In search for the soul and history of Kunming
When Karin and Jie met in Kunming in October, it was a new adventure for both of them. Neither Jie nor Karin had been in Kunming before. They decided to search for the soul and history of Kunming.
Our expectations
Jie: Karin, what was your impression of Kunming before you went there? Honestly, I was not as interested in Kunming as in Beijing, Xi’an and Hangzhou, for those three once were the capital for several dynasties of ancient China. I’m a huge fan of things relevant to history it can always make me crazy. Most of my friends love Yunnan and go there almost every time they have leisure. But I was still not that interested until I arrived there.
Karin: For me the image of Kunming was “The Spring city” as it is commonly advertised in China, I was thinking of comfortably warm spring temperature. But when I arrived it was cold and rainy, around 10 degrees and I was deeply disappointed. The next day however, it was sunny and 20 degrees and I enjoyed the blue skies and warm sunshine. But I was also curious about the history of the place. I had of course heard about “The Stone Forest”, which is one of China´s top tourist destinations. It is a big area with large limestone formations from when the area was under the sea millions of years ago. It is situated south of Kunming and I went there with my husband my first day in Kunming. It was a fascinating place but truly packed with tourists!
The Stone Forest - a top tourist spot
A forest of limestones
From a remote Chinese outpost to a thriving industrial and commercial city
Kunming is the provincial capital of Yunnan province in southwest China and is situated at 1890m above sea level. The area has a somewhat turbulent history of different rulers and kingdoms. It was far away from the Chinese emperors and it was difficult for them to keep control over the remote area. In the Yuan Dynasty, it was finally controlled by the Mongol rulers and Kunming was declared the provincial capital of Yunnan in the year 1276. After that, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, (when the Mongols had been defeated), it was named the capital of the Prefecture of Yunnan. In the beginning of the 20th century the area was opened to foreign trade and the French started to exploit the rich resources of copper, tin and timber in the province. They even built a railway from Kunming to Vietnam for transport of the material. In the end of the 1930:s many wealthy refugees arrived to Kunming from the rest of China to escape the Japanese invasion. Factories and universities were also relocated and re-established there. A road from Burma was built to transport food and material supplies from the west to China during the second world war. It transformed Kunming to an industrial city and an important place of trade with many links to the west. And today it is a thriving modern city with many high-rise (source: Wikipedia).
But what traces has history left in Kunming? Jie and Karin went on a discovery tour and found some food for thought.
Across the bridge noodles – Guoqiao mixian, 过桥米线
We stayed at a hotel near the Green lake, Cui Hu, in central Kunming. There was a beautiful park on an island with tea houses and lots of flowers. It is said that General Wu Sangui had a palace by the lake, in the 17th Century. When we walked around the lake we saw lots of restaurants. One of them, The Jiang Brothers Restaurant, was famous locally for the typical Yunnan dish “Across the bridge noodles”, which we of course had to taste. So the first stop on our discovery tour was at the Jiang Brothers restaurant to try the noodles and find out the history of the dish. We got a table in the sunshine outdoors by the lake. At first we got a lot of ingredients and a bowl of noodles and then a pot each with steaming hot broth. We put the ingredients in the pot, to cook and get warm, and then we eat them with our chopsticks. Delicious!
It is said that the dish was created by a farmer´s wife in the countryside outside Kunming. Her husband was working in the fields on an island in a lake. Every day she brought him a noodle dish for lunch and had to walk across a long bridge to the island. But after the long walk the noodles had become cold when she arrived. However, she found out that if she boiled a broth of a fat chicken, the fat became a layer over the broth and kept it warm. So instead of bringing him the ready dish, she just brought the broth and then put in the noodles and other ingredients when she had arrived to him. In that way she could serve warm noodles after walking “across the bridge”.
Across the bridge noodles-ingredients
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Ready to eat
But we also wanted some soul food. So we took a walk to a nearby Buddhist temple, the Yuan Tong Temple.The temple, although situated in central Kunming, was a very quiet and peaceful place in front of a hill and with a small lake, full of tortoises. The temple was built in the Tang Dynasty, around 700 AD, and was later reconstructed during the 17th Century in the Qing Dynasty, mostly based on general Wu Sangui’s ideas and preferences. The temple you can see today is basically what people saw hundreds of years ago.
The Yuan Tong Temple
After the temple we took a taxi to the Yunnan Provincial museum. Karin had expected to see exhibitions about the many minorities in Yunnan, but found something else.
The amazing bronze culture of the Dian kingdom
At the provincial museum we learned about the amazing bronze culture of the Kunming area. Very intricate sculptures from around 200 BC were on display in the museum. At that time the area around Dianchi lake near Kunming was a thriving kingdom, the Dian kingdom, with an advanced bronze culture. The kingdom was actually regarded as only a myth until the 1950´s, when over 40 graves were found with thousands of bronze artifacts.
- Bronze artifact
Intricate details
Bronze model of ancient farm
After the visit at the Provincial museum we wanted to dig more into the recent history, and visit some of the older areas of the city. We wanted to see the local style of architecture in the old buildings. But it turned out it was not so easy.
Where are all the old houses in Kunming?
We asked the staff at the museum where we could find old houses. They said it was impossible to find any, all old houses were torn down. It felt wicked because we were standing there, right inside the store selling postcards of the old town, when the smiling staff said it was hopeless to find any. We went out on the street in despair just to find people on the street telling us the same thing. But eventually we found someone who showed us the way to a few old houses nearby, hidden in the crowded market. This is what we found.
Old house hidden in the market
Several layers of wood under the roof
It seemed to be typical with several layers of wood under the roofs and there was also some traces of beautiful paintings on the layers. But it felt like a pity the few old wooden houses were in such a bad condition.
Karin: I think a combination of old and modern buildings in a city makes it so much more attractive both for citizens and tourists, since you can feel the connection between the past, present and the future. It is also interesting to see differences between local building styles in different cities. Many Chinese cities have realized that, for example Shanghai has a really charming mix of old and new buildings side by side. What do you think Jie?
Jie: If you ask me, I also think a sophisticated face with a mix of tradition and modern architecture might be more appealing. Some cities have learnt their lessons from the past, and they know how to attract people. That’s why you could see high-rises going up as well as traditional spots being decorated in Guangzhou , in preparations for the Asian Games.
We hope Kunming will develop in that way also.
Where did we go next in our discovery tour in Kunming?
Do you want to follow our next steps in our discovery tour in Kunming? Check out our next blog in two weeks!
Jie&Karin
Swedish eyes, Chinese mind 