Geographical Location

Yongde County (永德县; pinyin: Yǒngdé Xiàn) is located in Lincang Prefecture, Yunnan, China. .A tourist festival titled ‘Hometown of Mango’ Cultural Tourism Festival" is held every year in Yongde county seat, Lincang. More than 20,000 audiences attended the opening ceremony.The Yongde “Earth Forest”, commonly known as “Earth Buddhas”, is situated on MangKuan Tufushang, on the north bank of Manling rivulet, a branch of Yongkan river. It is 45km away from the seat of Yongde County and 20km from Yongkan town, with an altitude of 1448 metres. It is the only natural wonder that formed by the changing of the earth physiognomy.

Introduction 

Yongde County is the traditional channel of Yunnan - Burma border,,the main produce place of Naoyao Kezi of China,also the hometown of Mango. Besides ,Yongde County is the National sugar base of China, provincial base for tea, livestock, corn,eed production , and the natural scenic area in Yunnan Province.The climate here is mild, and generally warm and temperate. The is a great deal of rainfall in Yongde, even in the driest month. This climate is considered to be Cfb according to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification. In Yongde, the average annual temperature is 17.0 °C. About 1303 mm of precipitation falls annually. The main science spots are Yongde Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve( 永德大雪山国家级自然保护区) Yongde Xiangeng(永德仙根),Yongde clay Buddha(永德土佛)

Administrative divisions

Till  June 2008, Yongde County includes 10 towns, 118 village, 1634 village groups, Mengdi  farm (勐底农场)in the territory.

Seven Villages:Mengban Villages (勐板乡):Yaliang Villages (亚练乡)、Wu Mulong Villages (乌木龙乡)、Daxueshan Villages 大雪山乡) Banka Villages (班卡乡)Chonggang Villages 崇岗乡)、Dashan Villages (大山乡)

Three townshiops ::Dedang Township(德党镇)、Xiaomengtong Township (小孟统乡)Yongkang Township (永康镇).

Ethnic groups

Yongde County jurisdiction over 3 towns, 7 townships ( including 2 ethnic townships )，there are 22 Ethnic groups includingHan ,Yi,Wa, Dai ,Lisu,Lahu and so on.

The Yongde County Almanac (1994:115) lists the following ethnic groups.

·         Limi 利米 (Lami branch 腊米支系)

·         Luoren 倮人 (Gaisu branch 改苏支系)

·         Xiangtang 香堂 (Lalu branch 腊鲁支系)

·         Menghua Turen 蒙化土人 (Laluo branch 腊罗支系)

·         Lamadu 撒马堵人 (Samo branch 洒摩支系)

·         Pengzi 棚子

·         Suan 蒜人