Jincheng Old Town in Jinning District, Kunming
Overview
Jincheng Old Town (晋城古镇) is located in Jincheng Town (晋城镇), Jinning District (晋宁县), on the southeast shore of Dianchi Lake (滇池) in Kunming City (昆明市), Yunnan Province (云南省). Surrounded by mountains on three sides and bordered by lakeside hilly plains, Jincheng Old Town was once the capital of the ancient Dian Kingdom (滇国) and is considered the birthplace and center of Dian culture.
Geographical Location:
Jincheng Town, Jinning District, Kunming City, Yunnan Province
Significance:
Birthplace and center of Dian culture
Characteristics:
Surrounded by mountains on three sides
Development History
Tracing back through historical records over the past two millennia, during the Han Dynasty (汉朝), Jincheng Old Town, formerly known as Dianchi County (滇池县), served as the administrative center for various regions, including Yizhou (益州郡), Jinning (晋宁郡), Ningzhou (宁州郡), and Jianning (建宁郡). During the Tang (唐) and Song (宋) Dynasties, it was part of the Nanzhao (南诏) and Dali (大理国) territories.
Modern historian Yuan Jiagu (袁嘉谷) remarked in his work “Dian Yi” (《滇绎》):
“Metropolises are the centers of politics. The political center of Yunnan from the Warring States period to the Tang Dynasty was in Jinning,” referring to present-day Jincheng Old Town.
In the Sui Dynasty (隋), Jincheng served as the administrative center of Ningzhou, where the governor Liang Pi (梁毗) expanded the city, stating that it spanned seven miles and had nine gates and twelve thoroughfares, indicating its grand scale at that time.
During the Ming Dynasty (明), in the 22nd year of the Chenghua era (1486), a brick city was constructed, featuring encircling walls and four main gates: Longxiang (龙翔), Nanxun (南熏), Fengzhu (凤翥), and Gongcheng (拱城). Over the following centuries, the city saw periods of destruction and restoration. By 1954, the remnants of the original city wall measured 4,100 meters in circumference and stood 4 meters high. The walls were completely dismantled by 1958.
The residential courtyards retained in the streets and alleys are mostly of “stilted” and “a seal” structures, adopting the courtyard layout of “three rooms and four annexes” and “two rooms and two annexes”.
The natural landscape around Jincheng Ancient Town is extremely beautiful. The well-known five-character ancient poem “One, two, three li away. Four or five households in a smoky village. Six or seven towers. Eight, nine, ten branches of flowers.” describes this scenery.
