Overview of Kunming

A bird's-eye view of Kunming city

In the middle part of Yunnan, there is a lake that looks like a bright pearl on the plateau. It was called Diannanze in ancient times, and today is also known as "Kunyang Lake" because it's close to Kunyang. Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province situated on the lakeside, is a world famous Spring City.

Kunming's downtown has an altitude of 1,891 m. It is surrounded by mountains and lies to the north of Kunyang Lake. It has a low latitude plateau mountain monsoon climate with long sunshine duration, short frost periods and an average annual temperature of 15 degrees Celsius due to the influence of warm and humid airflow from the Southwest Indian Ocean. Kunming feels like spring all the year round, and is thus called Spring City. From December to March numerous black-headed gulls escape the northern cold by flying all the way afar to Kunming.  

Kunming has plentiful natural and cultural landscapes due to its long history and unique geological structure. It's a multifunctional international tourism city centered on its World Expo and featuring natural scenery and folk customs. 

Kunming, as the capital of Yunnan province and one of the central cities in the southwest region, is a nationally famous historical and cultural city and an important national tourism and business city.  

Yunnan Grand Theater [Photo by Li Weimei]

Kunming, located in the center of Yunnan province, adjoins Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. 

Twenty-six ethnic groups including Han, Hui, Yi, Bai, Miao live in Kunming, which has a total population of 7.2 million. The camellia is Kunming's city flower. At present, flowers of Kunming have been sold to the China's Hong Kong and Macao, and exported to countries such as Singapore, Thailand and Japan, making it one of the most important flower export and production bases in Southeast Asia.   

As a national tourism city with famous historical heritages, Kunming has plenty of natural and cultural charms. 

By the end of 2019, Kunming had expanded its juridiction to cover seven districts, one county-level city, six counties (including three ethnic autonomous counties), three national development (resort) zones and the Yangzonghai scenic area. Kunming used to govern 80 subdistricts, 43 towns and 16 townships (including four ethnic townships). In May 2010, Yangzong Township was tranferred from Chengjiang County of the prefectural city of Yuxi to the trusteeship of Kunming, bringing the total of townships (towns/sub-districts) under its jurisdiction to 140.

Kunming Dianchi Lake International Convention and Exhibition Centre [Photo by Li Weimei]