Sights in Kūnmíng
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Green Lake Park
Get here early in the morning to take a stroll (or perhaps dance with the retired ladies), then chill in one of the lakeside cafés. Sunday is the best time to come. Also try to pay a visit late September to early October for the Lantern Festival, when simply everyone in the city seems to set a paper lantern boat with candle inside adrift on the waters - outstanding photo op!
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Qióngzhú Sì (Bamboo Temple)
Dating from the Tang dynasty, the temple burned down and was rebuilt in the 15th century. It was restored from 1883 to 1890, when Sichuanese sculptor Li Guangxiu fashioned 500 luóhàn (arhats or noble ones). These life-size clay figures are a sculptural tour de force - 70 incredible surfing Buddhas ride waves on mounts including blue dogs, crabs and unicorns.
The statues have been constructed with the precision of a split-second photograph - a monk about to chomp into a large peach (the face contorted almost into a scream), a figure caught turning around to emphasise a discussion point, another about to clap two cymbals together, yet another cursing a pet monster. So lif…
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Yuántōng Temple
The Yuántōng Temple is the largest Buddhist complex in Kūnmíng and a target for pilgrims. It is over 1000 years old and has seen many renovations. To the rear of the temple a new hall has been added, enshrining a statue of Sakyamuni, a gift from the king of Thailand. There's a great vegetarian restaurant across the main road from the temple entrance.
Behind the hall is a cliff, Putuo Rock, with steps leading up and then inexplicably stopping (for some odd reason that's our favourite part of the temple). Along the way are carved scholastic inscriptions dating back to the Tang dynasty. A brick platform at the base covers two caves inhabited by dragons (it's said the tem…
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Kunming City Museum
The left-hand hall of this museum is packed with swords, spears and surprises like mini bronze ox heads excavated in the Kūnmíng area; you've got pot luck (generally none) on English captioning. The right-hand hall houses the highlight of the whole shebang, worth the cost itself - an impressive 6.6m pillar engraved with Buddhist scriptures from the Kingdom of Dali (AD 937-1253).
It's said Prime Minister Yuan Douguang of the Dali kingdom had the pillar constructed for Kūnmíng's Military Administrator Gao Mingsheng. A dinosaur exhibit inhabits the 2nd floor with the highlight, we kid you not, Yunnanosaurus robustus; this area is a bit middling, sadly underrepresenting Y…
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Nancheng Mosque
The oldest mosque in Kūnmíng (or at least on the site where a mosque has sat the longest), the 400-year-old Nancheng Mosque can be recognised by its telltale greenish onion domes, though the lower floors essentially look like the white-tiled offices that they are!
Even worse, the once-lively strip of Muslim restaurants and shops selling skullcaps, Arabic calligraphy and pictures of Mecca nearby got its marching orders from the city government and has slowly been dispersing throughout the city. Not much is left. To get to what's left of the Muslim area from the Zhengyi Lu roundabout, walk west past Chūnchéng Jiǔlóu (Spring City Hotel) and then bear left a half-block to …
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Bronze Drums Hall
The Bronze Drums Hall has a collection of artefacts from tomb excavations at Jìnníng (Diān Chí), Wanjiaba (Chǔxióng) and Lijiashan (near Jiāngchuān). The drums themselves date from the Warring States and Western Han periods and are superb. Of 1600 such drums known to exist in the world, China has 1400 and Yúnnán 400 itself, most unearthed at Shizhai Shān near Diān Chí. The ancient drums are brought into a modern context by their continued use among minorities such as the Yi.
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TC/G Nordica
TC/G Nordica is best described as a gallery-exhibition hall-cultural centre. There's even a relaxing restaurant with Scandinavian and Chinese food. (One founder was Swedish, another Chinese - hence the mix). Do check out Nordica's website for a full slate of performances and exhibitions; most weekends something is happening (though if you wish to eat, at times on Friday or Saturday evenings reservations are required).
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Minority Nationality Hall
The Minority Nationality Hall mostly consists of photos and fairly tacky shop mannequins (some with blond hair!) dressed in minority clothes, with examples of embroidery, bags and hats. It gives an idea of Yúnnán's ethnic diversity but you are better off going to Kūnmíng's Nationalities Museum.
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West Pagoda
Attached is a compound that is a popular spot for older people to drink tea, chat and thwack mah jong tiles around (if not get a shave and a haircut). This Tang pagoda can't be climbed, nor is the temple complexe open, but it is aging as gracefully as the neighbourhood gentrifies around it.
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Yunnan Provincial Museum
At the time of writing this museum was just having the finishing touches put on its much-needed face-lift; the previous incarnation was as much tomb as museum. The museum's three major collections will undoubtedly still call this home.
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Chuàng Kù
West of the city centre in a disused factory district are a host of galleries of modern Chinese artists and photographers, along with a handful of restaurants and coffee shops (most rather pricey but worth a look-see for the artwork).
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Ancient Buddhist Art Hall
The Ancient Buddhist Art Hall has examples of the art at Shíbǎoshān, near Dàlǐ, and the murals of Báishā outside Lìjiāng, which are useful if you are thinking of visiting either site.
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East Pagoda
The East Pagoda is a Tang pagoda that was, according to Chinese sources, destroyed by an earthquake; Western sources say it was destroyed by the Muslim revolt.
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Kunming Zoo
Kunming Zoo is worh it for the veiwes, if not the animals. Although the living conditions of the 750 animals are better than at most Chinese zoos (not saying much), most travellers give it a miss. High up on a spiral-shaped hill, you can strike out into the verdant grounds, which offer commanding views over the city.
If you do want a gander at regional fauna, residing here are such Yúnnán rarities as Xīshuāngbǎnnà wild oxen, lesser (red) pandas, leaf monkeys and black-tail pythons; from greater China you'll get the obligatory pandas, tigers, Yangzi alligators, golden monkeys and others. The main entrance is at the corner of Yuantong Jie and Qingnian Lu.
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