The City of Chuxiong is one of the only two Yi minority autonomous prefectures among the 30 national minority autonomous prefectures. Chixong Yi prefecture administers 9 counties, 1 municipality and 128 towns. It includes an area of 29,258 square kilometers located in a 95% mountainous region. CNU is the only University of Chuxiong Yi prefecture. It is also one of the three teacher-training Universities among the 16 prefectures in Yunnan province.

    The city is located between the capital city of Kunming and the famous tourist-sights of Dali and Lijinag. The majority of the population is Han, but many nimority peoples live in the prefecture, including Yi, Bai, Dai, Lisu, Miao and Hui. This clourful mix of people can be seen in the counties around the city, but many people wear their national costumes and dresses even in the city, making this an interesting contrast between the modern and the traditional.

    Chuxiong is also called the “City of the Deer” (Lu Chen) because, as the legend goes, a deer was pursued and seen disappeared in the land where Chuxiong city locates now, people believed that the place where the deer led them to was a blessed land, they built their city wall along the footprint of this miraculous deer and lived peacefully here ever since then.

    Archaeologists from home and abroad regard Chuxiong Prefecture as the cradle of humanity and “the home of ancient living things” due to the “Yuan-Mou man”, a 17-million-year-old man found in 1965. You can see replicas of the Yuan-Mou man in the town museum, a modern building located just across the Universit’s western campus. This same museum also houses an interesting collection of dinosaur fossils. The nearby site of Lufeng is where dinasaur fossils have been excavated since 1938, with a new site recently discovered. Twenty-four categories, thirty-three species and hundred of complete dinosaur fossils have been unearthed.

Sightseeing in Chuxiong

Earth Forest
     Yuanmou Tulin ( Earth Forest ) & " Yuanmon Man " in Chuxiong Prefecture :

The Earth Forest in Yuanmou County, a provincial class scenic spot is made up of five areas, including the old city, Xinghua - bangguo - wumao region and Jinsha River valley. Its representative landscape soil forest is distributed to Xinhua, Banguo, Wanbao and Tiger Leaping Beach, covering an area of 50 km 2. It was formed by geological movement and soil erosion one or two million years ago. It is named for its shape like immense forest and the main composition of the expansion earth. The Earth Forest, the Stone Forest in Lunan and the Colorful Sand Forest in Luliang are called " the Three Forest in Yunnan ".

Yuanmou is about 200 kilometers from Kunming. You can take train (No. 66, No. 548) there, or you can take rather bus at the bus station in Kunming.

Zixi Mountain, a provincial class scenic spot in Chuxiong includes Zixi Mountain (15 kilometers from Chuxiong) and Deer city, with an area of 850 km2.

Zixi Mountain
   Zixi Mountain is famed as "the first mountain in the central part of Yunnan" since ancient times. Contemporary specialists call it "the natural park". within 160 square kilometers, there are thousands kind of plants, many kinds of animals and Buddhist buildings.


Lion Mountain
The Lion Mountain in Wuding
is situated four kilometers west of Wuding County. With an elevation of 2,100 meters, it is named after the shape of the mountain. It is made up of Zhenxu Buddhist Temple, cliffs and immense forest, which is the famous scenery of the provincial class.

According to legend, the second emperor of the Ming dynasty - Huidi Emperor became a monk and fled to Zhenxu Buddhist Temple after he was driven off the throne by his uncle Zhuli (Yongbing Emperor of Ming Dynasty). Nowadays, Huidi Emperor Hall is built in the temple, with the sculpture of Huidi Emperor, the table of "Shuhuai" by Huidi Emperor, China fir and cypress that it said was planted by Huidi Emperor. Although the mysterious movements of Huidi Emperor has no final conclusion, Lion Mountain is famous of it.

Wuding County is about 150 km from Chuxiong. It is possible to reserve regular buses at the bus station.


Ten-month Solar Calendar Park
Chuxiong is a fascinating land fostering an age-old minority with brilliant culture, among which the Ten-month Solar Calendar is the most striking one. According to this calendar, one year was divided into ten months in five seasons. There were 36 days in a month and two months constituted a season. So, the total was 360 days. The rest 5 or 6 days were defined as annual festival. It shows that the revolution time of the earth rounding the Sun was 365.25 days, It's the most precise ancient calendar then and in the long years to come. It is not only a treasure with great scientific and humanistic value in Yi’s culture, but the intellectual crystallization of Chinese people, the cultural heritage of the whole world.

The Ten-month Solar Calendar Park, constructed with the aim to show the quintessence of the world civilization, is a place combining the study of ethnic culture, the demonstration of folk custom, the exhibition of local art, and the trade and entertainment together. It is undoutfully an unique assembly of the marrow of the Yi heritage and a dynamic museum of the Yi culture.

Situated in the suburb of Chuxiong city, The Ten-month Solar Calendar Park covers an area of more than 500 mu. With its own feature and the beautiful landscape of Chuxiong around, it is absolutely a great place for tourists.


Hua Fo Mountain
Hua Fo means “evolving into Buddha”. Located in Mouding, Huafo Mountain is one of the famous mountains with Buddhists congregation in the midst of Yunnan.

The first temple on the mountain is Baiyunwo Temple which was built in 1577, Ming Dynasty. Till the late Qing Dynasty, 13 temples had been built where there were hundreds of monks. Owing to the rich cultural natural scene, it was listed as the Place of Tourist Interests at provincial level in 1993.

There are 22 scenic spots of which the names reflect the deep Buddhism influence, carrying rich religious information. On the foot of the mountain, in Mouding County, better tourist facilities have been built recently to meet the demands of increasing tourists.


  White Pogoda

 Heijing Age-old Town

Lufeng Dinosaur




Chxuiong Museum