Ruili (p=Ruìlì; ; ; ; ), called Möng Mao in Tai languages, is a county-level city of Dehong Prefecture, in the west of Yunnan province, China. It is a major border crossing between China and Myanmar, with the town of Muse located across the border.
Name
The city is named after the
Shweli River. 瑞
ruì means "auspicious", and 丽
lì means "beautiful". An older name of Ruili is Mengmao (勐卯), derived from the Tai Nuea language "
Mong Mao" (ᥝᥥᥒᥰ ᥛᥫᥒᥰ), meaning "foggy place".
[ ]
Geography and climate
Ruili is on the border with
Myanmar. 64% of the population of Ruili are members of five highland and lowland ethnic minorities, including
Dai people,
Jingpo people,
Deang,
Lisu people, and
Achang. It is an important location for trade with Myanmar, in both legal and illegal goods and services.
Prostitution and drug trade in the city are not uncommon.
[ Sex, Drugs and The Roll of Dice, Time Asia, September 27, 1999]
Ruili has a warm humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa), and is generally humid. Summer is long and there is virtually no "winter" as such. Instead, there is a dry season (December through April) and wet season (May through October). A drier heat prevails from February till early May before the onset of the monsoon from the Indian Ocean. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in June, while the annual mean is . Rainfall totals about annually, with nearly 70% of it occurring from June to September.
Bordered by monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest, Ruili Botanical Garden is just north of the City and covers of well-preserved native vegetation.
Economy
Dehong is one of the three primary coffee cultivating regions in Yunnan.
The main coffee planter and processor is
Hogood Coffee, which operates a contracting scheme with local farmers. Hogood contracts farmland from
, on which it plants seedlings, and then re-contracts with farmers to purchase the coffee beans at harvest.
Because of its position near the border with Myanmar, Ruili is an important hub of cross-border trade, including the new oil and gas pipeline coming up from Kyaukphyu, which is being expanded as part of the Belt and Road Initiative's Maritime Silk Road.
Administrative divisions
Ruili City has 1 subdistrict, 3 towns and 2 townships.
- 1 subdistrict
- 3 towns
- 3 townships
Demography
Han Chinese and Dai mostly live in the valley. In the city, Jingpo and Deang live mostly in the outskirts in the surrounding hills. There is also a sizeable community of Burmese immigrants and their descendants (mostly Muslims), numbering around 50,000 in the city, with their livelihoods centred around Zhubao Street (known locally as "Myanmar Town").
Industrial parks
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Wanding Border Economic Cooperation Zone
Wanding Border Economic Cooperation Zone (WTBECZ) is a Chinese State Council-approved Industrial Park based in Wanding Town of Ruili City, founded in 1992, and was established to promote Sino–Burmese trade. The zone spans and is focused on developing trading, processing, agriculture resources, and tourism.
[ RightSite.asia | Wanding Border Economic Cooperation Zone]
-
Ruili Border Economic Cooperation Zone
Ruili Border Economic Cooperation Zone (RLBECZ) is a Chinese State Council-approved Industrial Park based in Ruili, founded in 1992, and was established to promote trade between China and Myanmar. The area's import and export trade include the processing industry, local agriculture, and biological resources, which are very promising. Sino-Myanmar business is growing fast. Myanmar is now one of Yunnan's biggest foreign trade partners. In 1999, Sino-Myanmar trade accounted for 77.4% of Yunnan's foreign trade. In the same year, exports for electromechanical equipment came up to US$55.28 million. Main exports here include fiber cloth, cotton yarn,
ceresin wax, mechanical equipment, fruits, rice seeds, fiber yarn, and tobacco.
[ RightSite.asia | Ruili Border Economic Cooperation Zone]
Transportation
The Dali–Ruili Railway, which will connect Ruili with China's national railway network, is under construction.
A feasibility study for a standard gauge line from Kunming, China to Kyaukphyu port started in 2021.
External links
