Yunnan
Region in China.
At a glance
| Source | Author | Role | In one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breakneck | Dan Wang | setting | After the lockdown announcement the author and Silvia fly to Yunnan, his family’s home province, and stay nearly half a year. |
Sub-places
Breakneck — Dan Wang (2025)
Source: Readwise highlight
Yunnan is a good place for reflection because it is plausibly China’s freest province. In the mountains of Yunnan, I glimpsed the idea of not only the engineering state but also the lawyerly society.
- Role: setting
- In the book: After the lockdown announcement the author and Silvia fly to Yunnan, his family’s home province, and stay nearly half a year. The text describes Shangri-La, Kawa Karpo, Xishuangbanna and the Mekong, Zomia, minority peoples, and lax Covid enforcement because few live in enclosed compounds and Bai villagers could walk into the mountains.
- Why it matters: Yunnan is presented as the counter-example where mountains weaken the engineering state, which is the author’s argument about control and terrain.