Xishuangbanna, China's enchanting tropical borderland
During his visit, Zhou attended Jinghong's famed Water Splashing Festival. The Dai people's close relationship with water is particularly exemplified during their Lunar New Year celebrations, falling annually in mid-April. The Festival (poshui jie) lasts three days, with dragon boat races, dancing, lush dining and a lot of fun. Splashing water symbolizes the washing away of past transgressions while creating a fresh start. This a way of bestowing blessings on each other, so the wetter the better.
The Dai heartland is the area of Ganlanba in Xishuangbanna, around 40 kilometers south of Jinghong and on the border with Myanmar. With an altitude only 530 meters above sea level, the environment is most certainly tropical, producing an abundant variety of crops and vegetation. Golden-haired monkeys and tigers are rumored to live in the forest depths — but thankfully I never encountered any, even while walking off-road and into the gloom of the jungle.
