Between Winds and Clouds tells the two-thousand-year history of Yunnan, an ethnic frontier bordered by Tibet, mainland Southeast Asia, and southwest China. Yunnan's prime geographic location turned the site into a center of cross-regional trade, and consequently, it became a desirable conquest for Eurasian rivals.
Bin Yang details the fight for military control of Yunnan and its demographic, administrative, and economic transformation into a local entity. In conclusion, he discusses the impact of Yunnan's imperial legacy on modern state building, or, conversely, the way in which the modern state has contributed to the development of imperial discourse. Deploying a unique cross-regional approach, Yang brings the activities of Southeast and East Asia, Tibet, the Indian Ocean, and modern Europe to bear on the history of Yunnan, emphasizing both the local and the international forces that played a role in the region's long-term transformation.