Definition Under the strictest definition, the Yungui Plateau stretches from the
Red River Fault in Yunnan in the southwest to the
Wuling Mountains in Hunan in the northeast. This plateau region includes most of eastern Yunnan and most of Guizhou. It is common, however, for much of the rest of Yunnan and surrounding highland areas to be referred to as part of the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau even where there are no plateau-like characteristics. Under the broader definition of the Yungui Plateau, the provinces would include not only Yunnan and Guizhou but also
Gulin County and the southernmost extremes of
Sichuan, eastern
Chongqing, southwestern
Hubei, western
Hunan, and northwestern
Guangxi. Historically, the plateau has been home to many
minority peoples who have traditionally engaged in intensive agriculture along hills and in valleys. Today, the Yungui region is one of the most economically depressed areas of China and both Guizhou and Yunnan provinces are in the bottom three in rankings for the
Human Development Index in China. Many residents on the Yungui Plateau live in a traditional fashion in rural villages. Major cities on the Yungui Plateau include
Kunming,
Guiyang, and
Zunyi. The Yungui Plateau is home to many extreme engineering feats where railways and expressways have been built to traverse the challenging terrain. The
world's highest bridge, the
Beipanjiang Bridge, is located on the Yunnan-Guizhou border in the heart of the plateau.
Physical geography The Yungui Plateau is a large mountainous region with rugged terrain including steep karst peaks and deep gorges. The plateau is buttressed by the large
Hengduan Mountains to the northwest and by lowland regions to the north, east, and southeast. Other major mountain ranges cross or surround portions of the Yungui Plateau. The
Wumeng Mountains and
Wulian Feng form a barrier through north-central Yungui along the
Jinsha (Upper
Yangtze) River. To the north, the
Dalou Mountains run along the Yungui's edge with the Sichuan Basin. The
Wuling Mountains in the northeast form a transitional terrain between the plateau and the
Yangtze Plain. In the south, the
Miao Range steps down to the karst hills of South China. Across the
Red River to the southwest, the
Ailao Mountains form a definitive barrier. The high mountain peaks of Eastern
Tibet are the source of many of
Asia's great rivers, which flow southerly towards the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau. The rivers split around the plateau, with the
Salween and
Mekong keeping south and the
Yangtze turning northeast. Most of the western Yungui Plateau is drained by the
Nanpan and
Beipan Rivers, both headwaters of the
Pearl River. The eastern Yungui Plateau is largely drained by the
Wu River, a tributary of the Yangtze. Major lakes have formed in the Yunnan portions of the Yungui Plateau, including
Dian Chi and
Fuxian Lake.
Erhai Lake is located on the plateau's western edge at the southern base of the Hengduan Mountains. ==Climate and ecology==