Yunnan Ethnic Villages are situated by Dianchi Lake, 6 kilometers south of Kunming, covering about 133.3 hectares.

Yunnan is an epitome of the family of the Chinese nation. There are 56 nationalities in China and 52 of them live in Yunnan. Among them 26 each has a population of more than 5,000, about 14 each has all or most of their population living in Yunnan and about 14 are cross-border nationalities. Each nationality has its particularities in terms of language, religion, and in the ways of conducting themselves in relation to others, in attire, food habits, the way of travelling, festivities, marriage, birth and burial customs, just as people say that  Yunnan has ten thousand kinds of customs and conventions. 

In order to exhibit the customs and conventions of the 26 nationalities in Yunnan, it is planned to build 26 natural villages, giving prominence to the architectures of various nationalities. The eight villages as first batch are completed and officially opened to public on February 18, 1992. 

After several years of construction, the Yunnan Ethnic Villages have become an epitome of Yunnan as a multi-ethnic province, and an immense garden in south Chinese horticultural and landscaping traditions.