The province divides into two. In the west are high mountains; in the east a plateau, higher in the north than the south. The dividing line starts with the Yunling mountains--the easternmost of the Hengduan--in the north and follows the Yuan (Hong or Red) River (jiang) south. In the west are the Hengduan Moutains consisting of a series of ranges in Yunnan and Szechwan(3) Provinces which reach over 6700 meters in Yunnan's northwest at Mount Kagebo. Between the ranges are the Nu (Salween) and Lancang (Mekong) rivers. There's also a bit of the Irrawady (Ayeyarawady) in the very northwest. The mountains fan out toward the south.
The plateau has a great deal of karst and hence some scenic formations like the Stone Forest near Lunan. Another kind of scenery is found in the plateau's northwest where the Yangtze (Chiang) river, here called the Jinsha, cuts the Hutiaojian Canyon. Yet another tourist attraction is Dadieshui Waterfall on the Nanpan River, the headwater of the Xi (West) river of the Zhu (Pearl) system.
There are three moderately large lakes in or on the edge of the plateau: Dianchi, Erhai and Fuxian.
This is within the part of China where Putonghua Chinese speakers are a majority.
Yunnan's capital is Kunming. Qujing, Yuxi, Baoshan, Zhaotong, Lijiang, Pu'er and Lincang also have more than a million residents within the bounds of the city (shi).
northwest
north
east, from the northeast
east, from the southeast
south, from the southeast
south, from the south center
west
(1) Translates literally as South of the Clouds.
(2) Sheng in Wade-Giles transliteration.
(3) Zhoungguo or Chunghua in transliteration from the Chinese. Can be translated as the Middle Kingdom or Middle Land.
(3) Sichuan in Pinyin transliteration and Ssu-ch'uan in Wade-Giles transliteration.