A relatively small province in China, Yunnan is preparing to be the next big thing by capitalizing on its strategic location that borders Southeast Asian countries and is almost next to South Asia’s India and Bangladesh.

The Chinese government has big plans for Yunnan, which is part of the ancient Southern Silk Road from Chengdu in Sichuan to Myanmar and Bangladesh via Yunnan. The route branched, extending to India, Thailand and even Indonesia’s Java.

In early June, China’s Commerce Ministry and the province cohosted the third China-South Asia Expo, which was bigger than the first two in 2013 and last year. The cohosts lent some more importance to the expo this year by building the huge Dianchi International Convention and Exhibition facility in the provincial capital of Kunming. Covering an area of 5.4 million square meters, the facility ranks third nationwide and first in Southwest China, according to a press release of the expo.

The Chinese government has launched several trade nodes to boost imports, exports and cooperation among Asian and European countries and Yunnan province is the core in almost all of the trade schemes. In 2013, China initiated the Silk Road Economic Belt and Maritime Silk Road and the program extended to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) and China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor. The various economic belts are part of China’s ambitious One Belt One Road scheme that involves about 60 countries from China to South Asia to the Middle East and eventually Central and West Europe.

“Yunnan enjoys a crucial geographical location, as it is at the junction of the Belt and the Road, the core zone of China in the [Greater Mekong subregion] and BCIM regional cooperation, and of the major provinces engaged in the construction of the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor,” Gao Shuxun, the vice governor of Yunnan province, said during the opening of the third expo.

A landlocked province, Yunnan has been optimizing the land routes by expanding the Kunming Railway Container Center and building a high-speed rail center at Kunming South Station.

The container center has just opened in July a freight train route from Kunming to Munich in Germany, passing north to China’s Xinjiang Province, to Kazakhstan, Russia and Poland. The freight train will be blocked for a single customer, which is only Germany, and will not unload along the route.

Meanwhile, the Yunnan High-Speed Rail, in its grand plan, has designated the South Kunming Station as a hub from which Chinese high-speed trains would reach Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and India as well as Bangladesh. The station, expected to be finished in June next year, will also serve routes to other Chinese cities like Shanghai and Beijing. The Yunnan High-Speed Rail plans to establish a route to Shanghai that will take only 8 hours from the current 36 to 41 hours and to Beijing in only 9.5 hours from 34 to 43 hours.

The Yunnan provincial government is not only about high-tech and high-speed industry; it has also promoted its agroindustry. Besides tobacco, Yunnan is also famous for its flower industry. The Kunming Flora Auction Center (KIFA) auction flowers to traders all over the world, hosting 8 to 10 million deals per day in its large auction halls.

The province has also been promoting smaller food technology production in Chuxiong Autonomous Prefecture to Southeast and South Asian investors, like walnut juice, root jelly konjac or konnyaku development, and dried cherry tomatoes.

Gong Fei, an official of the Yunnan government, said that despite the need to develop the industry, Yunnan people regretted the deforestation occurring in the province. “Humans always have to pay for the destruction they create. Yunnan people want to learn how to protect nature,” Gong said.

Flower power: Traders take part in a large flower auction held at the Kunming Flora Auction Center (KIFA).(JP/Evi Mariani)

A relatively small province in China, Yunnan is preparing to be the next big thing by capitalizing on its strategic location that borders Southeast Asian countries and is almost next to South Asia'€™s India and Bangladesh.

The Chinese government has big plans for Yunnan, which is part of the ancient Southern Silk Road from Chengdu in Sichuan to Myanmar and Bangladesh via Yunnan. The route branched, extending to India, Thailand and even Indonesia'€™s Java.

In early June, China'€™s Commerce Ministry and the province cohosted the third China-South Asia Expo, which was bigger than the first two in 2013 and last year. The cohosts lent some more importance to the expo this year by building the huge Dianchi International Convention and Exhibition facility in the provincial capital of Kunming. Covering an area of 5.4 million square meters, the facility ranks third nationwide and first in Southwest China, according to a press release of the expo.

The Chinese government has launched several trade nodes to boost imports, exports and cooperation among Asian and European countries and Yunnan province is the core in almost all of the trade schemes. In 2013, China initiated the Silk Road Economic Belt and Maritime Silk Road and the program extended to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) and China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor. The various economic belts are part of China'€™s ambitious One Belt One Road scheme that involves about 60 countries from China to South Asia to the Middle East and eventually Central and West Europe.

'€œYunnan enjoys a crucial geographical location, as it is at the junction of the Belt and the Road, the core zone of China in the [Greater Mekong subregion] and BCIM regional cooperation, and of the major provinces engaged in the construction of the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor,'€ Gao Shuxun, the vice governor of Yunnan province, said during the opening of the third expo.

A landlocked province, Yunnan has been optimizing the land routes by expanding the Kunming Railway Container Center and building a high-speed rail center at Kunming South Station.

The container center has just opened in July a freight train route from Kunming to Munich in Germany, passing north to China'€™s Xinjiang Province, to Kazakhstan, Russia and Poland. The freight train will be blocked for a single customer, which is only Germany, and will not unload along the route.

Meanwhile, the Yunnan High-Speed Rail, in its grand plan, has designated the South Kunming Station as a hub from which Chinese high-speed trains would reach Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and India as well as Bangladesh. The station, expected to be finished in June next year, will also serve routes to other Chinese cities like Shanghai and Beijing. The Yunnan High-Speed Rail plans to establish a route to Shanghai that will take only 8 hours from the current 36 to 41 hours and to Beijing in only 9.5 hours from 34 to 43 hours.

The Yunnan provincial government is not only about high-tech and high-speed industry; it has also promoted its agroindustry. Besides tobacco, Yunnan is also famous for its flower industry. The Kunming Flora Auction Center (KIFA) auction flowers to traders all over the world, hosting 8 to 10 million deals per day in its large auction halls.

The province has also been promoting smaller food technology production in Chuxiong Autonomous Prefecture to Southeast and South Asian investors, like walnut juice, root jelly konjac or konnyaku development, and dried cherry tomatoes.

Gong Fei, an official of the Yunnan government, said that despite the need to develop the industry, Yunnan people regretted the deforestation occurring in the province. '€œHumans always have to pay for the destruction they create. Yunnan people want to learn how to protect nature,'€ Gong said.