Yuxi

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Location of Yuxi Prefecture (yellow)
Location of Yuxi Prefecture (yellow)

Yuxi (Chinese: 玉溪; pinyin: Yùxī) is a prefecture-level city in the Yunnan province of the People's Republic of China.

[edit] Overview

Dong Shiqiang is the mayor of Yuxi City. The composer of China's National Anthem, Nie Er was from Yuxi. Many of the residents of Yuxi belong to ethnic minorities. The city was founded in 960 AD, at a time when Yunnan was not yet part of China.

Yuxi is the home of the Hongta cigarette company, which was named after the Red Pagoda which sits atop a nearby hill. The Pagoda was originally white, but was painted red during the cultural revolution. The tobacco is of high quality due to the fact that there is over 2300 hours of sunlight a year in the region, adequte rainfall in the summer, and excellent soil that produces a plethora of other fruits and vegetables. The region has begun producing wine, which could prove to be quite palpable in the next decade or so.

Yuxi is one of the fastest growing small cities in China. In 2001, the city won an Honor Award in Analysis & Planning by the American Society of Landscape Architects. In 2004 UNIDO held a Workshop on Seed Treatment Technology, one of only two in China.

Nearby Yuxi city is Fuxian Lake, the second-deepest lake in China, where there have been discovered ancient fossils that are now in the possession of the Yuxi museum.

Also notable is the Fin du Monde Cafe on Small Temple Street (Xiao Miao Jie), which is the only place in town with English being spoken with any regularity.

[edit] References

Coordinates: 24°21′N 102°32′E / 24.35, 102.533