This is not really news. There are already a handful of large dams in Yunnan along the Jinsha river, three to the east of Lijiang and one under construction north of Chuxiong. The license for an additional one under construction to the east of Lijiang but construction continues nonetheless. When I accidentally came across the site while hiking through the area, I was informed that it was an illegal project and that a handful of protesting locals had already been rounded up and threatened. Given that Deng Xiaoping's daughter is the head of the main state-owned hydropower company, it seems unlikely that anything can halt the eventual daming of all of NW Yunnan.

Mmm yes, this is great news indeed. 1 store every 24 hours is a little too slow for my tastes...one every 24 seconds would be better. Hopefully there will soon be a starbucks, mcdonalds, KFC on every corner in Yunnan, with the 4th corner occupied by a pharmacy/gas station. Yunnan is getting more beautiful every year!

It might be worth pointing out that Dali is threatened more by mass tourism and real estate development than by an influx of hippie backpackers. In this regard, I think Shaxi is probably safer from destruction than Dali.

Please- no more "national parks" if they are anything like pudacuo. While environmentally friendly, pudacuo is sterile, exorbitantly expensive, and the only exposure to nature it offers is via boardwalks and asphalt. In my opinion, designating in area a "national park" or "风景区" guarantees that there will be more development and mass-tourism than if it was simply left alone. But then again, this is certainly what the government intends when it brands an area "national park." How cynical...