Among the 26 additions for 2012 were the Lakes of Ounianga in Chad, Africa, the Chengjiang fossil site in the Yunnan province of China, the decorated farmhouses of Halsingland in Sweden and the Margravial Opera House at Bayreuth in Germany.

CNN: Coal slag heaps join pyramids on World Heritage list

The minorities population of Yunnan is among the biggest in China.

CNN: On-line in Yunnan

Home to many of China's 56 ethnic minorities, the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan is known for its diversity in food, dress, language and geography.

WSJ: Only in...Yunnan

"We learn to exchange e-mail, make our own Web pages and, best of all, improve our English, " says Yang Yimei, who is from the town of Simao, in China's southwestern Yunnan province.

CNN: On-line in Yunnan

The discovery was made in the Yunnan Province, China, and is being considered as major breakthrough in the study of insect evolution.

ENGADGET: Alt-week 10.13.12: is the Universe a simulation, cloning dinosaurs and singing mice