Heshun Old Town (Tengchong)
The area surrounding the city of Tengchong, just 70 kilometers from the border of Burma, is packed full of history, and the old town of Heshun, located just outside of Tengchong proper, is no exception. At the foot of a hill and encircled by a river, Heshun’s beautiful vistas of fields of yellow rapeseed flowers alongside the rolling hills of long dormant volcanos are like nothing else in Yunnan. Tengchong has long been a center of the jade trade between Burma and China, and many many jade markets line Tengchong’s streets as well as the alleys and pathways of Heshun.
World War II buffs will also find Heshun and the surrounding Tengchong area fascinating for learning about the history of the Flying Tigers, the volunteer air force that helped China fight off the Japanese in the early years of the war. Tengchong was the site of a major Chinese victory against the Japanese, one that prevented the Japanese from invading Yunnan, and the (free!) museum memorial to the war in Western Yunnan is one of the better war museums in the region.