Sights in Yúnnán
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Old Market Sq
Old Market Sq is the focual point of Old Town. Once the haunt of Naxi traders, they've long since made way for tacky souvenir stalls. However, the view up the hill and the surrounding lanes are still extraordinary, just be prepared to share the experience with hundreds if not thousands of other people.
reviewed
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Black Dragon Pool Park
On the northern edge of town is the Black Dragon Pool Park; its view of Yùlóng Xuěshān (Jade Dragon Snow Mountain) is the most obligatory photo shoot in southwestern China. The Dōngbā Research Institute is part of a renovated complex on the hillside here. You can see Naxi cultural artefacts and scrolls featuring a unique pictograph script.
Trails lead up Xiàng Shān (Elephant Hill) to a dilapidated gazebo and then across a spiny ridge past a communications centre and back down the other side, making a nice morning hike, but note the warning on.
The Museum of Naxi Dongba Culture is at the park's northern entrance and is a decent introduction to traditional Naxi…
reviewed
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C
Green Lake Park
Come here to people-watch, practise taichi or just hang with the locals and stroll. The roads along the park are lined with wannabe trendy cafes, teahouses and shops. In November everyone in the city awaits the return of the local favourites, red-beaked seagulls; it's a treat watching people, er, 'flock' to the park when the first one shows up.
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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…
reviewed
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Ganden Sumtseling Gompa
About an hour's walk north of town is this 300-year-old Tibetan monastery complex with around 600 monks. Extensive rebuilding (and a 150% jump in the ticket price in the last two years alone) has robbed the monastery of some of its charm, but it remains the most important in southwest China and is definitely worth the visit. Bus 3 runs here from anywhere along Changzheng Lu (Y1). You can sometimes avoid paying by coming after 5pm.
reviewed
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Yuántōng Temple
This temple is the largest Buddhist complex in Kūnmíng and a draw for pilgrims. It's over 1000 years old and has been refurbished many times; the latest renovations were going on at the time of writing. To the rear a hall has been added, with a statue of Sakyamuni, a gift from Thailand's king. The good vegetarian restaurant here is to the left of the temple entrance.
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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…
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Báimǎ Lóngtán
Báimǎ Lóngtán is a famous example of one of the pools that formed part of the web of arterylike canals that once brought the city's drinking water from Yuquan Spring (now called Black Dragon Pool Park). Where there are three pools, these were designated into pools for drinking, washing clothes and washing vegetables. Sadly, the days - not too long ago - when you would see locals washing their veggies in the streams after heading home from the market are a bit unthinkable now.
The town once had several water wheels, though the only one left now is Yulong Bridge Waterwheel, a reconstructed model at the north edge of the old town. The nearby monument celebrates Lìjiāng's…
reviewed
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E
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.
reviewed
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Mu Family Mansion
The former home of a Naxi chieftain, the Mu Family Mansion was heavily renovated (more like built from scratch) after the devasting earthquake that struck Lìjiāng in 1996. Mediocre captions do a poor job of introducing the Mu family but many travellers find the beautiful grounds reason enough to visit.
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Chongsheng Temple
Some travellers find the admission price for the Three Pagodas steep, given that you can't go inside the pagodas. However, the temple behind the pagodas, Chongsheng Temple, almost makes up for it. Laid out in the traditional Yúnnánese style there are three layers of buildings lined up with a sacred peak in the background. The temple has been restored and converted into a museum chronicling the history, construction and renovation of the pagodas.
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Looking at the Past Pavilion
The Looking at the Past Pavilion was raised for tourists at a cost of over one million yuán. It's famed for a unique design using dozens of four-storey pillars - unfortunately these were culled from northern Yúnnán old-growth forests. A path (with English signs) leads from Old Market Sq. It acts as a sentinel of sorts for the town. Sit on the slope in the early morning and watch the mist clearing as the old town comes to life.
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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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Five Phoenix Hall
Five Phoenix Hall is a striking Ming dynasty, Naxi 20m-high edifice dating from 1601 but only moved to its current location in 1979. Its three roofs with eight eaves each are supposedly in the shape of phoenixes. It's located at the far side of the Black Dragon Pool near an art exhibition building and a pavilion with its own bridge across the water.
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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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Tiny Temple
Further south of Shangri-la, just outside of and overlooking the old town from an eyrie, is another tiny temple presided over by two exceedingly friendly monks. Walk south to the end of Changzheng Lu. Bear left, then an immediate right. Paths run up across gardens and along a hill, bypassing a pavilion.
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Museum of Naxi Dongba Culture
The Museum of Naxi Dongba Culture houses displays on Naxi dress and culture, Dōngbā script, Lìjiāng's old town and the dubious claim that the region is the 'real' Shangri-la. It is at the Black Drangon Pool Park's northern entrance, and is worth a visit if you have the time.
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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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Qianxun Pagoda
The tallest of the three pagodas, Qianxun Pagoda, has 16 tiers that reach a height of 70m. It was originally erected in the mid-9th century by engineers from Xī'ān. It is flanked by two smaller 10-tiered pagodas, each of which is 42m high.
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Xiàng Shān
Xiàng Shān is west of Old Town. You can follow one of the many rails that lead straight up to a dilapidated gazebo and then across a spiny ridge past a communications centre and back down the other side, making a nice morning hike.
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Yúnnán Provincial Museum
Fresh off an aesthetic rehab, this museum has reasonable exhibitions on Diān Chí (Lake Dian) prehistoric and early cultures, and Yúnnán's minorities.
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Chuàng Kù (The Loft)
West of downtown in a disused factory area known as Chuàng Kù (创库艺术主题社区) are a small number of galleries and cafes featuring modern Chinese artists and photographers. Yuánshēng Art Space is a gallery-bar-restaurant-theatre focusing on the province's ethnic groups. The cornerstone of sorts is TC/G Nordica, best described as a gallery-exhibition hall-cultural centre – with, oddly, a restaurant serving Scandinavian and Chinese food. Not many taxi drivers know this place as The Loft; ask to go to 101 Xiba Lu.
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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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Dàlǐ Museum
The museum houses a small collection of archaeological pieces relating to Bai history, including some fine figurines.
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