Kunming Overview

Kunming overview can help you have a more comprehensive understanding of Kunming from the basic information, geographical location, climate and so on.

Basic Information

Geography

Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, is located in the middle of Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, passing through Sichuan and Chongqing northward the Central Plains. Bordering Yuxi City in the southwest, Honghe Hani Yi Autonomous Prefecture in the southeast, Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture in the west, and Qujing City in the east, it is the core circle of central Yunnan urban agglomeration and the center of 5-hour aviation circle in Asia.

The downtown of Kunming city is about 1891 meters above sea level. Mazongling of Gongwang Mountain is the highest point in Kunming with an altitude of 4247.7 meters, and the confluence of Jinsha river and Pudu river is the lowest point in Kunming with an altitude of 746 meters. The overall terrain is high in the north and low in the south, lowering gradually from the north to the south in a ladder shape. The Central part uplift, and the eastern and western sides are lower. Kunming is dominated by lake basin karst plateau landform, followed by the red mountain plateau landform. Most areas are 1500-2800 meters above sea level.

Climate

Kunming is a low-latitude subtropical plateau mountain monsoon climate in the north latitude. Due to the influence of the warm and wet air flow in the southwest of the Indian Ocean, the sunshine is long, the frost period is short, and the annual average temperature is 15. The average annual sunshine is about 2200 hours, and the frost-free period is more than 240 days. Kunming has pleasant climate, like spring all the year round. Annual precipitation is of 1035 mm. Kunming features a typical temperate climate characteristics. More about Kunming Climate.

Best Time to Visit Kunming

Flowers in Kunming bloom all the year round, and plants grow green in four seasons, therefore, all seasons are suitable for travel. However, the best time to travel is from March to October.

Administrative Divisions

Kunming City has jurisdiction over 7 municipal districts, 1 county-level city, 3 counties and 3 autonomous counties. Kunming Municipal People's Government is located in No.1 of Jinxiu Avenue in Chenggong District.

Culture

Kunming is a multi-ethnic city with 26 ethnic groups living there. In the long period of production and life, different ethnic groups not only influence each other, but also maintain their own ethnic traditions, continuing many unique lifestyles, folk customs, culture and art. The torch festival of Yi, the march street and "Rao San Ling(绕三灵)" of Bai, the water-splashing festival of Dai, the "Cai Hua Shan" of Miao, and the Daogan festival of Lisu have long enjoyed great fame. Every time when festival comes, the masses of all ethnic groups will wear their own handmade embroidery and dyed ethnic costumes, holding wrestling, bullfighting, singing and other activities. In addition, the western hill Diaozi meeting(西山调子盛会) on the third day of the third lunar month, golden temple spring outing on the ninth day of the first lunar month, the full moon in Daguan pavillion park at the night of Mid-Autumn festival and other customs are very popular among the people. More about Kunming Culture.

Transportation

Kunming is the capital and largest city in Yunnan Province, and is the forefront and the portal of China facing Southeast Asia, South Asia and even the Middle East, so Kunming transportation is convenient. There are many ways to reach Kunming, such as plane, train, long-distance bus or driving. Kunming Changshui International Airport has more than 40 airlines, providing flights to main domestic, international and regional cities, including Beijing, Chengdu, Guilin, Lhasa, Shanghai, Sanya, Xi'an, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok, etc. Besides, when you are in Kunming city, subway, city bus and taxi are also available. More about Kunming Transportation.

Things to Do

There are a lot of things to do in Kunming. Here below are several of them.

Admiring the Beauty of Flower

Flowers bloom all the year round, which is one of the reasons why Kunming is called the spring city. Come to Kunming, and you can stop and appreciate the flowers at the roadside and scenic spots. You can also visit loacal flower markets like Dounan Flowers Market, Jingxing Flowers and Birds Market and Bailong Flowers and Birds Market.

Watching the Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gulls, known as "spirits" from northern Siberia, travel across Russia from Lake Baikal to Kunming for the winter. Since 1985, tens of thousands of Black-headed Gulls have circled around Kunming's Green Lake Park and Dianchi lake every winter, which is the most beautiful scenery in Kunming.

