My Trip to Kunming in 2024

In April 2024, after finishing the tour of the Dai Ethnic Minority Park in the afternoon of April 9th, I was lucky enough to catch the C386 bullet train from Xishuangbanna to Kunming at 6:19 pm. I arrived at Kunming Station at 9:43 pm and reached the hotel at 10:12 pm, getting sufficient sleep for the next day's travel.

Kunming, also known as the Spring City, is a prefecture-level city, the provincial capital, a megacity, and the central city of the Yunnan Central Urban Agglomeration in Yunnan Province. It is located in the southwest of China and the middle of the Yunnan - Guizhou Plateau. It is an important central city in western China and an important tourist and commercial city. It has a long history. As early as 30,000 years ago, humans lived and multiplied around Dianchi Lake. From the establishment of the Dian Kingdom, the construction of the city by the Nanzhao Kingdom to the establishment of the capital by the Southern Ming regime, Kunming has experienced many historical stages. It has a north subtropical low-latitude plateau mountain monsoon climate. Due to its location on a low-latitude plateau, it is spring-like all year round and enjoys the reputation of "Spring City". At the same time, it is a gateway city for China to open up to Southeast Asia and South Asia and is at the intersection of multiple economic cooperation circles. It has rich exhibition activities and its regional GDP reached 7864.76 billion yuan in 2023.

Early in the morning of the next day, after having breakfast and taking a short break, I took the subway to the first scenic spot of my Kunming trip - Xishan Longmen Scenic Area. Xishan Forest Park is located on the shore of Dianchi Lake in the western suburbs of Kunming, 15 kilometers away from the urban area. It is composed of many peaks and the highest peak is 2507.5 meters above sea level. The peaks here are undulating, the trees are green and the scenery is beautiful. It is known as the "Sleeping Buddha Mountain" and "Sleeping Beauty". In the Ming Dynasty, Xishan, together with Tonghai Xiushan and other mountains, was called "The Four Famous Scenic Mountains in Yunnan". The scenic area mainly consists of Huating Temple, Taihua Temple, Sanqing Pavilion and Longmen. Huating Temple was founded in the 14th century and has magnificent halls; Taihua Temple was built in the early 14th century with flourishing flowers and trees, and the Wanghai Tower is a good place to watch the sunrise over Dianchi Lake; Sanqing Pavilion and Longmen are built on the cliffs of Luohan Mountain, the main peak of Xishan, and the stone carving project of Longmen is the essence. I took Metro Line 3 to Xishan Station, walked to Gaoyao Tourist Center, and at 9 o'clock took an environmentally friendly bus to Nie'er Tomb Tourist Center, and then took a cable car to the upper station of Longmen Cableway. On the cable car, I saw Vietnamese tourists in the same bus. After arriving at the cableway station, I walked towards the highest point, Lingxu Pavilion, and enjoyed the scenery of Dianchi Lake for five hundred li. Then I returned to the cableway station along the original path and headed for Longmen. On the way, I passed Yaocheng Pavilion and Haoran Pavilion and appreciated the couplets on them. Then I came to the rooftop, which is higher than Longmen and faces a cliff, with a plaque and couplets written by Chen Zhuren in the Qing Dynasty. Finally, I walked down through Longmen.

Kunming has a history of more than 2,200 years of city construction and the Dianchi area has a history of 3,000 years of civilization. From the entry of Zhuang Qiao, a general of the Chu State, into Yunnan to establish the Dian Kingdom, to the establishment of Yizhou Prefecture in the Western Han Dynasty, and then to various historical periods, Kunming has continuously developed. In its history, it has been ruled by different ethnic groups and regimes, such as the rule of the Cuan family, as well as the urban construction and development during the Nanzhao Kingdom and Dali Kingdom. In the Yuan Dynasty, Kunming became the political, economic and cultural center of the province. After Saidianchi took charge of Yunnan, a series of reforms and constructions were carried out. Kunming is located on the Yunnan - Guizhou Plateau. The terrain is high in the north and low in the south, decreasing in steps, with a bulge in the middle and lower on both sides. Most of the area is at an altitude between 1500 - 2800m. It has a north subtropical low-latitude plateau mountain monsoon climate with long sunshine, short frost period, mild climate, spring-like all year round, moderate annual precipitation, and a small annual temperature difference between 0 - 29℃ in the urban area. Flowers are always in bloom and grass is always green.