Gedong Festival at Songzanlin Monastery

Tibetan families in Shangri-La and Deqin clean their homes, make offerings and hang new prayer flags, then spend the first days of the year visiting relatives, monasteries and sacred sites. Many Diqing households also keep the Chinese Spring Festival, so the holiday mood lasts for weeks.

How to join: Walk the pilgrim circuit around Songzanlin Monastery 松赞林寺, or join the evening circle dancing on the square in Dukezong Old Town 独克宗古城 when it's on. Some family guesthouses close, so book ahead.

Etiquette: Go clockwise around monasteries, stupas and prayer wheels. Don't touch offerings, and ask before photographing anyone at prayer.

Yunnan has hundreds of rhododendron species, and in spring whole hillsides turn pink, red and white. The bloom climbs with altitude: Zixi Mountain 紫溪山 near Chuxiong flowers from April, the upper slopes of Cangshan above Dali follow, and the meadows and forests around Shangri-La, including Pudacuo National Park 普达措, peak from late May into June.

How to join: Walk rather than just stopping at a viewpoint: the Cangshan cable car takes you up to the high slopes, and the Pudacuo boardwalks pass through rhododendron forest. Bring rain gear, as the rainy season starts in June.

Etiquette: Don't pick flowers or break branches.

When the summer rains arrive, the whole province turns to wild mushrooms: markets fill with porcini, termite mushrooms, chanterelles and matsutake, and hotpot restaurants build their menus around them. Kunming's Mushuihua Wild Mushroom Market 木水花野生菌交易市场 shows the full range, Nanhua county in Chuxiong is famous for its mushroom trade, and Shangri-La is matsutake country.

How to join: Order a wild-mushroom hotpot at a busy, established restaurant and wait the full cooking time the staff give you before eating. For a foraging walk, go with a local guide.

Etiquette: Never eat mushrooms you or a stranger picked unless an experienced local picker has checked them and a restaurant cooks them, and make sure jianshouqing 见手青 is cooked through: undercooked, it causes hallucinations and puts people in hospital every summer.