The city is named after the Shweli River. 瑞 ruì means "auspicious", and 丽 lì means "beautiful". An older name of Ruili is Měngmǎo, from Dai language "foggy place".
Geography
Ruili is on the border with Myanmar. 64% of the population of Ruili are members of five highland and lowland ethnic minorities including Dai, Jingpo, Deang, Lisu, Achang. It is an important location for trade with Myanmar, in both legal and illegal goods and services. Prostitution and drug trade in the city are not uncommon. Ruili has a warm humid subtropical climate, and is generally humid. Summer is long and there is virtually no "winter" as such; instead, there is a dry season and wet season. A drier heat prevails from February thru early May before the onset of the monsoon from the Indian Ocean. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in June, while the annual mean is. Rainfall totals about annually, with nearly 70% of it occurring from June to September. Bordered by monsoon evergreen broad-leaved forest, Ruili Botanical Garden is just North of the City and covers 5,000 acres of well-preserved native vegetation.
Demography
and Dai mostly live in the valley, in the city; Jingpo and Deang live mostly in the outskirts in the surrounding hills.
Wanding Border Economic Cooperation Zone is a Chinese State Council-approved Industrial Park based in Wanding Town of Ruili City founded in 1992 and was established to promote Sino-Burmese trade. The zone spans and is focused on developing trading, processing, agriculture resources and tourism.
Ruili Border Economic Cooperation Zone is a Chinese State Council-approved Industrial Park based in Ruili founded in 1992 and was established to promote trade between China and Myanmar. The area's import and export trade include the processing industry, local agriculture and biological resources are very promising. Sino-Myanmar business is growing fast. Myanmar is now one of Yunnan's biggest foreign trade partners. In 1999, Sino-Myanmar trade accounted for 77.4% of Yunnan's foreign trade. In the same year, exports for electromechanical equipments came up to US$55.28 million. Main exports here include fiber cloth, cotton yarn, ceresin wax, mechanical equipments, fruits, rice seeds, fiber yarn and tobacco.
