make it the largest investor in Yunnan's tourism sector.

Hong Kong-listed Shui On holds properties in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuhan, Chongqing and Dalian and is best known for its Xintiandi and Corporate Avenue developments in Shanghai's Luwan District.

Related articles:

Shui On leading investment in Yunnan's tourism industry

Property giant Shui On moving into yunnan

The People's Government of Dali has banned all fishing activities on Erhai Lake from January 1 of this year "in order to guarantee Erhai's ecological recovery and the sustainable development of the fishing industry", according to a Yunnan Daily report.

Not unlike Dianchi Lake in Kunming, Erhai Lake has seen its water quality drop severely in the last couple of decades, especially with the rapid development of Xiaguan (aka 'New Dali') and its accompanying pollution.

Pollution plus heavy fishing have taken a toll on the quality and quantity of fish in the lake. There is also a tourist element to fishing on Erhai Lake, as many foreign and domestic tourists make it out to witness a traditional local fishing method using cormorants.

The Dali government also declared that the 2.1-square kilometer Erhai Aquatic Life Protected Area between Hong Mountain and Ao Mountain in Shuanglang Town will be closed to the public for the entire year.

For most people living in Kunming, Dali is known primarily as a place to go to chill out and relax. What is not-so-well-known is that Dali also has a lot of great hiking to offer hikers of all levels.

The Cangshan (苍山) mountain range on the west side of Dali Old Town (大理古城) is accessible by cable car or the old-fashioned way: hoofing it to the top. The hike up takes approximately two hours whereas the cable car takes about half an hour and costs thirty yuan a one-way ride. The cable car operates from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm - make sure to give yourself enough time to get back to the cable car station if you are planning on taking it back down to Dali. Last year the Cangshan area was designated a 'scenic spot' by the local government, so anyone ascending the mountains - on foot or cable car - must pay 30 yuan to enter the mountain area.

Whether you take the cable car or hike up the mountain, it is advisable to first hit Zhonghe Temple (中和寺), which in addition to a temple features a small Bai-style restaurant and a small square with a is a beautiful view of Erhai Lake as well as plenty of stores to stock up on food and water. It is also at the head of several trails that stretch throughout the mountain range.

Hiking options in the Cangshan range include trips to lakes, waterfalls, mountain peaks and temples. For those looking for a leisurely hike the Cloud Pass is an easy choice. The stone path is fairly flat and winds around six mountains, past five waterfalls and three temples. There are also side trails jutting out from the Cloud Pass near the waterfalls that lead upward to clear pools, more waterfalls and excellent vistas. Stretching about twenty kilometers, Cloud Pass can also provide a nice workout. With road signs and plenty of other hikers there is no danger of losing your way.

If you plan on doing one of the more difficult hikes, it is a good idea to check in with the employees at the Higherland Inn. They are very knowledgeable about trails in the area and offer free maps and information for hikers. The hike to the summit of Zhonghe, the second highest mountain in the area at 4,100 meters, generally takes nine hours for the round trip hike, so it is recommended to stay at the inn for a night to get an early start. In some places the trail to the top is a little overgrown but it is not difficult to follow. Along the way bright green bamboo forests and clear mountain streams make one feel far from the human world.

After hours of hiking with no signs of civilization, the summit boasts a large TV tower with 20 full-time employees (who are often inside watching TV). This is a great place to take a lunch break and relax a bit before the hike down. The TV tower employees are very kind and enjoy talking to passersby. Upon arriving, it is common to be greeted with a round of hellos from the workers. If you have a tent and want to stay up top for a while, there is a trail on the Cangshan ridge that can be taken north or south, with beautiful views and small mountain lakes dotting the way.

The best time to hike above Dali is late summer and early autumn as to avoid the rainy season. It is advisable to bring some warm clothes whenever you hike in the area because cold weather can move in quickly on the mountaintops.

Top image: Higherland Inn