Taste Various Rice Noodles

Crossing-the-bridge noodles have a long history and are popular all over the country. It is also one of the favorite foods among Yunnan people. In addition to the crossing-the-bridge noodles, the Xiaoguo(small pot) rice noodles, chicken strips salad rice noodles(凉拌鸡丝米线) and so on are local daily necessities. If you want to experience the most authentic Kunming life, you can try various rice noodles in Kunming.

Visiting Old Street and Ancient Alley

"Kunming old street" starts from Zhengyi road in the east, reaches Yunrui west road (Shifu east street) in the west, and from Jingxing street in the south, and Renmin middle road in the north. The old street block includes Wenming street, Wenmiaozhi Street, Yongdao Street, Guanghua Street, Confucius Temple, Shengli Hall, Jingxing Flowers and Birds Market and other streets and scenic spots, which is the only original old block street remained in this famous historical and cultural city. It has experienced more than 900 years of the world vicissitudes and cultural accumulation and contains rich information about the past. If you like historical buildings, you might as well take a walk in Kunming old street.

Visiting Dianchi Lake, Western Hill and Dragon Gate

Dragon gate is praised as the most quintessential scenic spot in the Western Hill scenic area. It is an excellent position to overlook the panoramic view of Dianchi lake, and a good place to enjoy the full moon in Kunming when the moon is full in Mid-Autumn.

History

Kunming, with a long history and splendid culture, is one of the first 24 famous historical and cultural cities announced by the State Council. It has a history of more than 2200 years of construction and a history of civilization of 3000 years in Dianchi Lake. About 30,000 years ago, there were people living around Dianchi Lake area. From the warring States period to the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dian people around Dianchi Lake established Dian Kingdom and created unique Dian Culture.

More History of Kunming.

Economy

Kunming enjoys the reputation of "spring city", which is a gateway city open to southeast Asia and South Asia and a national historical and cultural city. It is an important tourist and trade city in China and one of the important central cities in the western region. In 2018, Kunming's GDP reached 520.69 billion yuan, an increase of 8.4% over the previous year at comparable prices. Of this, the added value of the primary industry reached 22.216 billion yuan, up 6.3%; The added value of the secondary industry reached 203.802 billion yuan, up 10.0%; The added value of the tertiary industry reached 294.672 billion yuan, up 7.3%. The structure of the three industries was adjusted from 4.3:38.4:57.3 in the previous year to 4.3:39.1:56.6. The contribution rate of the three industries to the GDP growth was 3.3%, 47.4% and 49.3% respectively. The city's per capita GDP was 76,387 yuan, an increase of 7.4%.

Natural Resources

Mineral Resources

Kunming is rich in natural resources. Mineral resources are mainly phosphorus, salt, copper, iron, titanium, coal, quartz sand, bauxite, silica, and so on. Among them, phosphorus, salt, copper and titanium ore are the most abundant, phosphate ore reserves of about 4.8 billion tons, salt ore reserves of about 13.8 billion tons, ranking second in China's inland salt ore.

Water Resources

The water area of the city is more than 35,000 hectares, with an average annual runoff of more than 7 billion cubic meters, and water sources are widely distributed. With an area of about 300 square kilometers, Dianchi lake is the largest plateau lake in Yunnan province and the sixth largest freshwater lake in China.

Land Resources and Crops

Among the city's land area, hills and mountains accounts for about 88%; Flat land accounts for about 10%; Lakes make up about 2%. Kunming belongs to the red soil region of plateau, and its soil mainly includes red soil, purple soil and paddy soil, which are suitable for planting grain crops such as rice, wheat, broad bean, corn and potato, cash crops such as rape, flue-cured tobacco, vegetables and flowers, as well as economic forest such as peach, pear, apple, citrus, grape and chestnut.

Flower Resources

There are more than 400 kinds of flowers in Kunming, and 180 kinds of them are common. Camellia, Yulan, azalea, primrose, Lily, orchid, Meconopsis and gentian are eight famous flowers in Yunnan. Camellia is the city flower of Kunming. At present, Kunming flowers have been exported to Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore, Thailand, Japan and other countries and regions, becoming one of the important flower export production bases in southeast Asia.

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