The Development of the Chinese Place-names in Yunnan and the Changes of the Ethnic Composition

Historically speaking,Yunnan was a compact minority area and therefore the early place-names of Yunnan should be minority-related.With the Central Imperial Government's administration in Yunnan,the publicity of Han culture and more Han immigrants,there appeared some Han place-names.Before the Ming Dynasty,there were more Han-language place-names and after the Ming Dynasty,Han-family place-names emerged quickly,which became the naming practice in the up-coming Qing Dynasty.The development of the place-names in Yunnan reveals the administrative traits of the Central Imperial Government,the settling pattern and the localizing of the Han immigrants as well as the ethnic composition and distribution in Yunnan.