The Dai people live in southern Yunnan Province, are Buddists and celebrate the start of the Chinese New Year with a 3 day water splashing festival.

1.5 million Dai live in Dehong and Xishuangbanna, have their own  Chinese form of handwriting, love music and dance, and  favor insects in their diet. The ethnic Dai people, also known as Tai  belong to a larger ethnic group across Myanmar, Laos, Thailand  and Vietnam.

The Mekong river starts in China, flows through Jinghong, forms the upper border between Myanmar and Laos, flowing south through Cambodia and Vietnam. 
 
  Xishuangbanna is also the home of  Pu erh Tea (the purest) which comes from ancient tea trees (I'm told some are as old as 1000 years). This is the tea favored by the Tibetans that started the Tea Horse route  Tea from this region would be carried by porters to Tibet where they would trade their tea for a horse. Legend has it that 25 lbs of tea bought one horse. Ganlanba Village houses about 300 families, and  hold their own market.  
The Wild Elephant Valley is also located here; the only place you can see China's wild  elephants.
and there's a Tropical Plant Research center.