Pu'er City
Pu'er is a prefecture-level city in southern Yunnan Province, China. The urban administrative center of Pu'er is Simao District, which is also the former name of the prefecture-level city itself. A major downturn in the price of tea in 2007 caused severe economic distress in the area.[5] The price of Pu'er has since recovered and Pu'er tea, a type of dark tea, still contributes much to the income of the area.
For the tea with the same name as the city, see Pu'er tea.
Pu'er
普洱市
530800
44,264.79 km2 (17,090.73 sq mi)
1,306 m (4,285 ft)
3,306 m (10,846 ft)
376 m (1,234 ft)
2,542,898
57/km2 (150/sq mi)
CN¥ 45,168
US$ 6,662
云J
www
Puerh
Pǔ'ěr
Pǔ'ěr
P‘u-erh
Szumao
Sīmáo
Sīmáo
Szu-mao
Etymology[edit]
Nanzhao set a division called Bu'ri Jian (步日瞼)[note 1] in 839 AD; this was the first time the region was integrated into the administrative system of a Chinese dynasty. In the Yuan dynasty, the central government changed the name to Pu'ri (普日) in 1278. Finally in Ming dynasty, the name was changed to "Pu'er" (普耳) in 1384. The character of "er" (耳) was changed to 洱 in Wanli Emperor period. The name "普洱" (Pu'er) has continued to be used to this day.[6]: 31 Wa scholar Ni-ga states that the original name "Bu'ri" is the exonym of Blang people in Baraoke language, a dialect of Wa language, which means "my brother".[7]: 83
Pu'er tea has the name "Pu'er" because Pu'er was the distribution centre of the tea produced in the south-west of Yunnan during the Ming and Qing dynasty.[8] Pu'er tea became world-famous, and the city Pu'er also became famous as a result of the tea.[9]
History[edit]
Its name was changed to Simao in 1950 following the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, while its surrounding county was known as Pu'er.[10] In 2007, the town's name was changed back to Pu'er; the surrounding area became known as Ning'er County;[10] and the name Simao was taken by a town and district within the city. The change had an effect on the size of the official Pu'er tea production area, a major regional product.