Don't mean to whitewash, the situation is terrible - just meant to point out that banning forestry was under the PRC, and that the extreme air pollution of cities, which has gotten worse since 1980, has also finally got Chinese authorities to take it seriously and do something about the environment - no, maybe not enough etc., but they've really begun to see the light. Hope they'll see more light, but of course in a globally competitive 'development' economy and competitive international political system they're not suddenly going to shut down all the coal mines etc., any more than other governments endanger their economic positions. Brings into question question about 'development' generally, as well as the wonders of competitive (naturally) capitalism and national 'strength', especially when many of the elements of such lie in the hands of folks with competitive make-money short-term interests. The light that the state has begun to see is in fact in contradiction to the demands of the kind of world economy and polity that is virtually universal. Question is, will longer-term interests prevail over the structural constraints built into the kind of world we live in, or won't they? And no, I'm not real optimistic, but there's no alternative, and it's not just a matter of the present leadership, who are, after all, not blind.

I think that in the 19th century it was not so much a matter of people not crying foul or criticizing (it was a century of several armed rebellions against the state that lasted for a decade or more and took the lives of tens of millions) - nor was it then a matter of loss of face, as I doubt that the central or local state was terribly aware of the problem - and at any rate the Qing were pretty busy just trying to keep the lid on things, suppress the massive local rebellions and foreign 'semi-imperialism, semi-colonialism' against their waning power. So I don't think whatever we are seeing today is a matter of the same old same old - but of course you're right about the difference between espoused culture and culture in action.

Sublime relation to nature in art and in numerous traditional popular practices, perhaps. However, it was already obvious to numerous Western travelers in China in the 19th century, including some who came to Yunnan, that deforestation in China had long bee seriously damaging the landscape - and note that such issues were a hell of a lot less issues of concern in Europe in the 19th century than they are today. The PRC government banned much forestry in 1997, and although this policy has not always been perfectly carried out and although that it has merely driven foresters to exploit forests in Laos and Myanmar, it does seem to be a step in the right direction - and I, for one, do not think that the current effort will be a matter of mere words.

@ Peter: Answer to your question: no.

Good photos, good article, sounds like it was a really good trip to what looks like a really cool place.